{"id":547456,"date":"2026-03-27T00:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/547456\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T00:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:55:09","slug":"moana-fans-mocked-trailer-but-film-wont-undergo-creative-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/547456\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Moana’ Fans Mocked Trailer, But Film Won’t Undergo Creative Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDwayne Johnson<\/a>\u2019s curly wig for the live-action \u201cMoana,<\/a>\u201d where he reprises his voice role as the demigod Maui, made plenty of waves online. <\/p>\n

\n\tBut rather than big Hawaiian swells, these waves were the crashing sounds of social media users poking fun at the look of the upcoming Disney film. In particular, audiences couldn\u2019t get past how the production team gave voluminous, curly locks to the famously bald Johnson.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne user took to X to call it \u201cthe weirdest thing I\u2019ve ever seen\u201d and another said, \u201cDwayne Johnson with hair just doesn\u2019t feel right\u2026 I can\u2019t unsee this.\u201d Perhaps the best burn came from Weird Al Yankovic, who joked that the hair piece\u2019s curl pattern looked eerily similar to his own. \u201cWe\u2019ve told all the casting agents that the Weird Al biopic sequel is currently on hold, but they just keep sending in headshots,\u201d the prolific spoofer captioned his post with a close-up shot of Johnson.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, all the attention added up to 132 million views for the movie\u2019s trailer across YouTube and other social platforms in its first 24 hours. That figure trumps the first look for \u201cMoana<\/a> 2,\u201d the live-action \u201cMufasa,\u201d \u201cBarbie,\u201d \u201cWonka\u201d and Johnson\u2019s \u201cRed One.\u201c As Johnson\u2019s delightful deity would sing, \u201cWhat can I say except, \u2018You\u2019re welcome.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor all the backlach, Johnson\u2019s transformation was extensive. The actor told Entertainment Weekly<\/a> he spent two and a half hours each day in the makeup chair between Maui\u2019s wig and 40-pound prosthetic bodysuit.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe wig was very crucial and important because, in holding onto the integrity of the character from the animated version, Maui was very proud of his hair. And he had beautiful hair, beautiful demigod hair,\u201d Johnson said, noting the filmmakers toyed with (but ultimately abandoned) the idea of using digital effects to create Maui\u2019s hair. \u201cThere were a handful of iterations that we were looking to apply very early. What is the most cost-effective? What\u2019s the most time-effective? But ultimately, we have to go back to the main thing, which is, what\u2019s the best thing for the film and the audience\u2019s experience?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTranslating the electric pop of animation to real life isn\u2019t always a simple task. Fans have routinely criticized Disney live-action films, like \u201cMufasa\u201d and \u201cSnow White,\u201d for their heavy use of CGI or commented on how they look desaturated. \u201cMoana\u201d isn\u2019t picture-locked, which means the coloring and visual effects are not yet complete, but sources say there are no plans to make a major creative pivot despite the social media pile-on.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney declined to comment about the \u201cMoana\u201d trailer.<\/p>\n

\n\tMaui\u2019s hair wasn\u2019t the only target of social media vitriol; users also took aim at the look of the film, with one person observing<\/a>, \u201cI don\u2019t understand how they managed to make Polynesia, of all places, look so washed out and dull.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new \u201cMoana\u201d was shot on location on Oahu in Hawaii, as well as at Trillith Studios in Atlanta, where the team completed some of the more visual effects-heavy action sequences. (That prompted one X user to joke,<\/a> \u201cShooting even one second of a Polynesian-set movie in Atlanta should be a jailable offense.\u201d) Because some of the movie was shot on soundstages, cinematographer \u00d3scar Faura (\u201cJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom\u201d) had to blend the footage that he captured in camera digitally to match the images. Bill Westenhofer serves as the visual effects supervisor, and previously worked on \u201cLife of Pi,\u201d which used CGI extensively to create its seascapes and animal characters.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not unusual for special-effects heavy movies to get roasted online when audiences get a glimpse. Sources argue that commentators are just the loudest voices and don\u2019t reflect popular enthusiasm for a project. In the case of \u201cMoana,\u201d less than 5% of mentions involved negative discourse around Maui\u2019s hair and the overall look of the picture, an insider asserts. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe trailer performed particularly well for parents. \u201cI\u2019m more excited about this than my five year old,\u201d one commenter wrote on Instagram. Another lauded the Polynesian representation in the film, writing that they had \u201cfull body chills\u201d at seeing \u201ca princess that looks like my people. A piece of my soul returned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMoana\u201d has company in the early-trailer criticism department. When Jon M. Chu released the first look at his blockbuster \u201cWicked,\u201d the public was quick to critique the \u201cdark\u201d images, prompting the director to defend the musical\u2019s on-screen aesthetic<\/a>. \u201cI wanted images that were evocative and provocative to show it\u2019s not some bright, poppy story. We didn\u2019t even have the effects done. I was coloring it on my iPhone,\u201d Chu said. \u201cI love playing in the shadows, but I did have my iPhone brightness very high. When I released the photos, literally from my iPhone, I realized, \u201cOh, everybody really doesn\u2019t turn up their brightness that high.\u201d I felt bad because I did that. There was no going through the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThen there was \u201cSonic the Hedgehog,\u201d a 2020 adaptation of the popular video game. When Paramount debuted a first look at the film in 2019, online commentators recoiled at the speedy hedgehog\u2019s human teeth and odd facial features. The backlash sent the filmmakers back to the drawing board, with director Jeff Fowler announcing, \u201cThe message is loud and clear. You aren\u2019t happy with the design & you want changes. It\u2019s going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be.\u201d Ultimately, audiences liked Sonic\u2019s new look, turning up in force when he raced into theaters a year later.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Maui and company sets sail this July, \u201cMoana\u201d might be the latest film to withstand the social media tempests. After all, if the live-action remake matches (or surpasses) the box office returns of the animated films, Disney will be laughing all the way to the bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dwayne Johnson\u2019s curly wig for the live-action \u201cMoana,\u201d where he reprises his voice role as the demigod Maui,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[4224,88,44069,206],"class_list":["post-547456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-dwayne-johnson","tag-entertainment","tag-moana","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}