Disney‘s live-action versions of popular animated movies are controversial at the best of times. From The Lion King to Snow White, the remakes have routinely been criticised by fans of the originals with complaints often focusing on the heavy use of CGI and a loss of the charm of the original animation.
Even with that track record, Disney’s upcoming Moana remake has been greeted by a particularly harsh reception. From the ‘washed out colours’ to The Rock’s hilarious wig, the trailer’s sparked suggestions that the movie looks like an AI-generated parody.
Much of the Moana trailer controversy revolves around Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s uncanny look. The former WWE wrestler voiced Maui in the animated movies and he’s back to play the character in the live-action remake. That involves donning a ridiculous wig for a performance that’s being compared to a “T-Mobile commercial” or a Saturday Night Live skit.
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Some fans note that The Rock appears to have come in for some heavy CGI enhancements, including, it seems, the removal of his nipples, to make him more resemble the animated Maui’s. That’s leading some to wonder why make live action and then try to make it look like a cartoon.
Again, the amount of CGI work is leading some Disney fans to question whether the movie counts as ‘live action’.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars wasted so Dwayne Johnson can don a terrible wig and deliver the same lines but with worse timing. New low for the corporate slopmongers,” wrote James Phyrillas AKA Schaffrillas Productions, known for his Disney video essays on YouTube.
Other criticisms levelled at the Moana trailer focus on the backlighting and the colours. Some fans suggest that the colour grading looks too washed out for the story’s Polynesian setting.
“Shooting even one second of a Polynesian-set movie in Atlanta should be a jailable offense,” one fan wrote on X, in reference to Disney’s use of Trilith Studios in Fayettevill. (Some scenes were filmed in Hawaii, but a lot of shots appear to have used green screen).
literally just sucked up all the color this is awful https://t.co/5T62X8rdH7 pic.twitter.com/PAMcFhPK7pMarch 23, 2026
are they shooting on the volume? is that why half of the trailer looks like this? jesus pic.twitter.com/dwvzTVuSbFMarch 23, 2026
The trailer’s visuals are also being compared to the Nvidia DLSS 5 controversy.
DLSS 5 Off VS. DLSS 5 On https://t.co/OasFgTjTXY pic.twitter.com/jX0ZsQWXqsMarch 23, 2026
For others, it’s simply ‘too soon’ for a Moana remake when the original animated movie was only released in November 2016. It seems Disney’s keen to build on the momentum after Moana 2 in 2024.
The trailer isn’t all bad. It’s nice to see the casting of Polynesian actress Catherine Laga’aia in the lead role. It’s also hardly surprising for a live action movie to use a lot of CGI these days (see the recent controversy about why, supposedly, CGI looks worse now than 20 years ago).
Perhaps Disney’s inviting criticism with its insistence on using the term ‘live-action reimagining’. Would it be better to consider this kind of movie as a fusion of animation and live action?
Will this be one to add to our list of the times when Disney live-action character designs upset fans? Let me know what you think in the comments below.