Moana

It's colorful, it's vibrant, the songs are still terrific and Dwayne Johnson is a hoot as the fabulously coiffured demigod. Is it in any way necessary? Of course not.

Is it me, or are the live action conversions of Disney animated flicks starting to feel a mite pushy? Is there anything they won’t adapt? “Toy Story?” “The Incredibles?” “Finding Nemo?”

“Moana” came out a few months shy of 10 years ago, an instant classic that married ancient Polynesian mythology with modern-day Broadway musical tunes and prototypical animated hijinks. It also made a boatload of money, so it seemed destined to get hooked into the parade of other live action transitions such as “The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin.”

I’m gonna go ahead and hedge right now and call it live-ISH action. Directed by “Hamilton” veteran Thomas Kail, the new movie makes very liberal use of CGI for the creatures, special effects, fight scenes, the ocean water, storms and more. I will conservatively estimate that 60% of what you see onscreen is not a real thing they shot with cameras.

It’s colorful, it’s vibrant, the songs are still terrific and Dwayne Johnson is a hoot as the fabulously coiffured demigod. The new “Moana” is a smorgasbord of sensations that will entertain kids and parents, too.

Is it in any way necessary? Of course not.

The movie largely plays it safe, not attempting to evolve the Moana myth but simply replicate it for a new format. The screenplay is credited to Jared Bush, who also wrote the original one, and Dana Ledoux Miller, though I don’t really know what Miller added as it’s pretty much the same thing. This is as close as a shot-for-shot remake as we’ve seen.

Surprisingly, I did not find myself bored. It’s still a solid story about a young island princess (though she eschews the term) who goes on a forbidding ocean journey to heal the sickening overtaking everything. Along the way she makes discoveries about her people’s hidden past, about the not-quite-accurate mythology of her tribe and especially about herself and her place in a world.

It’s really one of Disney’s more ambitious and layered characterizations. Moana’s essential struggle is about whether to follow in the traditions of her family or chart a new course of her own that may take her away from them forever.

For an animated picture, it plumbs impressive depths.

Catherine Laga’aia takes over the title role as teenage Moana. She’s got the eager look and the singing chops, along with a heaping helping of pluck. I like the fact that her Moana can be pouty and headstrong, but always finds a way back to believing in herself — due in no small part to a lot of help.

In addition to her parents (John Tui and Frankie Adams), Moana’s chief guide is her grandmother, Tala (a terrific Rena Owen), who’s dismissed as the village kook but has a way of knowing lots of secrets. The chief being that their people were once brash seafarers who have spent the last few generations hiding behind the safety of their island reef.

From the living sea spirit, she is gifted the heart of the goddess Te Fiti, a glowing green gem lost a thousand years ago after being stolen by Maui, a legendary figure who’s part Hercules, part Prometheus, all egotistical tool. Moana’s decree is to travel the span of the ocean, enlist Maui’s aid and restore the heart to heal Te Fiti.

There are myriad challenges along the way. Moana’s total lack of sea skills. A cartoon chicken stowaway named Hei Hei who’s too stupid to live. A massive treasure-hunting crab. Coconut-masked pygmy pirates. Maui’s inability to use his signature shapeshifting power because of his lost magical fishhook. And waiting at the end, a lava demon named Te Kā barring the way.

Johnson is still a charismatic secondary centerpiece as Maui, draped in shoulder-length black hair and his body crisscrossed with tattoos that have a tendency to move around to reflect his mood. To better match the animated version’s impossibly broad build, Johnson wears a bodysuit to make himself look bigger, and when’s the last time anybody told that dude he just wasn’t swole enough?

The songs — by Mark Mancina, Opetaia Foa’i and Lin-Manuel Miranda — are just as uplifting as you remember, with Maui’s “You’re Welcome” and Moana’s signature “How Far I’ll Go” as the high points. I will say the comedic sequence with the evil crab, Tamatoa (again voiced by Jemaine Clement), is a notable downgrade from the animated version, clumsily staged and rather mumbled-sounding.

There’s also a new song for the end credits, “Along the Way,” that is agreeably toe-tapping, and includes parts for both Moana actresses and Johnson.

I went into “Moana” with the pinched heart of a cynical critic, and came out feeling a fresh zephyr had blown through me and filled it up again. Is there any damn reason for this movie to exist? There is not. But I can’t hate the fact it is here.