UPDATE: Fans give Moana an A- CinemaScore, while the Rotten Tomatoes Score is in, and it’s just as bad as the first reactions.
First reactions are in for Disney’s live-action Moana, and they confirm what the tracking has been telling us for weeks: nobody asked for this one.
The social embargo lifted following this week’s world premiere — where Dwayne Johnson made more headlines talking Indiana Jones than Maui — and the verdicts range from lukewarm to outright hostile.
The Thomas Kail-directed remake stars Catherine Laga’aia as Moana with Johnson reprising Maui from the 2016 animated original, and the same two words keep coming up: “soulless” and “cash grab.”
“A shot-for-shot, line-by-line remake without a single original idea. A creatively bankrupt cash grab with ZERO interesting direction. They don’t innovate; they imitate,” says entertainment journalist Jonathan Sim. “Why watch this when Moana (2016) is on Disney+?! A soulless, miserable financial decision. SKIP!”
Next Best Picture’s Matt Neglia went even further, calling out the production itself: “The visuals are so flat, with a heavy reliance on green-screen use and CGI for so many of its locations, water effects, creatures, and even the musical numbers, that it all comes across as soulless and inauthentic. Dwayne Johnson’s inherent charm is weakened by his distracting fake body suit, and Catherine Laga’aia holds her own despite Johnson’s outsized presence, but isn’t able to leave much of an impression beyond showcasing her lovely singing voice, as the film is too derivative of the original to allow her to distinguish herself.”
Discussing Film’s Tyler Llewyn Taing says the remake takes “one of Disney’s most vibrant films of the revival era and turns it into one of the ugliest movies of the year,” adding, “it just doesn’t even pretend to have any new ideas.”
Bleeding Cool’s Kaitlyn Booth is asking the obvious question: “How they managed to make one of the most beautiful locations on Earth ugly, I will never know, but here we are.”
Gizmodo’s Germain Lussier offers this pitch: “If you’re curious what Moana would be like slower, darker & less whimsical, boy, have I got a movie for you.” And FandomWire’s Cole Groth lands where the rest of us already are: “as with every Disney remake, I ask: what’s the point?”
Even the positive reactions come with an asterisk
The kindest thing anyone can say is that it’s not the worst one of these Disney has made.
“It’s definitely one of the better Disney LA remakes (not saying much but it’s true),” says The Nerds of Color, who still open with the word “unnecessary.”
Journalist Fabrício Girão calls it “the most copy and paste Disney remake yet, repeating exact lines and shots from the original,” while conceding it “isn’t a disaster like other Disney adaptations.”
Mama’s Geeky’s Tessa Smith is the genuine outlier: “Honestly a little surprised to admit how much I enjoyed the live-action Moana. Catherine Laga’aia does a great job continuing the legacy (& has incredible comedic chemistry with Dwayne Johnson).”
The one thing nearly every reaction agrees on, pans included: Laga’aia is not the problem. “Catherine is great.” “Holds her own.” “Laga’aia innocent.” Disney found its star — then handed her a photocopy.
Zero seats sold for Thursday previews
The reactions land on top of commercial signals that were already flashing red.
A Cosmic Book News spot check of Fandango listings shows zero seats sold for Thursday’s premium format preview screenings in our area — less than 36 hours before showtime, for a four-quadrant Disney tentpole.
That matches what we’ve been reporting: pre-release tracking has shown opening interest flatlining, following a trailer rollout that got buried in YouTube dislikes.
Now the first-look word of mouth is “skip it, the original is on Disney+” — a pitch Disney can’t exactly rebut, since the 2016 film has spent years parked at the top of Nielsen’s most-streamed movie charts and Moana 2 cleared $1 billion worldwide less than two years ago.
The audience for this story is enormous. It’s just already been served.
One weekend before The Odyssey
Moana opens Friday, July 10, with previews Thursday night, and it gets exactly one weekend before Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey seizes the premium screens on July 17, a film that was selling out IMAX 70mm showtimes a year in advance. However, the Nolan film is also getting severe backlash.
If families don’t show up immediately, there is no runway.
Disney’s remake strategy has become a coin flip: Lilo & Stitch crossed $1 billion last year while Snow White couldn’t crack $210 million worldwide.
Moana was supposed to be the safe bet — greenlit less than seven years after the original hit theaters, the fastest turnaround of any Disney live-action remake. Based on these reactions, “fast” may have been the whole creative brief.
Preview numbers hit Friday morning. We’ll have them.
