Disney's live-action remake of Moana arrives this Friday, with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson reprising his role as the demigod Maui — and the internet has become fixated not on the film itself but on the wig used to give the famously bald actor Maui's signature long, flowing hair. The Guardian's tongue-in-cheek piece argues that this single hairpiece may be the remake's most memorable feature, capturing a wider unease about Disney's uncanny live-action reworkings.

The article notes that Johnson's baldness is central to his public image and to iconic roles in Fast & Furious, Baywatch and Jumanji, whereas Maui's personality is bound up in his hair, creating an awkward tension the wig was meant to resolve. Memes have mocked the hairpiece as looking cheap, nylon and "fighting gravity, the wind, and its own contract obligations", and Johnson has said the jokes made him laugh "so fucking hard". The writer points out he wore wigs without ridicule in 2025's The Smashing Machine and 2001's The Mummy Returns, concluding the issue is this specific artificial-looking wig — and jokingly urging a bald Maui should any Moana 2 remake follow.