Dwayne Johnson has addressed the mixed reception to Disney's live-action Moana, brushing off the critical drubbing with the equanimity of a man who has opened enough weekends to know the numbers do not always align with the notices.

In an exclusive interview with People magazine, Johnson said of viewers who did not warm to the film: "If you love it, great. If you don't, no problem." He recalled that the first two reviews were positive before the consensus shifted. "That's just the way it goes because we're in this business," he said (The Hollywood Reporter).

The numbers tell a split story of their own. The live-action Moana earned a 31% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes — the review-aggregation site that collects professional critical appraisals — while its audience score sat at a robust 88%. The Hollywood Reporter's chief film critic David Rooney offered a dissenting voice among the critics, calling the film "one of Disney's better live-action remakes."

At the box office, the picture underperformed relative to its cost. The film grossed $264 million worldwide against a reported production budget of $250 million — a narrow gap that leaves little room for the marketing and distribution costs a theatrical release carries on top of its negative cost (the term for the expense of actually making the film, before a single poster is printed). Those figures come from The Hollywood Reporter's reporting on 8 August 2026.

Johnson voiced the demigod Maui in the 2016 animated Moana and its 2024 sequel, and reprised the role in the live-action adaptation. Catherine Laga'aia starred in the title role, replacing Auli'i Cravalho, who voiced the character in the animated films.

What mattered most to Johnson, he said, was not the critical tally but the cultural response. "The culture really stood up," he told People, noting his own Samoan heritage. The film's Pacific Islander cast and creative team drew attention throughout its production and release for centring a story rooted in Polynesian mythology.

For Disney, the live-action remake strategy — mining the studio's animated library for new theatrical iterations — has produced its share of billion-dollar hits and costly misfires alike. Moana's $264 million worldwide gross places it among the softer performers in that pipeline, though the gulf between the 31% critical score and the 88% audience score suggests the film found its audience even as it lost the critics.

Johnson, for his part, seems unbothered. Two reviews in, the tide turned. He has been in the business long enough to take that in stride.