Before the release of Dean Fleischer-Camp’s Lilo & Stitch earlier this year, a lot of people were asking whether it was too soon for Disney to be giving a movie released barely two decades ago the live-action treatment. Its $1 billion-plus box-office success then offered a pretty concrete answer: there’s no such thing as too soon when the House of Mouse senses it’s got a sure-fire hit on its hands. And so it is that today we’re getting our first look at Thomas Kail’s (Hamilton) live-action Moana, which is set to add another dimension to Disney’s animated 2016 juggernaut — this time with newcomer Catherine Laga’aia as the Polynesian (not) princess opposite a returning Dwayne Johnson’s trickster demigod Maui. Check out the teaser below;
Well first thing’s first, Moana certainly looks like Moana — and Catherine Laga’aia has certainly got the pipes (not to mention the curls) to do Auli’i Cravalho’s original wayfinder justice. Is it perhaps a little disorientating to see a live-action riff on a film whose animated counterpart got an also-animated sequel less than two years ago? Sure. But is there also something undeniably enticing about the prospect of seeing Dwayne Johnson’s shapeshifting demigod and Laga’aia’s bad-ass heroine doing their thing in a photorealistic epic adventure complete with Kakamora, bioluminescent manta rays, and an ocean that looks every bit as alluring and inviting and alive as it did in Ron Clements, Don Hall, and John Musker’s OG CG thrill-ride? We’d definitely say so.
Joining Laga’aia and Johnson for Kail’s live-action reimagining of Moana are John Tui as Moana’s father, Chief Tui; Frankie Adams as her mother, Sina; and Rena Owen, who’ll be bringing the rebellious heroine’s fan-favourite Gramma Tala to life in the film. We’ve no word yet on whether Jemaine Clement is going to be going full ping pong balls and mo-cap to reprise his role as Tamatoa in the movie just yet (fingers crossed!), but we won’t have to wait ages to see for ourselves. In fact, we’ll find out just how far Disney’s live-action Moana goes when it sails into cinemas on 10 July, 2026.
