Disney recently dropped a new trailer for its upcoming live-action Moana re-imagining. Predictably, it was met with comments about how unnecessary Disney’s live-action remakes are, how this is another cash-grab attempt (well, yes, obviously), and most importantly, how horrendous Dwayne Johnson’s wig looks. While I sympathize with all of those thoughts, I actually found it strangely comforting that the live-action Moana mostly seems to be exactly the same as the animated film. It could have been worse: We could have had another situation like 2025’s Lilo & Stitch remake, where the live-action movie dumps the original movie's core strengths in the trash.

For people who believe that if a movie makes a lot of money, that inherently means it’s good, Dean Fleischer Camp’s live-action remake of 2002’s Lilo & Stitch was a win. It was the first 2025 movie to rake in $1 billion at the global box office. Personally, even as someone who has spent a ridiculous amount of money on utter garbage throughout my lifetime, I’d say the film’s box-office success proves there really is no accounting for taste.

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