With 33% on Rotten Tomatoes and an opening weekend in the same ballpark as 2024's Snow White, Disney's live-action Moana is not off to a great start. However, we'd be remiss not to mention that the movie is "Verified Hot" with a 90% Audience Score.
With each of these remakes, there's always a lot of online discussion about what is and isn't changed during the transition from animation to real-life actors and sets. Lilo & Stitch was a $1 billion hit, but it came under fire for its new ending. In the case of Moana, reviews suggest that it sticks a little too closely to the animated movie and loses some of the magic along the way.
One bizarre issue that's been mentioned by a few critics is Maui's missing nipples. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson donned a muscle suit to bring the Demigod to life on screen, with the result being a largely convincing effort that some feel is negatively impacted by his missing anatomy.
The Wrap (via Toonado.com) recently caught up with Moana director Thomas Kail, who was asked about the furore surrounding the live-action Maui. "I can’t speak to much to the discourse and controversy around his nipples, other than he has them and sometimes you don’t see them," the filmmaker told the trade, which notes that he "very much [wanted] to move on from the subject."
Kail did, however, explain that a fully CG Maui was never considered. "Maui is also both in and out of water, so sometimes we might be shooting in the water, and then an hour later, two hours later you’re doing something that’s dry, so it couldn’t be on his body, like we needed something that could be swapped. We had a few suits, because you just can’t be in and out of water in that way."
He added, "The suit was built to look like Dwayne, you’ve seen what Dwayne looks like in our premiere photos, he’s still Dwayne Johnson, but what could fit on top of that, that could give that musculature, because also, the relationship between Moana and Maui in the animated film, it’s quite different physically."
Ultimately, a couple of missing nipples may be the least of Moana's issues. The movie will almost certainly lose money at the box office, and it runs the risk of tarnishing a franchise that's otherwise been hugely successful for Disney Animation.
For what it's worth, Johnson was willing to comment on Maui's nipples during a recent interview to promote this adaptation. "We know what it’s like to have markings all over our chests," he said. "And sometimes, in Maui’s case, his markings are around his areolas."
"Sometimes they just get lost in the visuals because there’s a lot of things moving and happening, and his pecs are big. So they’re there," he continued. "So tell the freaks who wanted to know where Maui’s nipples were to pause the trailer, pause it, zoom in, and take a look."
You can hear more from Johnson on Maui's MIA nipples (there's a sentence you never expected to read) in the player below.
In Moana, Disney’s live-action reimagining of the beloved Oscar-nominated animated adventure, Moana answers the Ocean’s call and, for the first time, voyages beyond the reef of her island of Motunui with the infamous demigod Maui on an unforgettable journey to restore prosperity to her people.
Moana's cast is led by Dwayne Johnson, Catherine Laga'aia, Rena Owen, John Tui, Frankie Adams, and Jemaine Clement.
The film is directed by Emmy and Tony Award winner Thomas Kail (Hamilton); produced by Dwayne Johnson, p.g.a., Beau Flynn, p.g.a., Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, p.g.a. and Lin-Manuel Miranda; and executive produced by Scott Sheldon, Charles Newirth, Kail and Auli'i Cravalho, who voiced Moana in the animated films Moana and Moana 2.
The remake features original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foaʻi and Mark Mancina, and an original score composed by Mancina.
Moana is now playing in theaters.