What's the real motivation behind all of the 'live-action' remakes of Disney animated classics in recent years? Is it simply a straight money grab or is there something deeper happening?
I'm increasingly convinced Disney the company is ashamed of a lot of their older content and wants to make it more acceptable to the current day. This may be their due diligence in the age of wokeness.
As you've likely correctly noticed, due to the time I spend with a toddler and the lack of other options (we're currently without Netflix or HBO), I've been watching a lot of Disney+.
The problem with the remakes isn't their existence in my mind, it's that so many have been completely stale. Overall I feel like they're missing something, be it joy or creativity or both. Of the six I've seen, only one has been worth it.
Let's break it down this way.
The Good:
The Jungle Book (2016) was aided by the fact the original (1967) wasn't that great itself, outside of two songs (Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You). The British influence of the old Kipling stories is overdone, Mogli never actually seems in danger and the vultures bit at the end is plain weird. The new version significantly improved the story and upped the stakes with a more intimidating Shere Khan (Idris Elba). Having a real boy actor adds an anchor since everything else is just high quality animation. Ben Kingsley as paternalistic Bagheera, Bill Murray as lovable Baloo and Christopher Walken as a gangster King Louis were all downright perfect. Basically it's a gritty reboot, though one that clearly remains a Disney story. The biggest drop-off is Phil Harris/Louis Prima were considerably better singers than Murray/Walken. I also wish he left the jungle in the end but that's nitpicking.
The Meh:
Cinderella (2015) brought on Shakespearean director Kenneth Branagh (Thor, the latest Murder on the Orient Express) and charmingly recreated the lavish fairy tale, all while making Ella a stronger independent character, but barely changed the 1950 classic.
Beauty and the Beast (2017) probably came closest to improvement and is the best of this group. I didn't get casting Emma Watson as Belle, though everyone else was great (Ewan McGregor's French accent did need some work) and the story gets more background. Once again though, with so much recreated it's hard not to compare and find the update inferior.
Aladdin (2019), directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Sherlock Holmes), made a few changes and gave Jasmine more to do, something that felt forced. More importantly even the talented Will Smith couldn't live up to Robin Williams as the Genie.
Lion King (2019) was helmed by Jon Favreau (Jungle Book, Iron Man) and disappointingly fell flat even with its stunning and nearly all black cast. This one is especially hurt because you can't even call it 'live-action', with everything still animated.
The flaw in remaking great old films is the likely impossibility of walking a fine line between changing too much or nothing at all. With too much you lose what made it great in the first place and with too little at best you'll get an average film. All four of these are just that, expensive and highly produced mediocrity. The biggest struggle throughout has been exactly re-doing scenes, songs and more. We will compare and the attempt at making them so similar always reveals shortcomings with the remakes. Of course Disney still made plenty of money and may not even care.
The Ugly:
Maybe I'm just being mean, but the chunk I saw of Lady and the Tramp (2019) was pretty awful. Lots of dumb plot, how the dogs talked and sang looked strange, and their eyes freaked me out. It did however entertain our dog-loving two year old son.
In all this I'm not counting films that tell new stories, like Tim Burton's take on Alice in Wonderland, Angelina Jolie's Maleficent films or the recent Christopher Robin (which is really good btw). In the end it's kind of sad that I just don't see us watching most of these remakes ever again and I wonder why they're being made in such rapid succession.
*****
UPDATE 8/19
I need to disclose not actually having seen Aladdin when writing this originally, instead just talking to my wife about it. Since publishing I've taken care of that and, while still a bit of a mixed bag, I liked it a lot more than expected. Guy Ritchie absolutely nailed most of the musical numbers, especially Prince Ali and A Whole New World, and put together a solid and heartfelt film considering very little room for change.
Rankings (in tiers):
Jungle Book
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Aladdin
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Beauty and the Beast
Cinderella
Lion King
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Lady and the Tramp
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