Do We Need Disney Live Action Remakes?

I want to begin this blog by saying I love Disney. I am a huge fan and have been ever since I was a child. I watched so many of the classic films over and over again. I even had nearly all of the films on video...yes younglings VIDEOS! I even have a trip to Disneyland Paris planned this year. But I think if we love something enough we can still find things we don't enjoy about it. We can still be objective and I think we should be able to be critical about the things we love. This is what this blog will be about today.

In recent years we've seen a rise in Disney taking animated classics and turning them into live action remakes. The company itself is turning 100 years old this year and it begs the questions: are they running out of ideas, are they making these because people want them or are they simply making easy cash grabs?

It is clear from past evidence Disney live actions do incredibly well. A fantastic example is Pirates of the Caribbean (2003 - 2017) franchise which captivated audiences world wide making millions of dollars. The whole story originated from the ride of the same name in the Disney parks. So while the film was a new idea it was still related to something everyone was familiar with. Then in more recent years we've had Maleficent (2014) which was a retelling of the classic animated film Sleeping Beauty (1959). However, despite being about an already beloved story it brought a whole new light to the once fearsome villain of Maleficent. It deviated a lot from the original tale and gave us a different perspective. Sleeping Beauty is one of my favourite Disney films and despite Maleficent being so different I still really enjoyed it. I asked a lot of people online which films they have recently enjoyed. Reoccurring answers were Cinderella (2015) and The Jungle Book (2016). The original films are iconic and well loved but the live actions brought a new sense of magic to the stories. Visually they are incredible but the stories were fresh and new and worked well in a live action setting. The problem with many of the other live action remakes of original Disney classics is often they are just carbon copies of the original stories but in CGI.  

A lot of people's issues with the remakes is the lack of originality. They're not offering a new version of the story they're just giving the same thing we've seen. I had to switch off The Lion King (2019), not because of the quality of the film but because I'd seen it all before it just looked different. The films seem to be relying on peoples nostalgia rather than exciting people to watch a new film. On the other hand, there are others that do adapt the story but change it so much it hardly even echoes the themes of the original film. Dumbo (2019) is an example of deviating from the original story too much. To me it was hardly about the character of Dumbo at all, it was just a different story featuring well known character Dumbo. 

Going back to The Lion King (2019), aside from the fact the script was nearly identical, another issue was that a lot of the emotion was lost because the animals weren't able to show facial expressions. What works with cartoons is their ability to make an animal character more human. It allows us to feel the emotions of the film and see animals act in a none traditional way. This is often why animation is done as it helps to create effects and visuals that you can't typically get in real life. While it is interesting to see the story in a realistic way through CGI, especially if it's beloved, you do lose some of what makes it so great. Removing the animation aspect that helps make these characters so charming removes a crucial aspect of their characters and story. Personally for me, watching animated Simba crying at the loss of his father, Mufasa, is more heart breaking in the animation because you can really see the emotions he's feeling. 

Despite the negatives there are many positives to the live action remakes. One that I wholeheartedly agree with is the rise in representation. To see new films like The Little Mermaid (set for release in 2023) and Peter and Wendy (set for release in 2023) casting black actresses as Ariel and Tinkerbell is amazing. Finally younger people can start to see more of themselves in these beloved characters. While this is a small start and much later than it should be it's really great to start seeing a change and having actors of all races in beloved films. Often, the actors are fantastically cast. There have been a few missteps I won't deny...Will Smith as the Genie in Aladdin (2019) is the biggest one in my option. But overall the actors aren't the problem it's the quality of the films themselves. 

Personally, I loved Beauty and the Beast (2017). Now not everyone agrees with me on this. Many felt Emma Watson wasn't the right choice because of her singing ability and some felt the overall visuals did not live up to the ones in the original. I don't disagree with all of these opinions but the reason I loved it was because it wasn't a flat out copy and paste of the original. It was visually exquisite (despite not being as beautiful as the original animated version from 1991) and it included new songs by the original composer, Alan Menken. They added new aspects to the story that enriched it: Belle and the Beasts love story was further explored, it gave a larger voice to the house hold staff and we got to understand why the Beast was the way he was. But a large part of my enjoyment could be because I have so much nostalgia and love attached to the original movie. This way of pulling on peoples nostalgia is what makes people I've spoken to online feel as though the films are just cash grabs. 

It's very clear from talking to people there are many positives and negatives to the live action remakes. The unoriginality, the cash grab feel and the lack of emotions on the animal characters is what puts many off. But then again they are also fun to watch. To see an old film you've loved since you were a child recreated in a brand new way. Ultimately, my opinion is we don't need this many live action remakes. I do feel Disney has created too many live action remakes which makes them feel rushed and spun out. I find I'm just dreading announcements on what new remakes there is going to be rather than being excited about new films. I would like to see, however, some new live actions (maybe every few years) that hold all the greatness of the old ones but adding better representation, more fleshed out stories and beautiful visuals. 

In short we don't need Disney remakes but if Disney wants to keep making them they need to focus more on quality than quantity. 

Disney Studios Picture by Seif Ak - https://unsplash.com/@seifak