Moana is the latest live-action Disney remake to hit theaters and, so far, it isn’t quite making waves as the studio would’ve hoped. Early reactions to the film were mostly negative, and that mostly continued when the formal reviews were released shortly after. Reports also point to the film having a tepid opening weekend at the box office. As of this writing, none of the cast or crew have formally responded to the less-than-positive responses to the movie. Before all that, though, the director did weigh in on reading reviews in general.
Thomas Kail is Moana’s director and, over the last several months, he’s spoken enthusiastically about his remake of the beloved animated 2016 film. While doing press for the fantasy flick, Kail spoke to Variety and was asked for his take on reading reviews of his work. What needs to be pointed out is that it’s unclear whether the Hamilton helmer shared his thoughts before he caught wind of the reactions to his 2026 movie schedule entry. Regardless, his perspective on film criticism is quite level-headed:
I get the gist of things. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I learned early on that getting a sense of a conversation was enough for me. I want as many people as possible to watch the movie, and I love making things for people. If that can be a tool to get people to watch it, great. But I also feel like there’s lots of ways to reach the people.
So Kail is definitely aware of the critics’ reviews and seems to get a general idea of how they’re feeling. However, it sounds like he doesn’t dwell on the responses regardless of how they shake out. That’s probably a smart way to approach the critiques, as a filmmaker may not want to get in their head about them, whether they’re good or bad. I like the idea of a director just releasing their movie into the wild and simply allowing audiences to take it for what they perceive it to be.
As far as the live-action Moana movie goes, pundits haven’t been kind, with many referring to the remake as “unnecessary.” As it stands, the movie has a 34% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, but a 90% audience score on the site as well. There has been praise for the performance of lead actress Catherine Laga’aia, her chemistry with returning Maui actor Dwayne Johnson and the film’s songs. However, the consensus seems to be that the new movie pales in comparison to its critically acclaimed predecessor.
Something that a number of Disney fans have seemingly questioned is whether it was necessary to make a live-action Moana movie a little less than a decade after the OG flick. Andrew Cripps, Walt Disney Studios’ Head Of Theatrical Distribution, addressed that and argued that due to the film’s large fanbase, the studio wasn’t risking saturation. Ahead of that, Kail also admitted to be cognizant of how the OG film “is in people’s molecules” at this point, but he still felt he could put a fresh spin on the story.
Likewise, Dwayne Johnson has also pushed back against the notion of this remake having been produced too early. This was something of a passion project for Johnson, who took extreme care (alongside Kail) in making sure that the franchise’s authentic approach to Polynesian culture remained intact.
It now remains to be seen whether Thomas Kail might feel compelled to give a formal response to the Moana reviews. However, if he stands by his rationale on film criticism, the public probably shouldn’t expect him to do that. For now, though, audiences can make up their own mind on the movie by checking it out in theaters. Anyone with a Disney+ subscription can also stream the 2016 movie along with its 2024 sequel.
