Thomas Kail is an astute and talented director. But something’s gone wrong with his latest project.
Disney’s live action remake of “Moana,” an animation masterpiece, is getting killed by critics.
“Moana” has debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a 38% rating. Ouch! Abysmal.
Reviewers are moaning about “Moana.”
Carla Hay writes in Culture Mix: “The 2026 version of Moana is a shipwreck of soulless filmmaking. The animated characters in 2016’s Moana give better acting performances than the humans in this dreadful live-action 2026 remake, which is polluted with bad film editing and awkward scenes.”
David Fear, in Rolling Stone: “The live-action Moana is simply spectacle that’s indistinguishable for any other generic spectacle out there — it’s peak Disney déjà vu.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is the only well known actor on the cast list.
Unfortunately, Lin Manuel Miranda is listed as a producer. He and Kail made “Hamilton” together. They will make good things in the future. This isn’t one of them.
The 38% rating is fourth worst among all Disney remakes.
Disney is having such a big success with “Toy Story 5” they probably won’t even notice.
