I Just Watched Disney’s New Live-Action ‘Moana’ with My 8-Year-Old—Here’s His Surprising Review

I’ll admit that Moana—the original animated Disney film—is a mainstay in my household.

The film, which first debuted in 2016, was something we introduced to my then-2-year-old son during the pandemic in 2020. At the time, he was only brave enough to watch the first 15-ish minutes or so (basically, as long as Moana was still a toddler, he was fine), but endlessly playing the Lin-Manuel Miranda-written soundtrack helped him build up his courage. He fell hard for “Shiny,” then Tamatoa—the scene-stealing crab (voiced by Jermaine Clement) behind the catchy David Bowie-inspired anthem—and the rest is history. To this day, my son counts Moana as his #2 favorite film. (The #1 slot goes to The Nightmare Before Christmas, FYI.)

Fast-forward to now, and you can imagine my family’s delight when Disney announced a live-action remake of the beloved film, arriving nearly a decade after the original debuted. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson would return as Maui. Lin-Manuel Miranda had written a brand-new song. It was hitting theaters just as summer began. My now-8-year-old was beside himself with anticipation. We snagged tickets for opening day.

I’ll admit that I couldn’t help myself and peeked at a few early reviews, which were a bit womp-womp. Some called the film a carbon copy of the original. Others—like this one from Variety—were more positive, dubbing it Disney’s first live-action re-make that truly works.

My mom perspective (and that of my 8-year-old) aligns with the latter. In fact, I think that faithfulness isn’t a flaw—it’s the feature. Watching a movie we’ve seen what feels like thousands of times (contributing to the more than 1.5 billion hours it’s been streamed in total on Disney+) remain so true to the original while still feeling new on the big screen made me realize: that’s exactly the point.

I also wasn't expecting the live-action version to deepen the emotional impact. My son briefly said he felt scared when Chief Tui (John Tui) raises his voice. He’d deny it, but he also started blinking non-stop and wiping his eyes during the part when Moana finally returns the Heart of Te Fiti to its rightful owner. (For the record, I sob during that scene every single time.) Bottom line: The actual story of Moana has always been rock solid, and it translates beautifully to live action.

My son’s favorite part? It was Tamatoa—who still appears animated—hands-down. I was partial to the scene featuring the battle with the Kakamora. But I was also thrilled beyond measure by that new Lin-Manuel Miranda song. (It’s called, “Along the Way,” and features the voices of both Laga’aia and the original Moana, played by Auli’i Cravalho.) Let’s just say, after this past weekend, it’s already on track to be a top-played tune of the year.

We walked out of the theater debating our favorite scenes and humming the new song (OK, that was mainly me). If the biggest complaint is that Disney stayed too close to the original, I’d argue that’s exactly why this remake succeeds. For longtime fans, it preserves everything that made Moana special while creating just enough magic to leave my 8-year-old buzzing. (He also is already asking to go back to the theater for round two.)