Moana 2026 Film SPOILER FILLED Film Review

Apparently Disney doesn't think that we can remember films that have are barely ten years old as they are really taking the cake with these live action remakes. As not really being content with tarnishing the legacy of there older classics they have now released a live action remake of a film that really is barely ten years old with what's worst being the fact that the original film just got a sequel a few years ago and has a third film in development and so then join me as I give my SPOILER FILED review of the film that really doesn't need to be a thing at all with the film in question being called simply just "Moana" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a young island girl finds out that she is the only one who can restore life to the ocean she sets said to restore something that will give the ocean new life again. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very review was in all honesty OK at best. With this film doing what alot of the worst live action Disney remakes do and that's the fact that they just straight up copy the plot of the original and like with those films this one rips the heart and soul out of it all for no good reason as the original films plot was damned near perfect. With the thing that makes this even more worse being the fact that the original film will still be fresh in everyone's mind where as if Disney just waited another twenty to thirty years then maybe they could have gotten away with having the exact same plot as the original film and with this film just straight up copying the original films and making exactly ZERO changes to it it does mean that the plot is predictable whereas in the original film the makers of that film had to go out of there way to make that films plot work because of the fact that it was a new story with characters and yet the makers of this film didn't have to do any of that which just makes this film feel all the more lazy and soulless then what it already is all they are doing is giving you the same plot that we've just seen only now instead of it being fun and creative it's now dark , lifeless and soulless and yet the die hard Disney lovers will eat this film up and claim that it's plot is great and while yes there are things that worked about this film but those things also worked and worked better un the original film and are therefor not exclusive to this film with the plot of this film also not really being really rather entertaining and as well as not really being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Catherine Laga'aia as Moana and one of this films producers Dwayne Johnson as Maui. Also starring in this film is Star Wars: Episode II Attack Of The Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge Of The Sith star Rena Owen as Gramma Tala , Power Rangers S.P.D. star John Tui as Chief Tui , Mortal Engines and The Wrecking Crew star Frankie Adams as Sina and Jemaine Clement as the voice of Tamatoa.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very review was in all honesty pretty good. To be truthful it is pretty hard to judge this films acting as the makers of this film did do the somewhat smart thing by brining back actors from the original film to reprise their roles in this film and while that does somewhat help the film as they are some really good actors it does also kind of hold the film back as while Dwayne Johnson is a decent actor watching him playing this immortal demigod in live action just doesn't work as you can see the fact that Dwayne is getting up there in years and while he is good in the film getting somebody who is a lot younger to play the character would have helped the film out even more better. With the films best actor by far being Catherine Laga'aia as Moana ash she not only makes a somewhat decent attempt at recapturing what made the character stand out in the original film she does also try to do new things with the character as well with her performance not being an exact replica of Auliʻi Cravalho's performance in the first film there are times where she does try to replicate that performance and it just doesn't work but when she does do her own thing with the character and gives her own performance that is when her acting is allowed to shine with her being a pretty talented actor who could really make a go of being a big time Hollywood actor should she of course choose to continue acting. With the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is Digital Domain , Industrial Light & Magic , Lola Visual Effects , Universal Production Partners , Vitality Visual Effects and Weta FX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very review was in all honesty pretty good. With this and the films acting being one of the more better things in the film which really isn't saying all that much but given the fact that the fact that this film does have alot of really good effects companies working on it it does make sense that the effects would look as good as they do. The issue being tho is that there is so much CGI in the film that it basically becomes a cartoon again the film using alot of effects in alot of scenes alot of which are scenes where it's not needed with the motto for this film seemingly being "we have CGI so let's use alot of CGI" with the makers of this film really going over board with the effects that they have in this film as while it does make sense for things like the ocean when it's interacting with Moana for example and HeiHei and Pua being good examples of the film using CGI well but then it will do it to add in a background or other such things all of which do feel like a waste of time and while those effects aren't bad persay there also not that good as this film should never have been that heavy on effects as you can do alot of the stuff that they use effects for in this film practically which is something that would have cut down on the films massive budget and it would mean that the films effects would age alot more slowly, things aren't helped by the fact that all of the vibrant colors that helped to make the original stand out are now gone with the film and it's effects just mainly being different shades of brown when this world should be more vibrant with this being done to make the film look more realistic and all it does is make the film and there effects look ugly to look at.

SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was touched upon earlier in the review but it bares repeating here but this film does commit the same sin that both Beauty And the Beast 2017 and alot of others like this commit. As this is film is nothing more then a carbon copy of the original film which in this case does also include hiring to of the same actors to play the same roles and it's something that doesn't work as if people wanted to watch the originals plot guess what they'd do watch the original they are coming to this film to see something new and by giving them the same film just in liv action Disney is dooming this film to fail as people will see this film for exactly what it is a cheap and soulless cash grab which even then doesn't work as unlike alot of there other remakes where the originals are thirty plus years old the original Moana is barely ten years old. Look to give the Beauty And The Beast remake some very small amount of credit there was still an attempt to fix some issues that people had with the original film granted in fixing those same issues that film did end up creating more issues of it's own but it doesn't change the fact that there was an attempt made to make a semi-decent remake, yet here because of the fact that the original film is by all accounts a perfect film there is next to nothing to fix in the first place which does defeat the whole purpose of this remake as the whole idea of remake is to an idea again but do it better and that is something that you absolutely cannot do when the original film is as perfect as it is Disney tried it before with The Lion King 2019 and it didn't work then therefor why they thought it would work now is anybody's guess as they don't add in anything new to the film rather they oddly enough take scenes out of the film or make changes to the film that make no sense either from a plot point of view or a character point of view.

Like with the previous film this film does have songs that were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda with those being just as good as they were in the original. With the film including all of the songs from the original film in all of there glory however tho if you expecting the film to include some original songs sorry but the film only has the one original song and even then that song plays over the films end credits and isn't apart of the main film itself which does defeat the whole point of having the original song writer back in the first place as it does feel like that the makers of this film were just wasting Lin-Manuel Miranda's talents as they only have him write the one original song that no one's going to listen as no one is going to watch this films end credits. With the best song in this film being "How Far I'll Go" as this version of the song is really well done with the song really showing of just how good of a singer that Catherine Laga'aia is and while yes there is some use of auto tune in the song it's not as bad as it is in "Your Welcome" as Dwayne Johnson still cannot hold a note to save his life which does result in that song being autotuned to the moon and back and with "How Far I'll Go" while it still does hit all of the same notes that the original version of the song hit this version does have a nice almost island like beat to it which does make it feel more of it's own thing and while the song is still just the typical "I want" song there is no denying the fact that when that song does come on that it will get people singing it and while it won't stay with you after the films finished the song itself does feel like the kind of song that Disney might in the coming weeks put out to various radio stations to get them to play it as it is a really good song in it's own right it's just not as good as the original version of the song which is something that could also be said for all of this films songs.

Te ka in this film wasn't that badly handled if we are being honest as she does retain the same look and threat that she had in the original film. However with this film being longer then the original is there should have been more scenes with her as the main villain just to show us the audience just what kind of damage that she's doing even if it's just a quick scene it still would have been enough to put across the fact that the characters are in real danger and while the film isn't harmed by not having a scene like that in the film it's also not helped by it either and while the film does retain her fight with Maui due to how this film is staying really close to the source material it does loose all impact as we know what's coming next where as it would have been more shocking if Te Ka did something in this film that she perhaps didn't do in the original. Like maybe she does actually go beyond her own reef and is able to attack Moana and her boat in this film which might not seem like much in the grand scheme of things but it is something that would make her a real threat in this film and it would also catch the fans of the original film of guard as then we wouldn't know what to expect next from this film or this character, with the character even retaining her more scary scenes which was something that Disney really didn't have to do as that look is something that could have been seen as being to scary for little kids but the fact that they kept it in does show us the audience that the makers of this film did still want to create a scary villain and while it could well be argued that Tamatoa is the main villain of both films for me it's always Te Ka that's the main villain with Tamatoa being more of a side villain and thankfully this film did get Te Ka about as right as they could have done as we do still get to see her fight Maui and we do still get to see her creepy Ocean walk to Moana near the end of the film it's just that it would have helped the film out if the makers of this film did make her more of a scary villain as that would make the big reveal that she is Te Fiti only corrupted all the more heartbreaking.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and forty five minuets and forty three seconds. With this film actually being around about two minuets shorter then the original film is which is something that does make sense as the film does oddly feel like it's missing out alot of key scenes and even tho this film does have all of the same scenes from the original it also doesn't add in any new scenes that help t justify the film being this long as the original film had the excuse of having to set up everything from the plot to the characters whereas with this film they really don't have to do any of that as the original film did all of that groundwork for them therefor you really could have had this film come in at around one hour and thirty minuets and now loose anything that's important to the plot this is despite the fact that this film does have more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. With the film not even using its running time as even tho the original film showed them how to do it this film doesn't fully develop it's plot rather it just relies on us having already seen the original film and just expects us to know that the plot is well developed when the work still needs to be put in to make the plot work in the first place and alot of that does include taking time away from Dwayne Johnson as it does appear as if he has more screen time in this film then he does in the original and give it to scene that could develop the films plot with the makers of this films making it crystal clear that they put more effort into the films over use of CGI then they did anything else in the film. Heck they don't even take the time to give the characters any kind of character development with there even being a key character driven scene cut from the film as in the original when he picks u young Moana near the start of the of the film it's Tui that throws what we know to be the heart of Te Fiti back into the ocean as he doesn't think that it's safe with him learning over the course of the film that the ocean can be a safe place and yet here in this film that scene is replaced with Young Moana herself throwing it back into the ocean when she hears her father calling for her which makes no sense as she wouldn't do that and yet the film is filled to the brim with things like this all of which do make it impossible for the films character to get any kind of character development with it being made clear as day that the makers of this film cared more about sticking to the originals plot then they did about giving the characters some actual character development but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that' actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As much like with the rest of the film all of the films jokes are just carbon copies of the jokes from the original film only now because of the fact that we know what's coming they don't seem to be as funny or as fresh as they were ten years ago and while young kids might get a small chuckle out of seeing what might the 2019 Pumbaa in this movie adults won't but in all fairness this film wasn't made for adults it was made for little kids and if they find this films jokes to be funny then great for them. With the best joke in the film being one simple joke with Moana and HeiHei as just after she's set of on the adventure and discovers HeiHei he keeps on walking off of the boat with Moana slowly getting more and more frustrated the more that he does it which is just such a simple joke that it oddly works as you could see Moana just not putting with having to rescue him every few seconds and because of that the joke does work when it very easily could have been a lame joke that had no thought put into it but because of the fact that we know what she is about t go through because of the original film it does help to make this joke be more funnier then anything Dwayne Johnson says or does in this film as that one joke with Moana and HeiHei whilst it's not the best written joke its alot more better then what it really had any right to be with the rest of the films jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall this is something that really does go without saying but this film is about as soulless and just nothing as the rest of these remakes are and thank god that this film is currently on track to flop as hopefully that will mean that Disney will stop doing these films as this one whilst it's not as bad as The Lion King 2019 was it's still a pretty bad film in it's own right in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 3.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and ass well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.