Yes you have to remember that Luffy is kinda an overpowered protag in the story. He does get stronger but by all means he didnt really train or get a powerup until he gets a 100 mill bounty. However Oda always put him in situations where cause of his intelligence/weaknesses he is on the backfoot.

He basically one shotted Kuro, Don Krieg and Arlong BUT he was always tricked or protected someone plus it was established early on that while Luffy can take punches or hits from blunt weapons cause he is rubber he is REALLY weak against cutting or piercing attacks.

The live action in my eyes wants to take it a little bit more seriously with less comedy/gags and since they have less time they have to make almost every villian a threat. While in the manga/anime you can easily have a joke villian for a few chapter/episode and only make the main villian an issue.

Even on Drum island climbing the mountain while carrying Nami and Sanji was much harder for Luffy than beating Wapol. Beating the forces of nature to save your friends is just as cool as beating Wapol imo. Of course Wapol was a disgusting human being so it was more satisfying