Moana (2026)
5.888 /10
156 Reviews
Rate This Movie:
Teenage Moana answers the Ocean's call and, for the first time, voyages beyond the reef of her island of Motunui with infamous demigod Maui on an unforgettable journey to restore prosperity to her people.
Videos & Photos
cast
... Moana
... Maui
... Gramma Tala
... Chief Tui
... Sina
User reviews
Check out my full review @ https://www.manuelsbento.com/moana-2026-stranded-on-a-soundstage-of-pure-nostalgia/
Rating: C
MOANA had every chance to expand on its animated predecessor, and it wastes almost all of it. Beat for beat identical to the 2016 original, this remake trades vibrant, sun-drenched color for green screen sterility, turning musical numbers that once felt joyously alive into stiff, mechanical spectacle. The lead performance brings real warmth to the title role, and the central chemistry has its moments, but neither is enough to disguise a film that never once asks why it needed to exist.
Director:
Writer:
Jared Bush (Original Film Writer)
Ron Clements (Original Film Writer)
John Musker (Original Film Writer)
Jared Bush (Screenplay)
Dana Ledoux Miller (Screenplay)
Release Date:
2026-07-08
Run Time:
115 min
MMPA Rating:
PG
Reviews of
Moana
Check out my full review @ https://www.manuelsbento.com/moana-2026-stranded-on-a-soundstage-of-pure-nostalgia/
Rating: C
MOANA had every chance to expand on its animated predecessor, and it wastes almost all of it. Beat for beat identical to the 2016 original, this remake trades vibrant, sun-drenched color for green screen sterility, turning musical numbers that once felt joyously alive into stiff, mechanical spectacle. The lead performance brings real warmth to the title role, and the central chemistry has its moments, but neither is enough to disguise a film that never once asks why it needed to exist.
On a gorgeous Polynesian island where they all...speak...very...slowly, the young "Moana" (Catherine Laga'aia) is conflicted by her father's (John Tui) warning never to venture beyond the reef that protects their home and her grandmother (Rena Owen) who is embedded more in the tribe's ancestral and mystical roots and who has little fear of the open ocean and what lies beyond. When their crops all start to die, she is reminded of the legend of the demi-god "Maui" (Dwayne Johnson) who took the heart-stone from the benign goddess from whom all life sprang, and so she determines to find him and his magical hook and then restore the ornate stone to this font of all goodness. Perhaps that will reverse the process that is killing everything? Ten years on from the original animation and this doesn't really add very much to a story that was always a bit cheesy and thin. Here, it's at least forty-five minutes before the film really gets going and Johnson enters the fray and even then it's all just a little too formulaic. He does look like he's enjoying himself, but Laga'aia hasn't much by way of charisma to match and my favourites - the dart-blowing, sea-going, coconut critters - barely feature at all. The two songs that underpin this are familiar enough by now, but the rest of the music is borderline bland and by the rather hastily arrived at conclusion of this perfectly watchable but entirely forgettable rehash, I was wondering if they were already cannibalising the set from the "Lion King" on stage ready for the next iteration of "Moana" - the musical. It's pretty to look at but isn't much more than expensively crafted wallpaper, sorry.
Cast & Crew of
Moana
Cast
... Moana
... Maui
... Gramma Tala
... Chief Tui
... Sina
... Tamatoa (voice)
... Moana (4 years old)
... Moana (8 years old)
... Village Fisherman
... Coconut Farmer
... Coconut Farmer
... Tulafale
... Elder Luaʻiufi
... Elder Ope
... Village Elder
... Village Elder
... Tautaivasa
... Younger Navigator
... Villager
... Pushy Farmer
... Fale Kid
... Maivia
... Fale Kid
... Fale Kid
... Young Boy
... Village Kid
... Villager on Beach
Crew
... Supervising Art Director
... Producer
... Producer
... Executive Producer
... Producer
... Executive Producer
... Producer
... Director
... Director of Photography
... Hairstylist
... Hairstylist
... Production Supervisor
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Aerial Director of Photography
... Original Music Composer
... Art Direction
... Art Direction
... Costume Design
... Stunt Coordinator
... Makeup Artist
... Casting
... Art Direction
... Hair Department Head
... Second Assistant Director
... First Assistant Director
... Production Sound Mixer
... "A" Camera Operator
... Underwater Director of Photography
... Executive Producer
... Property Master
... Special Effects Technician
... Set Decoration
... Gaffer
... Production Design
... Special Effects Supervisor
... CG Supervisor
... Digital Effects Supervisor
... Compositing Supervisor
... Utility Stunts
... Visual Effects Producer
... Second Unit Director of Photography
... Casting
... Producer
... Executive Producer
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Animation Supervisor
... Visual Effects Producer
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Animation Supervisor
... Animation Supervisor
... Executive Visual Effects Producer
... Executive Visual Effects Producer
... Visual Effects Producer
... Visual Effects Producer
... Editor
... Dialect Coach
... Location Scout
... Location Scout
... Second Assistant "B" Camera
... First Assistant "A" Camera
... Second Assistant "A" Camera
... First Assistant "B" Camera
... First Assistant "C" Camera
... Stunts
... Utility Stunts
... Utility Stunts
... Stunts
... Stunts
... Stunts
... Utility Stunts
... Stunts
... Stunts
... Stunt Double
... Stunts
... Utility Stunts
... Stunt Double
... Stunt Double
... Stunts
... Stunts
... Supervising Sound Editor
... Sound Designer
... Sound Re-Recording Mixer
... Choreographer
... Songs
... "B" Camera Operator
... Second Unit First Assistant Director
... Key Hair Stylist
... Original Film Writer
... Original Film Writer
... Original Film Writer
... Screenplay
... Screenplay
... Songs
... Songs
... Visual Effects Producer
... CG Supervisor
... CG Supervisor
... CG Supervisor
... CG Supervisor
... Compositing Supervisor
... Compositing Supervisor
... Compositing Supervisor
... Compositing Supervisor
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Stunt Double
... Visual Effects Production Manager
... Creative Consultant
... Visual Effects Producer
... Visual Effects Producer
... Visual Effects Producer
... 2D Supervisor
... CG Supervisor
... CG Supervisor
... Animation Supervisor
... Lead Animator
... Compositing Lead
... Visual Effects Art Director
... Co-Producer
... Associate Producer
... Associate Producer
... Associate Producer
... Second Unit Director
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