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Moana fans have been left unconvinced by the latest trailer for Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of the beloved children’s film.
The new clip offers the first look at Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reprising his role as demigod Maui, as well as newcomer Catherine Laga’aia as the titular character, replacing Auliʻi Cravalho, who voiced Moana in the 2016 film and the animated sequel.
On X, several posters noted that everything revealed in the trailer so far sticks closely to the original film released a decade ago.
One wrote: “It looks like a shot for shot remake. What’s the point? Even the animated characters look pulled straight from the original. Put your efforts elsewhere and be creative again.”
Another added: “Hundreds of millions of dollars wasted so Dwayne Johnson can don a terrible wig and deliver the same lines but with worse timing. New low for the corporate slopmongers. Can’t even make it past the two min mark of this trailer, I don’t need to see anything from the last 19 seconds.”
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Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson stars in Disney’s live-action remake of ‘Moana’ (Disney Enterprises)
Many fans questioned whether Disney could use their resources more creatively, with one saying: “Disney trying to nostalgia bait us with this live action slop when the original isn’t even a decade old. i’ve never seen a creative drought this dire.”
Another wrote: “You already made a fantastic movie. Moana is nearly perfect. Everything about this looks like a less charming version of the original. I hope it fails miserably so you’ll stop insisting on giving this treatment to animated movies.”
Along with Johnson and Lag’aia, John Tui is set to play Moana’s father Chief Tui, while Frankie Adams will play Moana’s mom Sina, and Rena Owen will be Gramma Tala. Lin-Manuel Miranda is producing the film after writing the wildly popular music for the original movie, along with Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foaʻi.
Moana is the latest in Disney’s series of live-action adaptations, which have largely been nearly identical to their original source, joining recent remakes of Lilo & Stitch and Snow White. Despite complaints, Disney’s business of remaking movies has proved to be extremely lucrative, with Lilo & Stitch breaking box office records last year.
Meanwhile, an animated sequel to Moana was released in 2024, earning a three-star review from The Independent critic Clarisse Loughrey.
“Moana 2 would have made for a very nice television series – as it was originally meant to be,” she wrote. “But as a reskinned theatrical sequel to one of Disney Animation’s biggest hits, it’s a little harder to justify.”