Disney's 'dismal' live-action Moana panned by critics

Image source, Walt Disney Image caption, Dwayne Johnson reprises his role as demigod Maui in the live-action remake of Moana By Annabel Rackham Culture reporter Published 6 minutes ago Disney has once again taken one of its biggest animated hits of recent years and turned it into a live-action remake - but the new take on 2016's Moana has been panned by most critics. Dwayne Johnson reprises his role as demigod Maui, with 19-year-old Australian-Samoan newcomer Catherine Laga'aia playing Moana, the teen daughter of a Polynesian chief. However, the movie, which was released on Friday, has been described in reviews as "flat", "dull" and "dismal". There were some more positive voices, including Variety's Owen Gleiberman , external , who said it "escapes the remake blues - in fact it soars above them". Image source, Walt Disney Image caption, Catherine Laga'aia takes on the lead of Moana in the live-action film Gleiberman added that the film "truly delivers 'Moana' - the beauty, the comic personality, the fairy-tale enchantment", and described Johnson's "fit" for the film as "perfect". Peter Bradshaw is disagreed in The Guardian , external , calling the film a "competent but pointless and unexciting back-to-basics live-action remake" in his two-star review. He said Johnson's performance was "on autopilot, like a piece of software" and criticised the use of CGI, which he said was "so deeply embedded" it feels like "another animation". Bradshaw ended his review by saying it "feels like a superfluous piece of monetisable content". The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey , external called Moana "a waste of everyone's time and talent" in her one-star review. "Is the situation really so dire that we'll now accept Dwayne Johnson repeating the exact same voice performance he gave a decade ago?" she wrote. She also criticised the animated feel of the movie, writing: "Supposedly, some scenes were shot on location in Hawaii and not in a studio in Atlanta - I couldn't tell you which." Image source, Walt Disney Image caption, The film has been criticised for leaning heavily on CGI and animation, despite being billed as live-action Empire's John Nugent , external said Johnson's character "feels like an AI interpretation", and to call the film "live action feels like a misnomer" because of the heavy use of animation. His two-star review said the remake feels "so pointless" when the original film was "a fun, funny, poignant coming-of-age yarn with fantastic music and a winning Polynesian spin on the Disney Princess template". Kevin Maher from The Times , external said 54-year-old Johnson was "three decades too old to play Maui", with "his performance oddly lacklustre and restrained". Maher, in his one-star review, also described the film as "a lazy cash grab for shareholders". "This live-action remake takes everything that was sprightly, expansive and ambitious [from the original] and makes it leaden, limited and dull," he wrote. 'Could have been AI' The Telegraph's Robbi