Moana 2026 Helps You Understand the Place of Live Action Remakes

Moana might just be Lin-Manuel Miranda’s best work. And yes, I’ve listened to Hamilton on repeat, and yes, I do talk about Bruno. It’s been 10 years since Moana and its soundtrack filled our house for weeks and weeks. Moana is about as perfect as an animated feature gets, and there’s really no improving on perfection. That’s why, as much as my family loves Moana, its sequel in 2024 was a massive disappointment.

The Lin-Manuel Miranda-less follow-up had all the hallmarks of a money grab, an unnecessary sequel made to capitalize on Disney’s property rather than actually advance the story or enrich the world. Frozen 2 was a shameless money grab, too, but at least they brought in the same people to make the music and the story. A live action version of Moana coming a mere 10 years later seems a little excessive in Disney’s live action remake machine, so the Moana fan in me was—I have to confess—prepared to hate it.

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First of all, replacing Auliʻi Cravalho was terrifying. Auli’i was already the perfect Moana. But Auli’i, who voiced the future village chief of Motunui when she was 14 or 15, is now 25. Recasting was the only choice, otherwise it would’ve been as awkward and egregious as a 27-year old Ben Platt playing a 17-year old Evan Hansen. So, fine. Let’s recast.

The good news is that newcomer Catherine Laga’aia is wonderful. The English-Samoan hails from Australia and is a real darling who’s pretty much Moana come to life, which is half the job of a live action remake. It also comes as a very pleasant surprise that Cravalho is on board as Executive Producer, so OG Moana fans can rest easy.

On the flip side, there’s Dwayne Johnson, whom you can’t recast but is arguably the weakest part of the film not because of his voice—I mean, his Maui is very nearly as iconic as the late Robin Williams’ Genie in Aladdin—but because he looks like … himself. Dwayne Johnson always plays a version of Dwayne Johnson in every film he’s in with the exception of The Smashing Machine and maybe Black Adam, and his live action Maui is no different, terrible wig notwithstanding. Maui’s round face and wide, heavyset build getting replaced by Johnson’s narrow face and bodybuilder physique is jarring and unpleasant. The voice is the same, but for fans of the original, this Maui will feel just a little off.

But what makes Moana truly great is the perfect blend of a timeless story and Miranda’s exceptional soundtrack. At some point during the film, I found myself enjoying far more than I expected and I realized it was because the story is exactly the same and the songs are just slightly different versions of the songs I already love.

That’s when it clicked: live action remakes have a place in storytelling the same way different, timeless stories appear in different media. Listening to Moana 2026 is just like enjoying the Les Misérables 40th Anniversary All-Star Cast recording while still appreciating the experience of a performance on West End, or even the 2012 film in spite of Russell Crowe’s Javert.

Sometimes, stories need to be updated, the way 2025’s Snow White necessarily had to revise a creepy and stalker-ish Prince’s pursuit of a Snow White whose only goal in life is hypergamy, like a good little tradwife. Sometimes, stories need to be viewed from another lens, like 2021’s Cruella or 2014’s Maleficent. And then there are perfect stories that sometimes just need another version, like the live action How to Train Your Dragon, which was almost a shot-for-shot remake of the original. Because How to Train Your Dragon is among the best animated films ever made, it made very little sense to change anything about it, which made the live action version very nearly perfect.

This Moana is almost the same, with the exception of a smaller Maui (I’m fully aware of the irony in calling Dwayne Johnson small) and a less entertaining version of ‘Shiny.’ If you were afraid a live-action Moana would ruin the original, it doesn’t. It’s just another version to enjoy. In fact, arguably the only film that should never, ever be remade in any way, shape, or form is The Princess Bride.

When I say that Moana is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s crowning achievement, it’s also because he builds upon it with a new song in this version that flows perfectly with the rest of the original soundtrack. “Along the Way” plays during the end credits, so it doesn’t feel like it’s been tacked on or intrudes on the story the way Stephen Schwartz’s two new songs for Wicked For Good felt shoehorned into the narrative. Auli'i Cravalho also sings alongside Catherine Laga’aia, which makes it the perfect capstone for a genuinely reverential update. Disney’s trend of making localized versions are just a marketing gimmick, but “Along the Way” is such a good song that Kai Montinola’s rendition is all just good vibes.

Moana might not have been a necessary update the way other Disney remakes have been, but better, more thoughtful Pacific Islander representation is always a good thing. If live action Moana proves anything at all, we need all the good things we can get these days.