Best part about Moana for Johnson
What really mattered, Johnson said, was that the culture really stood up, and that his children could watch a film like this and recognise themselves on a big screen for the first time.
Johnson is Samoan on his mother’s side. Moana is set on the fictional island of Motunui and draws heavily on Polynesian culture, which, by his account, is why the film was made in the first place.
Whatever the numbers say, that is the argument he is making, and it is a different argument from the one the reviews are having.
The gap between critics and audiences
The film holds 31 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and 42 on Metacritic. The audience score is 88 per cent.
That is a 57-point split, which is unusual even for a Disney remake. Whatever the film is doing, the people paying for tickets and the people reviewing them are describing two different experiences.
The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus is not gentle, calling it an underwhelming version that mainly proves the animated original was the better adventure.
Not everyone agreed. The Hollywood Reporter’s chief film critic David Rooney called it one of Disney’s better live-action remakes and described it as captivating family entertainment that deserves to find an audience. Owen Gleiberman argued it cannot and should not replace the original, but earns a place alongside it.
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