The New Live Action Moana Is Stale & Lifeless

John Nacion. Getty Images.

Disney releases another live action cartoon that is lifeless this weekend. I have a mini-review below as well as reviews of The Invite, Young Washington, Minions & Monsters and Supergirl.

When people talk about the Disney live action remakes being stale and lifeless, Moana might be the best new example.

While you are watching this, you keep wondering why it was made at all. It’s not really live action in that everything is CGI. The whole thing feels like a bad photocopy. I can’t think of too many bigger soulless money grabs in recent memory.

Catherine Laga'aia is charming enough as Moana. But there is just nothing for her to do. The Rock has this silly wig on and is trying to be funny but everything feels a step behind.

The CGI here is rough especially the animals. So I’m watching a live action movie with cartoon everything else.

MOANA: C-

The Invite is a very good movie with one of the best scripts of the year. It has also has 4 performances that are fantastic and all are at the top of their game. Edward Norton may deserve an Oscar nomination for this and Seth Rogan is hysterical.

A lot of credit should go to Olivia Wilde, who is great acting in this but somehow stands out even more for her directing. This all takes place in a single apartment and it never feels stale throughout. Instead, you feel like you are in the room with them. She has confidence in her actors to let the camera linger on them even after they speak allowing their faces and body language to say even more than their words are.

This has a ton to say about relationships, how we age and speak to each other. It all feels very relatable. My only very minor nitpick is that the fighting in the first act seems a little overboard but I also understand you need to set the tone and understand these characters very quickly.

This would be right at home if it was made in the 1970’s and should stand with the better adult relationship stories of that time (as well as now).

The Invite: A-

I really don’t care for the minions. I think they are annoying and baby boomers/older Gen Xers making them their personality is horrible. Having said all of that, this is pretty good. This movie won me over with creativity and a lot of effort on the screen.

I applaud director Pierre Coffin for making this as interesting as it is. They could have put out a minion movie that is them farting and picking their noses for 90 minutes and it would have made $700 million. This looks fantastic and showcases a true love of movie history. The minions are a Trojan horse in this for how cool movies are.

There is so much detail and care in every frame. There are shots of Buster Keaton, Orsen Welles and Humphrey Bogart in a minions movie! Sadly, you do still have to put up with the stupid minions throughout but this is still worth seeing.

This is easily one of the bigger surprises of the year for me.

MINIONS & MONSTERS: B-

Young Washington is a competent movie. It tells the story of George Washington in the 1750’s. Is it good? No. Is it as good as Pressure, another historical drama recently released? Not even close. But this still gets the job done. There’s something to be said for that.

The actor playing Washington is someone named William Franklyn-Miller and he, like the movie, never overdoes it but is perfectly adequate. 

Sometimes these period pieces can be too clever or try to force things we all know into what we are watching. This never does that and has confidence in the story it’s telling.

You do at one point get a Kelsey Grammar cameo out of nowhere and Mary Louise-Parker plays someone 30 years younger than she is. But other than that, this is going to a fast casual place for dinner. It’s perfectly fine and while you won’t rave about the cooking, you won’t regret going either.

YOUNG WASHINGTON: C+

Milly Alcock may actually be Supergirl with how much she has to carry this movie. This is a superhero movie with a lousy, forgettable villian and an even worse sidekick. Even Jason Mamoa’s Lobo is if the character took too much NyQuil.

Despite all the problems, this does get the slightest of recommendations from me. Alcock is perfect in this party girl with a heart of gold version of Supergirl. You also get a couple random Superman appearances from David Corenswet, who is very good. But it’s honestly just aggravating because that’s the movie we all want. No one is asking for a movie where Supergirl has this random sidekick with no personality. We want to see her with Superman. It’s right there on screen! 

There’s a space bus scene I liked and David Krumholtz is very good as Supergirl’s dad. Other than that? This is a big drop off from Superman and didn’t feel different at all from lukewarm Marvel.

SUPERGIRL: C+

2026

1. Project Hail Mary

2. 28 Years Later:Bone Temple

3. Tuner

4. Send Help

5. Crime 101

6. Nirvanna The Band

7. The Drama

8. The Sheep Detectives

9. Obsession

10. THE INVITE

11. Lorne

12. Power Ballad

13. Pressure

14. Death Of Robin Hood

15. How To Make A Killing

16. Disclosure Day

17. Hokum

18. Over Your Dead Body

19. I Love Boosters

20. Backrooms

21. Primate

22. The Christophers

23. Cold Storage

24. Hoppers

25. Devil Wears Prada 2

26. Ready Or Not 2

27. Undertone

28. Solo Mio

29. MINIONS & MONSTERS

30. Faces Of Death

31. Is God Is

32. The Moment

33. The Furious

34. SUPERGIRL

35. Scream 7

36. YOUNG WASHINGTON

37. Normal

38. Midwinter Break

39. The Rip

40. Deep Water

41. Masters Of The Universe

42. Mandalorian & Grogu

43. I Was A Stranger

44. We Bury The Dead

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45. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die

46. Epic

47. The Mummy

48. Scary Movie 6

49. Passenger

50. Forbidden Fruits

51. The Wrecking Crew

52. Goat

53. Dracula

54. Wuthering Heights

55. Whistle

56. The Bride

57. They Will Kill You

58. Leviticus

59. The Breadwinner

60. In The Grey

61. Animal Farm

62. Super Mario 2

63. Outcome

64. Michael

65. Greenland 2

66. Reminders Of Him

67. Stop That Train

68. MOANA

69. Shelter

70. You, Me & Tuscany

71. Mortal Kombat 2

72. Fuze

73. Iron Lung

74. I Can Only Imagine 2

75. The Pout Pout Fish

76. Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice

77. Melania

78. A Great Awakening

79. Psycho Killer

80. Mother Mary

81. Mercy

82. Charlie The Wonderdog

83. Protector

84. The Strangers 3

85. Return To Silent Hill