(2026) Moana - The Live Action Adaptation of that Wonderful Disney Animated Movie from 10 Years Ago

This week only 1 major Hollywood movie was released and it was already available for Advance Ticket Sale since last week. My wife and I were not having anything to do so we bought the tickets for yesterday's show in the cinema very near from our home. OK then, I'll just get right on it.

Brief Story Line

Since her childhood, Moana (newcomer Catherine Laga'aia) the daughter of Motunui village chief Tui (John Tui - Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, Power Rangers S. P. D. TV series etc) and Sina (Frankie Adams - The Wrecking Crew, Shortland Street soap opera etc) had been drawn by the ocean. However, Tui was very strict not to let anyone to go beyond the reef so Moana never got the chance to do it.

Unfortunately the village was later suffering from draughts and as future chief, Moana encouraged by her grandmother Tala (Rena Owen - The Last Witch Hunter, Siren TV series etc) defied her father's instruction and decided to go across the ocean. Accompanied only by her chicken Heihei, Moana sought the help from Demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson - Red One, Rampage etc) to return the heart of Te Fiti which would save the ocean and her village. 

So what would happen to Moana and the village? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

I was actually rather surprised that a live action adaptation was already done on that wonderful animation movie also titled Moana since it was only 10 years ago. Although it might seem quite long, but I remembered a lot of the scenes and story in that film and apparently a lot of people were feeling the same way too. Nevertheless, since I was fond of the movie and my wife is also a fan of Disney's films, we were still interested in seeing it. Turned out we were still entertained by the film and had good time seeing this. 

It was a joy listening to the songs in here, especially How Far I'll Go which always got my wife teary eyed and that catchy tune You're Welcome, although I still did not really like the song Shiny. Most importantly though, I remembered that the adventure and chemistry between Moana and Maui were the things which made me had enjoyable time. Plus as a musical, this one did not have constant singing every few minutes which was something that musical fans would love but not exactly for me. 

Aside from Dwayne Johnson, only Jemaine Clement (A Minecraft Movie, The BFG etc) reprised his role as the voice of Tamatoa giant crab while the rest were recast. Alan Tudyk who provided the voice of Heihei in the animated version did not appear in here. As for Catherine Laga'aia who played Moana in her first feature film debut, I think it was the perfect choice as she looked like what Moana would be if she was real person. The movie itself was directed by Thomas Kai (Hamilton, Fosse/Verdon TV series) based on screenplay by Dana Ledoux Miller and Jared Bush (who also did writing for Zootopia 2 and the animated Moana movies).

The film had duration of 115 minutes including very long closing credits. To my surprise, it had an Indonesian song titled "Sepanjang Jalan" by Lyodra, Amora Lemos and Silet Open Up which apparently was adapted from "Along the Way" originally written by Lin-Manuel Miranda who wrote the songs for the movie. Not sure why though but my wife and I did not feel the song to be a nice one, perhaps we need to listen to the original (sung by Catherine Laga'aia, Dwayne Johnson and the voice of Moana animated film Auliʻi Cravalho). Btw, unlike the animated version, this one did not have any post end credit scene.

Sadly though, critics were not really impressed with the movie and audience were also divided with most citing the shot-for-shot remake and the lack of nostalgic feel. I was in agreement with the nostalgic feel, but I think it did not make the film became less enjoyable just because of having very similar take. As for my wife, even though she did not fully remember the whole story but her favorite part was the songs and both of us still laughed out loud at the humor (especially looking at Heihei). Oh the special effects were also pretty amazing, which would explain the very big budget to produce the movie. However, whether this one would be able to match the animated Box Office performance remained to be seen. So if you like the animated movie Moana and wanted to see its live action adaptation, then you can certainly give this a try. But if you have problem with totally similar shot-for-shot remake, then odds are you would not like this one. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars