2016's Moana took us on a journey, following a young Polynesian woman venturing further into the ocean than anybody on her island has before in pursuit of restoring the heart of Te Fiti, with the reluctant help of the demigod of the wind and seas, Maui. Through this mission, they encounter dangerous tides and even deadlier foes, all while the titular character finds her own purpose. The core of this movie, however - what makes it so great - is its genuine love and appreciation for Polynesian culture. This is also a big reason for the failure that was Moana 2, as it didn't show this same love.
Now, about 10 years after the original, we're returning to the island of Motonui, now in the form of live-action - being the fastest turnaround for one of these remakes, by far. Unfortunately, as far as Disney live-action remakes go, this is quite good. Even though that may not be the highest of bars, what holds this up is that it still includes such a love for this culture. I say this is unfortunate because it'll likely send the wrong message. If this does well, which it will, Disney will inevitably see it as a sign to keep making these remakes, which is something that shouldn't continue.
I'll start with the changes that made this movie worse than the original, of which there really aren't many - at least worth mentioning. In the 2016 movie, during the song Where You Are, as Moana is shown to accept where she lives and her responsibilities, she is also constantly drawn to the ocean - her true calling. Near the end of this song, Moana goes through a ceremony to be inducted as the next chief, and as this unfolds, she catches a glimpse of Grandma Tala dancing with the waves, through the trees. We see that Moana feels that she should be beside Tala, yet knows that she must stay where she is. During this small moment, we're shown the internal battle that Moana suffers through the entire first act.
In this remake, we don't see this at all. Moana goes through this induction, yet doesn't see Grandma Tala. While this may seem like a small thing to miss out on, this develops both Moana and Tala's relationship with the ocean, as well as each other in some small way. Leaving this out feels like missing quite a large part of the puzzle.
Another, much smaller, critique on Grandma Tala is during the scene after Moana first goes beyond the reef and crashes her boat. In this scene, Moana is desperately trying to make Tala tell her something she wants to hear, which is to persevere in her mission to go beyond the reef. Tala knows this and refuses, making Moana face her own feelings about this mission. In this remake, the way that Tala delivers these lines, it feels as if she is telling Moana this, rather than hinting towards it and making Moana do the hard work. Also, during this same scene, Grandma Tala tells Moana that she wants to reincarnate as a manta ray and dances with a few in the ocean. Something I felt was missing was that these rays are simply swimming near in this scene, rather than circling Tala, like in the original. While this is quite a small detail to miss, it also seems to miss the spiritual connection that Tala has with these animals.
Even though there may not be many big negative changes from the original, is that a good thing? While these remakes have absolutely no justification for existing - especially so close to the original - they can at least act as a way for the filmmakers to improve upon the story in some small way. No change in this movie feels like an improvement.
A lot of this simply felt like it was exactly the original, except it lacked flavour. A lot of the first act, where Moana is on her island, lacked a lot of the beautiful colour grading that the original had, turning this paradise into a regular place. These beautiful purple hues in the original sell the need for Moana's mission so much more, as they are reduced and soon to be gone. This remake seems to already have this beauty removed. Any scenes that did include this colour grading, namely atop their mountain, seemed to be filmed on The Volume.
The Volume is a production studio which uses 270-degree wraparound LED screens, replacing the need for green screen. This was used a lot on the set of The Mandalorian and seems to suck all life from any scene it's used for. While much of this movie was filmed in Hawaii, it's hard not to notice when it switches to The Volume, with the camera's focus causing anything other than a single actor on screen to be blurred.
Dwayne Johnson was the obvious pick to play Maui, as the animated design was heavily inspired by his own physique, and his face and hair were directly based on Johnson's grandfather. However, it seemed that at times he would be playing Dwayne Johnson as Maui. That may sound silly, but I just found that he never sank into this character or felt believable, often seeming like he was acting ironically. On the other side of this, however, Moana's actress - Catherine Laga'aia - filled the void left by Auli'i Cravalho incredibly well.
Unfortunately, due to this being incredibly unoriginal, it's completely impossible for any surprises to actually surprise the audience. Especially due to such a small gap between movies, any kind of twist like Maui returning in the final fight, him sacrificing his hook, Te Kā being Te Fiti, or Te Fiti returning Maui's hook is completely ruined. Anybody that will have watched this movie will have already seen the original, causing any rush from this third act to be taken away completely. The main problem is that they're unable to actually change it much without doing the original a disservice, but if that's the case, why remake it at all?