UPDATE: Fans are taking a completely different approach from the critics and have awarded Moana an A- CinemaScore.
Moana is off to the worst Rotten Tomatoes start in the history of the franchise, and it isn’t close.
With the first 48 reviews counted, Disney’s live-action remake sits at 31%, officially Rotten, matching the brutal first reactions out of this week’s premiere. Just 15 of those 48 reviews landed Fresh.
The Popcornmeter sits empty until audiences get their shot at Thursday night previews.
That’s a long way down from the 2016 animated original, which holds a 95% critics score and 89% with audiences.
It’s also half the score of Moana 2, which sits at 61% (alongside a 95% audience score). The pattern is hard to miss: every Moana movie has now shed at least 30 points from the one before it.
It gets worse when you stack it against Disney’s other live-action remakes. At 31%, Moana lands below even last year’s Snow White disaster (38%), making it the worst-reviewed theatrical live-action remake the studio has ever put out, only the straight-to-Disney+ Pinocchio (27%) scores lower.
So the ten-year anniversary of one of modern Disney’s most beloved movies is being celebrated with its worst-reviewed entry.
What The Reviews Say
The big takeaway from the reviews is that this is barely a new movie. Critic after critic describes a shot-for-shot, line-for-line recreation of the 2016 film.
The second complaint is how it looks. Despite the “live-action” label, reviews describe a green-screen and CGI-heavy production that comes off flatter and uglier than the animation it’s copying, several critics argue it’s effectively just another animated movie, only worse.
The remake also runs 1 hour 55 minutes, eight minutes longer than the original it’s tracing.
Find out what the negative and positive reviews say below.
The Negative
The negative reviews are far more common, and they mostly land the same punch: there is no reason for this movie to exist. The UK press in particular was merciless, handing out a stack of 1- and 2-star reviews.
“All inventiveness has gone out to sea” – Associated Press
“So deeply embedded in CGI work as to be really another animation” – The Guardian
“Mostly, though, the film provokes only an exquisite form of agony” – The Times (UK)
“A lazy, lazy work that sullies the good name of ‘content'” – Irish Times
“Dwayne Johnson’s terrible wig is just one low point of a film that has all the visual allure of a Febreeze advert” – The Independent
The AV Club sums up where the critics have landed on the strategy itself: “Producing slower and uglier versions of movies we’ve already seen is solidifying as Disney’s core business, and if Moana still manages to be disappointing, it’s because the source material is just that good.”
The Positive
The Fresh reviews are the minority, and most of them come with the same caveat baked in: it’s unnecessary, but it’s a competent cover of a great song. Notably, both trades went Fresh, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter were kinder than almost everyone else.
“The remake of ‘Moana’ can’t, and shouldn’t, replace the original. But it earns a place alongside it” – Variety
“Much of the enjoyment comes from the scrappy rapport of the seemingly mismatched voyagers” – The Hollywood Reporter
“This version retells their story with sincerity, humor, and songs that remain among the all-time bangers” – RogerEbert.com
“Essentially a faithful cover of a classic song. It’s good for all the reasons the original song is good” – Nerdist
“If the animated movie didn’t already exist, this would be a triumph” – Screen Rant
“Moana contains no nightmare fuel on the level of 2025’s Snow White — which ends up being high praise for adaptations like these” – Consequence
When “at least it’s not Snow White” is the compliment, that tells you where the bar is.
The Box Office Problem
Normally, Disney could shrug this off. Moana 2 got roasted at 61% and audiences gave it a 95% and a billion dollars anyway. The difference is that Moana 2 had families lined up, this one doesn’t.
As we’ve been reporting, pre-release tracking shows opening interest flatlining, the trailers got buried in YouTube dislikes, and our own Fandango spot check found zero seats sold for Thursday’s premium format previews in our area.
A 31% score doesn’t create that problem, but it kills the last-minute “the reviews are great, let’s go” rescue, and with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey seizing the premium screens on July 17, there’s exactly one weekend of runway before the theaters move on.
The Popcornmeter is the next number to watch. If the audience score comes in soft too, this becomes Disney’s worst remake story since Snow White, with a fraction of the excuses.
Moana opens Friday, with previews Thursday night.
