A mere 10 years after the Oscar-nominated animation first set sail for heart-tugging adventure, a spirited live-action version of Moana adopts the almost-shot-for-shot approach of the recent How To Train Your Dragon remake with similarly crowd-pleasing results.
Splashy in every sense, director Thomas Kail’s harpoons the same emotional beats as its predecessor and welcomes back Dwayne Johnson as amusingly self-absorbed demi-god Maui replete with sentient tattoos that act as his conscience.
Self-deprecation, giggles and tightly curled locks? You’re welcome!
Spirited chieftain’s daughter Moana Waialiki (Catherine Laga’aia) has been groomed since birth to lead her people on the lush South Pacific island of Motunui and proudly continue the legacy of her father (John Tui).
However, Moana feels a strong calling to the sea and the girl’s wise grandmother, Tala (Rena Owen), fills the youngster’s head with wild stories about demi-god Maui (Johnson), who stole the heart of the island goddess Te Fiti and lost this precious green stone during a battle with ferocious lava demon Te Ka.
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Chief Tui and his wife Sina (Frankie Adams) urge Moana to put her people before her personal ambitions but Tala sympathises with her granddaughter’s inner turmoil.
“Sometimes, who we wish we were and who we need to be, they don’t match up,” counsels the elder.
As Tala’s time on the island nears its end, the grandmother urges Moana to seek out Maui, return Te Fiti’s missing heart and restore prosperity to the island before an insidious darkness infects all crops on the island.
This daring odyssey takes Moana far from home in the company of comically clumsy rooster Heihei. Along the way, Moana and Maui descend into the realm of monsters to pull wool over the googly eyes of giant crab Tamatoa (voiced by Jemaine Clement).
Moana is anchored by newcomer Laga’aia’s luminous portrayal of the resourceful heroine. She has a sparkling voice for solos and catalyses delightful screen chemistry with Johnson and Owen.
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The intergenerational heartache is sensitively handled when Tala’s benevolent spirit manifests as a manta ray.
Original songs written by Mark Mancina, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Opetaia Foaʻi, including How Far I’ll Go, You’re Welcome and Where You Are, warrant energetically staged set pieces.
Shiny welcomes back Clement as the trinket-obsessed crustacean whose crowning lyrical glory remains rhyming demi-god with decapod.
Miranda contributes a new song, Along The Way, which washes pleasantly over the end credits.
Returning screenwriter Jared Bush and co-writer Dana Ledoux Miller retain some original lines of dialogue, but they also cut loose gags that haven’t aged well and mine fresh humour
Returning screenwriter Jared Bush and co-writer Dana Ledoux Miller retain some original lines of dialogue - “If you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, you’re a princess!” - but they also cut loose gags that haven’t aged well and mine fresh humour, like when Maui considers fattening up Heihei as a tasty snack on the high seas:
“His name is Yum-Yum when he goes in my tum tum!”
As digitally rendered flesh and feathers, the live action version of the rooster is even more ha-ha and ho-ho performing the same impeccably timed visual gags.
Hamilton director Kail maintains an even keel through each gathering storm of dizzying digital effects.
Rating: 4/5
Moana (PG, 115 mins) is in cinemas now
