Disney’s first full-length trailer for its live-action Moana remake is here, and with it, we finally get a good look at Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as demigod trickster Maui. And you know how we get those really expensive Super Bowl ads featuring celeb cameos? Yeah, this looks like that.
On March 23, Disney released the official trailer for its upcoming live-action remake of 2016’s Moana. Previously, Disney had released a teaser for this desperate cash-in disguised as a piece of art. In that teaser, which made the movie look like a CG-filled mess, we got a tiny glimpse of Maui, who is played by Johnson and who he also voiced in the animated movie. But with the just-released official trailer, Disney is finally confident enough to show us Maui in all his glory. He looks like a tired, aging superstar in a wig trying to sell me insurance in a pricey commercial.
I won’t pretend that Johnson isn’t a talented actor who is very fit and could easily kick my ass in seconds. But while he, obviously, sounds like Maui from the animated flick, he doesn’t have the same larger-than-life energy that the demigod has in that fantastic Disney movie. Here, wearing a wig and body suit that doesn’t quite match up to his skin, he looks like he’s wandered off the set of an elaborate pre-recorded SNL skit.
The wig in particular keeps sticking out each time I look at Maui in this trailer. It’s hard not to notice how bad it looks when, in this same trailer, we see John Tui as Moana’s father, and he’s rocking some wonderful and, as far as I can tell, naturally long hair.
Anyway, Moana is going to be released in theaters on July 10, go on to make a billion dollars, and give Disney more reason to keep shamelessly remaking its own animated movies. We live in a terrible timeline.
