Dwayne Johnson’s Full Maui Look Divides Audiences After New Moana Live-Action Trailer Debut

After playing the fan-favorite Maui demigod in the animated Moana (2016) and Moana 2 (2024), Johnson is reprising the role, this time in Disney’s live-action Moana remake. While Johnson is returning to the part of Maui, Catherine Laga’aia is playing Moana instead of Auliʻi Cravalho, who voiced her in the prior films.

Now that a new Moana live-action trailer is out, fans have taken to X and shared their issues with Maui’s live-action look for the upcoming movie. In reaction to the first look,

CricFlix wrote that “Live-action was a mistake Some things are better left animated….. this is one of them.” Navaneeth Kulal commented on the makeup and hair for Maui: “That hair and his face is a mess lol.” NoContextSpoof compared the images to a Saturday Night Live sketch, arguing that “It’s funny how much more energy Dwayne Johnson had in an SNL sketch riffing on live action Disney remakes compared to how he looked in that Moana trailer.”

While some fans were completely turned off by the live-action, appearance there were others that actually accepted it. “He was born for this role literally. as a very large muscular hawaiian native lmaooo,” wrote pink. Another fan, may this tweet find you doing your best, blamed the set photos for making him not look as good: “Wait, from these paps pics and vid he looks better-ish.”

The live-action Moana was first announced in April 2023, with Johnson reprising his role as Maui. The actor and former WWE wrestler shared that this role has a special place in his heart as he gets to represent his Polynesian heritage on the big screen.

“You go from that to Moana and this story that has really been globally embraced in this moving way,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “but also part of something that is so emboldening and empowering to kids and adults, because it’s this idea of looking beyond the reef that you can’t see, and life gets scary and sometimes you gotta take risks and hold onto faith while you do it. So that’s why I feel this really special connection and pride and then gratitude to be here.”

In addition to Johnson as Maui and Laga’aia as Moana, the Moana live-action cast features John Tui as Chief Tui, Frankie Adams as Sina, and Rena Owen as Gramma Tala. The film is directed by Thomas Kail, who previously recorded the live-stage recording of Hamilton on Disney+. The screenplay is co-written by Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller, both of whom wrote Moana 2, while Bush wrote the original film.

After the massive $386 million global box office opening weekend for Moana 2, and a final total of $1.06 billion worldwide, expectations are higher for the live-action Moana remake, regardless of the divisive early reactions to how Maui appears in live action. The remake is coming less than two years after the sequel’s theatrical debut and only ten years after the original movie was released, which will add another unique factor to how it ultimately performs at the box office.

Moana hits theaters on July 10.