Johnson reprises his role from the original animation and has fine rapport with his young co-star Catherine Laga’aia, but the whole enterprise feels cynical and pointless

Disney’s animated super-hit Moana from 2016 – having been followed up by a dull sequel two years ago – now gets a competent but basically pointless and unexciting back-to-basics live-action remake. Screenwriter Jared Bush modifies his original script, Broadway stage veteran Thomas Kail makes his movie directing debut and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs are revived. Nineteen-year-old Australian Samoan actor Catherine Laga’aia takes the role of Moana, the headstrong teen daughter of a Polynesian chief; her wise and kindly grandma Tala, who recognises Moana’s heroic leadership destiny, is played by New Zealand actor Rena Owen.

Moana has to go on a quest to restore the heart of the goddess Te Fiti, the lack of which is causing an eco-crisis on her home island of Motunui. To do this, she must join forces with the swaggeringly arrogant demigod Maui, in which role Dwayne Johnson returns in his own actual person, which is almost as cartoonishly muscly and vast as the animated version. Maui has a spurious quest of his own, to retrieve the hook which is the source of his power and to do this he must confront his own nemesis. This is the giant crab Tamatoa, which as before is voiced by Jemaine Clement and is a character which is of course just a 3D animated version of the 2D cartoon original, like Heihei, Moana’s less-than-hilarious pet chicken.

Miranda and Eisa Davis’s concept album based on the 1979 film is to be realised for the stage, co-directed by Jenny Koons and Hamilton’s Andy Blankenbuehler

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis’s concept album based on The Warriors, the cult novel and film about warring New York gangs, is to become a Broadway musical next year.

The album, Warriors, was released to critical acclaim in 2024 and followed the eponymous Coney Island clan’s odyssey back to the Bronx after being falsely accused of killing the leader of the city’s biggest gang. The original story was written by Sol Yurick, whose 1965 book was inspired by Xenophon’s ancient epic Anabasis, and it became a Walter Hill action film in 1979.