It’s been a minute since I’ve written an episode of what I used to affectionately term as “Princess Corner”. Though I think we’re going to have some major FROZEN 3 news at D23 – so expect more where this came from.
And yeah I recently have been writing some rather lengthy pieces on BACKROOMS and WEAPONS lore. But I just could not resist a return to “Princess Corner”, especially because there is a huge change at the end of the live-action MOANA (2026) film that no one is talking about. And sure, maybe it’s really not that huge and maybe they’re not talking about it because it’s not really significant. But IT IS HUGE AND SIGNIFICANT TO ME.
It’s been a rough month both for me personally and at the box office. And sometimes when it’s a rough month, you need comfort entertainment – even if it’s a box office underperformer. So when the Disney Live Action MOANA (2026) was released, I watched it. In fact, I’ve watched it twice. It’s not the greatest movie of the year or even the month. But it’s a three star movie that was a solid, dependable three stars. I love the music. I love the dancing. I love the colors. I love Moana! And I’m not going to apologize.
I get it. The film really did not ameliorate the original to any significant level, but it didn’t ruin its legacy either. And that’s important for the final shot that we’re about to discuss – which is one of the few places where the live-action film deviated from the original. Overall Disney’s MOANA (2026) live-action remake is a pretty straight-ahead shot for shot, song for song, line for line remake of the original – even casting original voice actor Dwayne Johnson as Maui in live-action (a casting decision the like of which had never been done in a lead role in live action). The film still deviates within the lines though – the orchestrations of the song feel more stagey and less synth, the dancing/movement is awesome, and Catherine Laga’aia as Moana steals the show. She’s my favorite live action Disney Princess – even better than Elle Fanning as Aurora.
Now there is no post-credits scene or even mid-credits scene. But having seen the film twice, I noticed one small change that I haven’t heard a lot of talk about. And something that as a Disney Princess nerd, I found pretty cool and pretty darn noticeable for a film that really did not change much. At the end of the live-action film, Moana was noticeably wearing her Moana 2 Adventure Outfit instead of her Voyager Outfit from the original 2016 animated film.
MOANA’S LIVE-ACTION ADVENTURER OUTFIT
On the one hand, I was kind of bummed, though Catherine Laga’aia really does sport a variation of the Voyager Outfit in her coronation scene just prior to the final scene on the ocean on her Wayfinder. I really like the Voyager Outfit but I think Disney has some issues with it. They’ve never really released many toys or merch featuring the Voyager Outfit. You can find one or two but her original outfit and the MOANA 2 Adventure Outfit have way more toys in their image.
Side-note, I really need to drill down on the different Moana outfits. I know there is a ton online about her original outfit, especially with the costume designers from the live-action film. But I would like to know more about the lore of the MOANA 2 Adventure Outfit – where it came from and why she is wearing it. I have the novelization of MOANA 2 so maybe I will crack it open this week and come back and layer in an edit if I find anything out at a later date.
Because the MOANA 2 Adventure Outfit has become synonymous with MOANA 2, the billion dollar plus grossing sequel from 2024, I don’t think it’s crazy that Disney would want it featured at the end of the film. But let’s drill down on why? Sure there’s the surface level association but why would Disney and live-action MOANA (2026) director Thomas Kail make the decision to put Moana in the sequel’s Adventure Outfit at the end of the live action film instead of her traditional Voyager Outfit from the animated film – and especially when they had gone to great lengths to visually preserve the looks and feel of the original animated film?
in the live action 2026 version.
I think for three reasons. First, seeing the outfit in live-action helps to brand the sequel as an important work in the minds of MOANA franchise fans. This is especially important as MOANA 3 gears up. Second, if this film was more successful and there was a live-action sequel, seeing Moana in her the sequel’s Adventure Outfit would really act as that post-credit scene/sequel set-up. And third, it reinforces merchandise sales for Disney. There are still plenty of MOANA 2 dolls on the shelf and plenty of MOANA 2 merch where she is wearing the Adventure Outfit and this reinforces its validity in the franchise. And like I said, it also sets up the third animated film which at this point is Disney’s biggest priority in this franchise. So when fans watch the film on Disney Plus in a few months, the live action film leads directly into the sequel in a sense spiritually (though animated Moana technically is wearing a different outfit at the beginning of the sequel – yeah I get it, the MOANA 2 Adventure Outfit is her prime outfit for the film).
THE MOANA (2026) SCREEN X WATCH
As I mentioned in the title, I also watched MOANA (2026) in SCREEN X when I went back to the theater to watch it for a second time. It was a cool experience – I really like SCREEN X. I had seen THE BATMAN, MADAME WEB (yup), and DUNE 3 in SCREEN X prior to this film. But I hadn’t seen a SCREEN X presentation in the past few years and forgot how much fun it is. SCREEN X is a 270 degree presentation of the film that wraps around the audience. It really only turns “on” for select sequences, which is my biggest complaint because it almost takes you out of the movie a bit when the auxiliary projectors turn on and off.
For this live-action MOANA this really added a fantastic energy for the song sequences especially “Where You Are” and “Shiny”. I want to add that I really love what Thomas Kail did with movement in the film – and creating spaces and moments for movements to shine. Catherine Laga’aia and Dwayne Johnson are especially great in “You’re Welcome”. It was definitely one of the other gentle additives and it really is apparent watching the film in SCREEN X how much he did. SCREEN X also almost made me a little queasy on some of the sea sequences like the Kakamora attack. But I think that just speaks to the level of immersion.
I also like seeing Disney films in this format mostly for nostalgia. It almost feels like one of the old “CircleVision 360” film presentations in Tomorrowland at Disneyland (where I really know it from as a small kid) and which still exists in the Canada and China Pavilions at EPCOT.
Anyway, I know MOANA (2026) is not really a massive runaway hit along the lines of TOY STORY 5, DEVIL WEARS PRADA, and has a ways to go before it even reaches the underperforming MANDALORIAN AND GROGU. But I still enjoyed it for what it was – a wonderful celebration of the original film that meant so much to fans like me.
No Scoops Club 