Moana (2026) Review
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Just because we enjoy something does not mean we want the same exact thing so soon. Had Walt Disney Pictures understood that, Moana would’ve not been remade nearly a decade later.
PLOT
The 2026 film follows about the exact story of the 2016 original, so bear with me as I get into familiar territory. The story follows the titular Polynesian princess who lives in the island of Motunui and ever since she was a toddler, she has always desired to explore away from her home. However, her parents Tui & Sina (John Tui & Frankie Adams) remained overprotective and have kept her from the ocean to prepare being the next island chief. At the age of sixteen, she’s only more urgent to leave once the island suffers from being struck from blight. Tui remains against the idea of leaving the island, but Sina privately explains that he’s been so ever since he lost a friend to the sea in a violent storm. Moana does try to leave on her own still, but gets overwhelmed by the ocean. After this, her grandma Tala (Rena Owen) tells her that the ocean hasn’t been safe for the past 1000 years because the heart of the island that was the living island Te Fiti was taken by the shape shifting Demigod Maui, which in turn created the volcanic demon Te Kā. And due to Maui’s actions, Monutui’s people abandoned voyaging as it was too dangerous to try, but it can be done if the heart is returned. After finding a secret cavern of ships, the motivation peaks for Moana to leave. Only after the realization though does Tala fall ill and in her dying breath, Tala gives her the heart and encourages her to save the island. Encouraged by her mom, she sets off with her pet rooster Heihei stowing away and after surviving a typhoon, she meets the demigod himself. She does demand him to undo what he did, but he’s only concerned with getting his magical fish hook back which he lost to the sea after his first encounter with Te Kā. He does try trapping her in a cave, but with the aid of the live ocean, she escapes and proves determination in setting things right. Both characters get on the same page after overcoming a wave of coconut pirates, Kakamora. During their following travels, they find the hook in the realm of monsters known as Lalotai and get it back from the giant crab Tamotoa by outsmarting him. However, Maui can’t control his shape shifting like he used to, which leads to him re-learning. And in return, he teaches Moana the skills of way finding. And as they bond, the demigod admits that he was abandoned by his parents, resulting in the gods to grant him his powers out of pity. Wanting to be a hero, he admits he took the heart as an act of giving humanity a gift. They do reach Te Fiti, but are quickly attacked by Te Kā. When Moana refuses to turn back, it results in Maui’s hook getting severely damaged. Refusing to risk losing it again, he abandons her. Feeling self doubt for the first time, she begs the ocean to find someone else the task but regains motivation when the spirit of Tala reminds her voyaging is her calling. Maui returns with a change of heart when she sets back and buys her time by distracting Te Kā, despite the result of the hook getting destroyed as he feared. Just when Moana gets behind the demon, she doesn’t find the dormant island, deducing that Te Kā is only a corrupted Te Fiti without her heart. With the ocean clearing a path for her, she’s able to return the heart which heals the ocean and islands of blight. With Te Fifi restored, Maui apologizes for his actions and is rewarded a reforged hook by her. She also does the same to Moana’s boat that was damaged during the conflict. The princess then returns home and as she accepts her mantle of chief, the film ends with her leading her people to resume voyaging and Maui accompanies her.
THOUGHTS
I’m all about giving Disney the benefit of the doubt when it comes to doing remakes because you don’t know the end result until it’s out. This is not the case for Moana because if you’re redoing something that’s not a decade old yet, then you’re getting too desperate for a cash grab outside of their owned properties as of 2026 (Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel and 20th Century Studios). This would’ve been more respected had we waited another decade for it after the animated plans were completed, as a third animated is in development upon release of this remake. When I say there isn’t much to expect, it’s because it’s far closer to being copy paste the way I past said of The Lion King. There are no true severe changes in comparison. Most of the dialogue remains the same, the backdrops on most locations are believable, the redesigns are impressive for Kakamora & Tamatoa and the costumes are spot on. If I were to say the biggest change overall, it has to be how Tui is more emotionless than angered of Moana discovering the boats and there’s a reaction shot of him waiting for her to return. And you know what, Maui having a hammerhead of a shark head instead of a great white during his struggle to shapeshift didn’t phase me at all. I’m all about remakes making enough changes to stand out from the predecessor, but this one was most pointless for me. If you ask me, I think Disney banked on this sooner because they didn’t think they could guarantee Dwayne Johnson would remain interested to do it another decade later to be Maui again should the animated plans be done by then. I also respect Jemaine Clement returning as Tamatoa, but I would not throw a tantrum if we had another guy give a cover of “Shiny”. Personally, the VFX were peaking during the “You’re Welcome” scene and the entirety of Maui’s sentient tatoo, which is not a bad thing at all because the fun really kicks in at that moment anyway. Hei Hei is still funny for being a clueless chicken, but I’m still annoyed how the pig Pua is part of the marketing when he still doesn’t become part of the adventure like the former at least until the sequel, should Disney actually go through with remaking it so soon. Looking back, I think Catherine Laga’aia does give her all as the titular princess especially when her covers of “How Far I’ll Go” and “I Am Moana” hit the right mark in reminding audiences the gift of following your heart and pushing boundaries can lead to personal boundaries. Hell, I was very moved of her cover of “Know Who You Are” to the point where it felt like a true needle drop. I too did not mind the credit song ‘Along the Way’ with the original voice actor Auli’i Cravalho as that was a metaphorical passing of the torch. My takeaway from that is wishing they filmed an actual scene of Cravalho performing said song with Laga’aia. It would’ve been on the nose with it and I would’ve respected it. While her chemistry was believable with The Rock, but there were when on her own that it felt like she was reading from a teleprompter and that was weird because I felt that for Moana being a much younger movie compared to 100yrs+ of content, it shouldn’t look like that at all from her end. Considering that this is a remake, a lot of familiar mistakes were repeated. For instance if Tui is so protective towards his daughter, he should’ve not let her roam the beach on her own when she was still a toddler. Yes, this is supposed to be the first time she discovers she’s one with the ocean, but it’s a big miracle her dad got that distracted. I don’t want to get technical here but if Tui’s only rule in the island is to not leave, he’s misleading like it’s allowed to commit theft and abuse power. He could’ve just said it was the first rule and that’s not so hard for him to do. It’s also on him to go sailing during a storm. And seriously, when did Hei Hei stow away? I know this is Moana’s pet and not everyone would pay attention to where that chicken is gonna go, but not one person noticing at night, especially upon what had to feel like a bombshell of a reveal to the tribe that she left, is a stretch. I didn’t say this before, but Moana was sure overreacting when she thinks the boat is wrecked just because it’s on land. Considering Maui was able to get the headstart and discover it to still be in good condition, Moana should’ve apologized to the ocean since her tantrum was childish. I know she was more mad because she didn’t think she reached Maui yet, but that was dumb on her end to not look around before complaining. Also, Maui is kind of a dick to throw Moana into the water multiple times. Before and after he finds out she’s one with the ocean, it’s messed up for him to do that considering his parents dumped him in the ocean when he was a baby. Watching this remake and it’s original back to back, it’d be real hard to ignore such flaws at this point. To wrap up, Thomas Kail in fact struggles to have a strong theatric debut in the director’s chair by not adding enough flare for remaking something that was too young to need one. If your film preference is basic, then I hope you have a soft spot for this.
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