{"id":848289,"date":"2026-08-08T19:14:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848289\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:14:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:14:30","slug":"dwayne-johnson-defends-live-action-moana-remake-from-negative-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848289\/","title":{"rendered":"Dwayne Johnson defends live-action Moana remake from negative critics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dwayne \u2018The Rock\u2019 Johnson<\/a> has defended his latest film, the live-action Moana remake<\/a>, after it was met with an influx of negative criticism and poor box office numbers. <\/p>\n

While many would take the reviews personally, Johnson<\/a> simply brushed off the critics\u2019 distaste for the film, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s just the way it goes\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"Johnson<\/p>\n

Johnson has spoken out in defence of the live-action Moana remake, in which he reprised his role as Maui.\u00a0Disney<\/p>\n

In an interview with People<\/a>, Johnson recalled the first two reviews of the movie<\/a> being \u201camazing\u201d before things then suddenly took a turn for the worse. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just the way it goes because we\u2019re in this business,\u201d he told the publication. <\/p>\n

\u201c[My wife and I] had a lot of these conversations at home, at the kitchen island late at night when the babies are asleep. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge was, \u2018OK, let\u2019s remember, though, what\u2019s going to be beyond this opening weekend. Let\u2019s remember what\u2019s happening right now and the noise that\u2019s happening right now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While he noted that it\u2019s \u201cgreat\u201d that some people love the film, he added that it\u2019s \u201cno problem\u201d that others didn\u2019t enjoy it. <\/p>\n

Ahead of the film\u2019s release, many fans were concerned about the decision to turn Moana into a live-action film, with worries that the new edition would tarnish the original movie\u2019s legacy. <\/p>\n

Speaking with nine.com.au back in June<\/a>, Johnson said<\/a> that he understood where the concerns were coming from. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to get that, the internet is going to internet. I\u2019m not dismissing that because I get it, especially when something is beloved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Johnson explained that he had seen the criticisms of the decision and had wanted to address them online, but instead had chosen not to. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Johnson addressed fans concerns for the first time in an interview with nine.com.au. \u00a0Disney\/Nine<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t ever want to say this because I didn\u2019t want to engage in that way, but I wanted to tell people so badly, \u2018As passionate as you are about\u00a0Moana, so am I,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this. It\u2019s my family, it\u2019s my culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The live-action remake of Moana was released on July 8, 2026. It is currently sitting at 31 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the original film\u2019s 96 per cent. <\/p>\n

Alongside Johnson, the live-action film stars up-and-coming Australian actress, Catherine Laga\u2019aia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dwayne \u2018The Rock\u2019 Johnson has defended his latest film, the live-action Moana remake, after it was met with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-848289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}