{"id":33871,"date":"2026-07-10T01:20:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T08:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=33871"},"modified":"2026-07-10T01:20:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T08:20:06","slug":"moana-offers-nothing-new-and-feels-strangely-flat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=33871","title":{"rendered":"MOANA Offers Nothing New and Feels Strangely Flat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 115 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature film from Walt Disney Studios Motion\nPictures opens in cinemas and on IMAX screens July 10th<\/sup>, 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another year, another live-action adaption of an animated\nDisney property. After 2025 offered up both the flop Snow White<\/em> and\nunexpected smash Lilo & Stitch<\/em>, the latest title arriving on screens\nis one of the most beloved in the studio\u2019s recent history. The 2016 hit Moana<\/em>\nwas a visually striking and enjoyable tale that really connected with young\nviewers and their parents. And so, it was only a matter of time before this\nstory got the same kind of big-budget treatment. But where does it fit in among\nDisney\u2019s live-action adaptations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Moana (Catherine Laga\u2019aia) is a young woman living on the\nisland of Motunui with her father, Chief Tui (John Tui), mother Sina (Frankie\nAdams), and eccentric Gramma Tala (Rena Owen). The latter encourages the\nyoungster to explore her interest in the sea beyond the reef, even though her\nfather forbids it. But it\u2019s a good idea, as the island\u2019s harvests are dying,\nleaving the community in peril. Moana learns that more than one-thousand years\nago, demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) stole a powerful stone heart from the\ngoddess of nature, Te Fiti. And now, an enormous lava-spewing demon Te K\u0101 is\nthe force exuding matter that might be causing the destruction of their crops.\nMoana also discovers that her people were once known for sailing across the\nvast waters. When the magical heart stone comes into her possession, Moana sets\nout to find Maui, and use him to help locate Te Fiti, so that the heart can be\nreturned and her home saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The casting here is fine, with Laga\u2019aia proving herself to\nbe convincing as the title character. Of course, Johnson, who provided the\nvoice of Maui in the animated film, is perfectly cast as the sneaky and\nself-involved but still likable demigod. And, for those who remember the\nmonstrous, supernatural, jewel-obsessed crab Tanatoa, Jemaine Clement also\nreturns to provide the voice for the updated CGI-creation. Naturally, the two\nreturnees also have no trouble in rerecording their familiar musical numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is also a lot of flash and sparkle on display, from\nthe natural beauty of the islands, to a few amusing visual embellishments that\noccur during numbers like, \u201cYou\u2019re Welcome\u201d. The floating fortress of the\ncoconut creatures known as the Kakamora is bigger in this adaptation and\nimpressive to behold (although in the moment, their barge actually reminded me\nof the elaborate floating sets from the 1995 film, Waterworld<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite its impressive appearance and cast, this film\nnever comes to life. As mentioned, Moana<\/em> is a much-loved property, and\nit\u2019s clear that the moviemakers didn\u2019t want to offend by making any dramatic\nchanges to the story. So, they literally don\u2019t change anything. A few lines are\nadded to scenes, there are a couple of brief reprisals of songs, and other\nminiscule additions, but little else is different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there could have been plenty to explore. One might be\ninterested in seeing the Kakamora in more than one sequence and learn more\nabout them. Perhaps a deeper reason they may want the powerful stone so badly?\nOr, while it might seem silly, perhaps develop Moana\u2019s one-note pet chicken a\nlittle more and actually give it a character arc. Heck, even just add a new,\nunanticipated challenge for the title character, both to surprise viewers and\nhelp her on her journey from young woman to leader. Sadly, nothing of the kind\nhappens in this adaptation. There is one new song, but even that is simply\nthrown in as the end credits roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s all exactly the same. One can understand how purists\nmight initially see that as a good thing, but a live-action film is a different\nartform from an animated one. Here, going through the identical motions results\nin a flat lifelessness to the proceedings. There are no thrills or shocks, just\nthe same beats repeated until the credits roll. And, if the original from only\na few years back told its story so well that the makers were hesitant to change\nanything, then it ultimately renders this entire production unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, this new take on Moana<\/em> is anything but new.\nIt\u2019s well-produced, but the cast aren\u2019t allowed to do anything fresh in order\nto hold our interest for two hours. In the end, one would be better advised to\nskip this journey and rewatch the original instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 115 minutes This feature film from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures opens in cinemas and on IMAX screens July 10th, 2026. Another year, another live-action adaption of an animated Disney property. After 2025 offered up both the flop Snow White and unexpected smash Lilo & Stitch, the latest title arriving on screens is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[217,1461,1463,4007,5922,6620,7314,7863,10549,10911,12536,14111,14116,14117,14118,14429,16863,23942],"class_list":["post-33871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-217","tag-animated-live-action-remake","tag-animated-remake","tag-catherine-lagaaia","tag-disney","tag-dwayne-johnson","tag-fantasy","tag-frankie-adams","tag-jemaine-clement","tag-john-tui","tag-live-action-adaptation","tag-moana","tag-moana-film-review","tag-moana-movie-review","tag-moana-review","tag-musical","tag-rena-owen","tag-walt-disney-motion-picture-studios"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33871\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}