Age Recommendation: 6+ (some scenes may be scary for small children)
After some considerable backlash from fans concerning the significant deviation from the original source material, Disney decided to try their hand at another shot for shot remake. Featuring the same songs, same characters, same dialogue, and same plot, and even some of the same actors as its 2016 counterpart, audiences are rightly questioning the point of “re-imagining” something that hit theaters only ten years ago. If you did not like the original for any reason, I would skip this film. If you did like the original for any reason, I would skip this film. Unfortunately, the visual effects and acting were so bad I was physically cringing in the theater most of the time.
As one would expect, all of the scenes in the ocean were shot in a studio in Atlanta due to the unpredictability of the ocean, and since about 60% of the movie takes place at sea, you can imagine how complicated it would have been to create a dynamic and realistic background.
I’m pretty sure one of the producers for the film was sitting at home wondering how on earth he was going to pull this off when he pulled out his iPhone camera, scrolled through the settings, landed on portrait mode, and went “Aha! I have the solution! We’ll just blur the background so we don’t have to pay any attention to detail at all!”
I wish I could tell you it wasn’t true, but I noticed that the background was blurred about halfway through the movie, and I only noticed it more and more after that, and it completely ruined the whole movie for me.
While the acting was also pretty bad, I am going to blame the extremely mediocre acting on the editing and camera work. This is how I imagine the actress playing Moana, Catherine Laga’aia, spent a day in the studio…
Camera Man: “Action”
Laga’aia: (3-second line)
Camera Man: “Cut! Alright, let’s do the next line”
For all I know, Laga’aia could’ve spent maybe two or three days in the same room as Dwayne Johnson (reprising his role as Maui) based on how many shots the two of them had in the same frame. Additionally, most of the shots were from the shoulders up, making any acting via physicality and body language almost impossible. I honestly feel bad for Laga’aia, who is making her acting debut with Moana, and in my opinion she was set up for failure due to the atrocious editing choices. Editing choices aside, the Chief completely lacked gravitas and authority, the Grandma was boring, Moana was stiff, and Maui felt like cheap cosplay. I have nothing else to say on this subject.
The casting crew should be embarrassed. The director should be embarrassed.
Honestly, I could probably go on for another four or five paragraphs trashing this movie (don’t even get me started on the autotune), but the reason why I am so mad is because I feel that the Disney magic has been shattered. Disney has never been famous for coming up with original source material. Almost all of Disney’s animated classics are based on books or fairytales, and in their early days, they also reused a lot of animation, drawings, and voice actors. A great example is Phil Harris who voiced Baloo the Bear in The Jungle Book (1967), Thomas O’Malley in Aristocats (1970), and Little John in Robin Hood (1973). Disney magic doesn’t come from inventive stories--that’s Pixar’s job--it comes from the feeling of being transported into the world of the characters, the feeling that inspires little girls to believe that the ocean can dance. If the point of a live action adaptation of Moana was to bring the animated world to life, they failed miserably. The close-ups, short takes, and unbelievable CGI constantly reminded me that I was watching a movie and not imagining myself at sea with Moana and Maui, which is what I would like to be experiencing while watching a Disney classic.
I get it. Not everyone is a film nerd, not everyone is evaluating how well the actor did or the quality of the camera work. I also like to just settle in and watch a familiar movie without my ‘critic’ glasses on, but when it is so bad that I can’t enjoy the movie, I start to get frustrated. I know that families are searching for a safe movie to take their kids to, but I beg you to refrain from supporting something that is, frankly, an insult to the art form.
Set up a movie night and watch the animated film at home, which is much more magical and charming.
About what I expected-- Walt must be rolling in his grave.
I always found it funny and charming when they would reuse some of the same animation from one movie to the next. It was almost like a game for me, to try and figure out which ones were the same to which other movies.
Ain’t nothing funny or charming about these live action remakes.