Live Action Moana Trailer

https://youtu.be/n7f6hlKsxxo?si=a3-uxJs9pLPc4pJ_

Just saw this trailer and for me, there is a lot of doubt in my opinion.

I will start with the positives, Disney always seems to pull out the wins when it comes to featuring the ocean.  It’s inviting and vibrant and makes you want to dive into the adventure that they’ve put in front of you.  From the waves to the sea creatures, it all looks very natural and the animals don’t have the CGI feeling to it that I think the live action The Lion King had.  These animals look realistic without going overboard with trying to make them too accurate to where they don’t have that Disney magic to them.  The ocean is blue and crystal and is very close to the original animated film.

I also love how they are going to explore more of Moana’s family and her leadership towards her people.  We do see her journey when it comes to becoming that explorer for her community.  However, in this movie I think they are going to explore that history more and I do think it should be touched upon because it’s a pivotal moment that Moana discovers and should be explored more than in 2/3 of the movie.

Now for the negatives: this is going to sound controversial but Dwayne the Rock Johnson as a live action Maui.  Don’t get me wrong, there is no one else that can play this character.  However, the character has a bigger than life personality and based on the trailer, The Rock failed to capture that.  Though, I do like that they kept the animation for his tattoo version of him.  It shows more personality and depth from the character and I’m glad they kept that in the live action film.  However, when he said his spiel, there was no facial change when he said it.  The voice may has changed but there was no life or presence when delivering the line.

While there are some redeeming qualities to this live action movie, I still have my doubts.