Moana Remake Reviews Debut To A Paltry 36 Percent On Rotten Tomatoes

Moana (2026), not to be confused with Moana (2016), hits theaters this week, the former being the latest in a long line of often controversial live-action remakes of classic animated Disney movies. Controversial because a lot of people don't really understand why most of these remakes need to exist, and the review scores suggest people are going to think that about Moana more than any other Disney remake so far.

Moana Debuts To Dire Review Scores

The Moana remake has debuted with a score of 36 on Rotten Tomatoes. You don't need me to tell you that's not only pretty poor, but downright disastrous. It makes it one of the worst-rated movies of the year so far, and even worse, one of the worst-reviewed Disney remakes to date.

Although Rotten Tomatoes has a few live-action Disney movies with lower scores in its rankings of every single one, there is technically just one among the traditional like-for-like remakes that has a worse score, and that's Pinocchio. The live-action Pinocchio movie was released in 2022 and has a score of just 29.

I have no memory of that movie even happening. Now I know why.

To give you an idea of just how bad the Moana remake is, according to critics, some of the Disney remakes to score more highly include Dumbo, Aladdin, Lilo & Stitch, and Lady and the Tramp, another live-action version I wasn't aware of until this morning. Moana couldn't even register a better score than 2025's Snow White, a film that was dubbed one of the worst movies of the year and a new low for Disney's incessant push to give every last one of its animated classics the live-action treatment.

Is It Better Than A Minecraft Movie, Though?

Jack Black as Steve in A Minecraft Movie.

Since this is a video game website, let's compare the new Moana movie's lowly RT score to some recent video game adaptations, another trend Hollywood is far too interested in right now, because money. It's a whole 11 points worse than A Minecraft Movie, significantly lower than both Mario movies that, despite their commercial success, have been critically panned, and way off Sonic's pace with all three of the blue blur's movies scoring in the '90s.

Yes, they really are that good. You can trust me, I have a Sonic tattoo.

So, does this finally spell the end for Disney's live-action remake train? Sadly, probably not. Even when these movies don't sit well with reviewers, people still go to the theaters in their droves to see them because, well, they're remakes of Disney movies they love. There's a chance the Moana remake turns the tide, and its box office numbers reflect its review scores. We won't have a better idea of whether that's going to happen or not until Monday, when the numbers for its opening weekend are revealed.