Date: Saturday, July 11th 2026
Time: 1:15pm
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Review/Discussion:
Going to be completely honest... I'm not going to have much to say about this. Because I already reviewed this movie before on this blog when the animated version first came out.
Was this remake necessary? Not really...
Is the issue the fact this came out a little too soon after the original version? That's definitely part of it.
When this project was originally announced, I was extremely skeptical because of how soon it was. And of course the big question was going to be who would be cast in this version.
The moment it was revealed that Dwayne Johnson would be back to play Maui IRL, I was sold on seeing it again.
Too soon or not, it was going to be a guaranteed good time because of how much we enjoyed the story and the characters.
The only other concern I had was whether there'd be any major differences from the original that would be to its detriment.
Like I said, I hadn't seen it in a couple years and I'd only seen Moana maybe 3-4 times including the theater trip nearly 10 years earlier. But to me, they didn't really change anything. Except for a few extra scenes on Motunui where we get to see more of Moana's village and a few lines changes here and there, it was almost a carbon copy.
First off, one neat extra they added was a slight change to the Disney studio intro graphic. They added Maui's fish hook in the stars. The native Hawaiian voices singing in stereo also sounded like it was something new that the original didn't have. The surround sound aspect of seeing this in a theater was a nice little bonus.
As good as the animation was, the visual effects for the live action version were one of its biggest highlights.
As far as comparing the two versions, deciding which one you like better comes down to line delivery. Certain lines of dialogue were just a lot funnier animated. Catherine Laga'aia did a really good job stepping into the title role but there were a few moments where her acting maybe felt a little wooden. I don't know. It's hard playing a live version of an animated character where a lot of the personality comes off in the animation and most attempts to deliver dialogue in the same way would've made her seem over the top.
It was great that they incorporated Maui's animated tattoos in this movie as well but again, that translated better when everything was animated.
It was fun re-experiencing this movie knowing what was coming up next. I gave the "Shiny" song a lot of grief the first time I saw it, but I was admittedly excited when it got to be that time... just to see how it would translate to this version and it was just as good if not better.
The one change I didn't like was the crab asking more than just "did you like the song?" There were one or two extra lines after that felt unnecessary. Jermaine Clement was the only other actor who came back to reprise their role and he also nailed.
And yes, Dwayne Johnson did Maui great once again. You can tell he really enjoyed doing this role. My dad read somewhere on the internet that he got a custom watch made special for him with a face plate that was inspired by Maui's tattoos. So clearly, it's something that meant a lot ot him and still does.
In the legion of Disney live action remakes, this was one of the better versions because they didn't mess around with it or try to do anything extra to appeal to some sort of agenda. It didn't necessary need to exist, at least not so soon after the original, but it's a good movie to see in a theater and get lost in the visuals.
One last cool thing they added was a new song from Lin-Manuel Miranda (who did the other songs in the movie) for the end credits. It's a duet between both Moana actresses, a nice way to include Auli'i Cravahlo in this project when she couldn't reprise the role in person.
Grade: B+ (I gave the original an A-)
Trailers:
At least there's no more Minions trailers because that movie is out now.
But it'd only been a couple weeks since we saw Toy Story 5 so there were a lot of repeat trailers. Paw Patrol, Not Alone, Hexed and the Gatto teaser... Hexed looks like it might be fun.
There was also a new trailer for Forgotten Island where they've introduced a new character with dog-like characteristics. I also realized I'd made a mistake and had been calling it "Forbidden Island" on all the other reviews... I'll go back and fix that soon.
Can't believe how much I want to see this movie and I'd been getting the name wrong for months :facepalm:
They teased a new Ice Age movie Boiling Point... really, it's just all the characters getting blasted toward the audience, including what appears to be the offspring of Scrat, the prehistoric squirrel that's been obsessed with the same acorn since 2002.
The two new ones were a new Cat in the Hat... I never saw the Mike Myers version (refused to, more like), so hopefully this one is better.
This version looks like they're taking the old story and flipping it on its head.
And the one non-animated trailer was for a new Fockers movie called Focker In-Law.
Whoever made the decision to include this trailer clearly forgot that Moana is a kid's movie. The whole joke about the guy's name is that it sounds like a word kids shouldn't know until they're old enough.
Here, Ariana Grande plays the perspective In-Law who's engaged to Greg's son. Apparently she has ties to the CIA just like DeNiro's character so naturally he likes her a lot. Given her whole persona and the kinds of characters she usually plays, this seems like a good departure for her.
I think I just saw the first two movies in the Focker franchise and it's been years...
No comments:
Post a Comment