Nearly a decade ago, the first Moana animated movie hit theaters and showed the world what professional wrestling fans already knew: Dwayne Johnson can sing.
More importantly, though, the movie was a game-changer for Walt Disney and opened the door to broader representation in stories like this — centering on an all-Polynesian cast, aside from Jemaine Clement, who plays a giant jewel-loving crab. Moana, in its first two animated installments, continued the refreshing trend that Frozen and Brave began, subverting the romantic princess trope that has long been established as a Disney mainstay.
All this is to say that, as a father of a 7-year-old girl, these movies have been on regular rotation in my home and have since burned their way into my memory bank. So, I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that, when I first heard Disney was making a live-action Moana, I couldn’t help but feel this was all for profiting off of IP and nothing else.
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To be clear, Disney’s live-action Moana (which hits theaters on Friday) is an absolutely unnecessary addition to the franchise. But despite that, it’s fun. In fact, it’s the most fun I’ve had in a theater while watching one of these live-action retreads. And that’s a relief, because I didn’t want to see another Will Smith-as-Genie-from-Aladdin situation play out on the big screen.
That’s not to say I didn’t have my reservations. During the opening moments of the film, which establish Moana’s family and village of Motonui, I found myself weary as things start off slowly. The same musical numbers and plot points from the 2016 film inform the story beats.
I’ve already seen these moments in animated form, and while the musical and dance numbers do connect (thanks to it being real, live human people doing the singing and dancing), it felt like I was seeing another example of a live-action adaptation falling into the re-do traps of its predecessors without adding anything new or noteworthy to the mix.
Those fears were short-lived, though, thanks to the introduction of Catherine Laga’aia as the titular hero. Her performance, alongside Rena Owen’s, who warms up the screen as her grandmother Tala, is an absolute delight and sets the stage for the adventure to unfold.
The stakes of the story are the same: Moana ventures out beyond the reef, after warnings not to by her father Chief Tui, to find the demigod Maui, who stole the green stone heart of the earth goddess Te Fiti, in order to save her village from the spreading decay that has followed said theft.
Once Moana hits the high seas, the movie opens itself to the possibility of existing as an enhancement to the original animated release, rather than a replacement. Instead of performing the songs from the classic movie as they existed a decade ago, every hit is re-recorded and delivered with an organicness that feels fitting for this movie.
Perhaps it feels that way because director Thomas Kail, best known for helming Hamilton, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the dude who brought that Broadway juggernaut to life, bring their creative energies together once again here.
It’s worth noting that this is Laga’aia’s big-screen debut, and her talent is infectious. Beaming and determined, every song she sings lights up the screen. And her acting skills make her a formidable scene partner for Dwayne Johnson, who goes all out as the demigod Maui.
I’m happy to write those words. When the trailer first dropped for the movie, I, much like many others, couldn’t get past the distracting nature of that wig he’s wearing. It brought me back to his 2014 attempt to bring demigod Hercules to life on the big screen.
Thankfully, those luscious locks weren’t the distraction I expected. Johnson’s third outing as Maui is fantastic. If you’ve watched the actor’s social media feed, you’ve seen him deliver the rap lyrics from his hit song You’re Welcome countless times to young fans. Seeing him do it here, all buffed out, with the Fabio hair and tattoos, comes off as an exclamation point at the end of a rather satisfying sentence.
Johnson is in on the joke; he knows what makes Maui tick, and still, for the live-action movie, he brings new layers to the role. He’s cantankerous, egomaniacal and thoroughly amusing. He brings some big dad energy to the screen here, and with Laga’aia by his side, his demigod is more flawed, more human and more engaging than his animated counterpart.
As live-action as this Moana is, there is still plenty of CGI animation featured throughout. The ocean is magical, there are those weird coconut pirates lurking in the mist, and the giant lava beast, Te Kā, is just as frightening here as she was in the original movie. None of these examples is out of place in the movie, though. These visual sequences don’t overshadow the story — they add to it, successfully expanding the Moana storyworld in surprising and beautiful ways.
An example of this is Moana and Maui’s run-in with the coconut crab Tamatoa (voiced again by Clement). The mix of colors, the crab’s sparkly mound of jewels and the spectacle that comes from his musical performance of the song Shiny, was a sight to behold.
It’s all a sight to behold, really. Disney’s live-action Moana is a win. Its themes of legacy, self-determination, and destiny are as resonant as ever. The movie doesn’t replace what came before it — but it’s not supposed to. I suppose you can view it as a worthwhile companion piece to the original. That’s what I am doing, and I can’t wait to show it to my daughter. Chee-hoo!
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