TL;DR – For better or worse, it is almost beat-for-beat the same film as 2016.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Moana Review Introduction

Well, here we are with a live-action remake of an animated film that was only released ten years ago. Disney’s track record with live-action remakes is not great, and that is before we even consider the ones they quietly dumped onto Disney+ like straight-to-DVD sequels. Which puts me in a kind of odd situation, as I am on record with how much I like the original Moana; indeed, it is still one of My Personal Top 10 Animated Films of All Time, and I even kind of liked the flawed sequel. However, last year’s How to Train Your Dragon showed that you can make that transition work, so I am here to see if You’re Welcome lands as well in 2026 as it did in 2016.  

So, to set the scene, deep in the Pacific Ocean, the demi-god Maui (Dwayne Johnson) attempted to harness the power of life from the goddess Te Fiti. He steals her heart, but instead of having the power over life, Maui is instantly defeated by the lava demon Te Kā and the heart and his magical fishing hook are flung into the ocean, separating Maui from his power and releasing death into the ocean. Or at least that’s the story that Tala (Rena Owen) tells to scare the children of the village, but it has been so many years since then, and surely these are just stories. But it is these stories that drive Moana (Catherine Laga’aia) to see what exists outside the reef that rings her island; however, her father Tui (John Tui), the chief, has banned people from leaving the island and the protection of the reef because of the dangers that lurk in the open ocean. But when death and disease come to her island, Moana will have to make a journey past what she knows and into the great abyss that surrounds every island.