Review of Disney Live Action Adaptations
Recently, animation and production companies such as Walt Disney and Universal Studios have released a cascade of live-action adaptations of classic animated movies. These new films have received some praise and appreciation from viewers and critics, but mainly criticism. Why? What are these companies aiming to achieve in producing these adaptations? Most importantly, are these movies worth watching?
Here are some of the existing and upcoming live-action adaptations:
101 Dalmatians (1996)
102 Dalmatians (2000)
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Maleficent (2014)
Cinderella (2015)
The Jungle Book (2016)
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Aladdin (2019)
Maleficent 2 (2019)
The Lion King (2019)
Dumbo (2019)
Mulan (2020)
Cruella (2021)
The Little Mermaid (2023)
Peter Pan & Wendy (2023)
Mufasa: The Lion King (2024)
How to Train Your Dragon (2025, Upcoming)
Snow White (2025, Upcoming)
Hercules (Upcoming)
The Sword in the Stone (Upcoming)
Bambi (Upcoming)
Lilo & Stitch (Upcoming)
Pinocchio (Upcoming)
Robin Hood (Upcoming)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Upcoming)
What is the appeal of these movies?
One main factor that makes live-action adaptations appealing is nostalgia. Many people have grown up watching these animated movies, so the idea of a remake or spinoff of an older cartoon is exciting. By remaking a product that is tried and true, production companies are also playing a safer game.
Another factor that could make an adaptation appealing is the attempts to correct or diversify misrepresentations in the original animated story. Attempts to correct misrepresentations can be seen in more recent adaptations such as Aladdin (2019) and Mulan (2020), as the directors felt as though there were holes in the portrayal of the story, and so they made an effort to fix them. In the animated Aladdin, for example, there were cultural inaccuracies in the portrayal of Arabia, the setting of the movie, which is described as dangerous and grotesque at times. In the creation of this adaptation, writers have had to alter the script and delete song lyrics to correct misrepresentations. In the case of Mulan, many people felt like the animation did not correctly depict the true story of the protagonist. Commentators claimed that the animated Mulan was Westernized and untrue to the original, so the creators of the live-action film attempted to actualize it.
In other movies like The Little Mermaid (2023) or the soon-to-be-released Snow White (2025), the directors have attempted to diversify the cast to improve the story. However, these attempts at diversity have also received some backlash. After the announcement of the upcoming Snow White starring Rachel Zegler, an actress of Colombian and Polish descent, many critics have commented claiming that she was not white enough to play the princess with “skin as white as snow.” They believe that the upcoming film will not live up to the expectations set by the original Snow White just because of the protagonist’s race. This belief illustrates the difficulties of creating remakes of older animated movies, as it is much harder to change the original plot in any way without backlash.
Despite the retaliations these films have received, these attempts of diversification are pursued with good intent and should be continued, but under realistic pretenses.
In what cases do live-action adaptations improve the story?
In some cases, a live-action adaptation may improve the story. This depends if the film is a word-for-word adaptation, an exact replica of the original animation filmed in real life, or a flipping of the story, where the script is altered or changed.
Some examples of a word-for-word adaptation include The Lion King (2019), and How to Train Your Dragon (2025, upcoming). These movies do not add anything to the plot of the original animated movie, but instead either create a realistic version through CGI or film in real life. Some may argue that these films do not have any value, as they are just replicas of the original. However, fans of the animated versions may argue otherwise. The question of whether or not a word-for-word movie adaptation is worth watching cannot just be answered based on a general stance, but instead really depends on a case-by-case basis.
Some examples of flipping of a narrative include Maleficent (2014) and Cruella (2020). Instead of creating a replica of the animated movies that these are based on (Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians), these movies portray a different stance. In these two cases, they show the perspective of the villains in the originals. These kinds of movies have generally received more approval, as viewers tend to be drawn to movies with a twist.
Personal Opinion
In my opinion, these live-action movies may be unnecessary. Although in some cases I have enjoyed watching them for nostalgia’s sake, I feel like these production companies are remaking movies just for profit, and believe it to be too much of a risk to create films with new plots. Honestly, they should just move on when it comes to new films. Even though they are playing a safer game, the only way to truly be successful is to create new content instead of just feeding off of old plots.