I have seen some of the live action remakes. I feel two ways about the trend, but let me start with the positive. I was incredibly excited about Cinderella and raced out to see it when it was playing in my town for Valentine's Day. It was not only Disney, which I love, but it was directed by Kenneth Branagh who is the Laurence Olivier of our time. I love Shakespeare and love to see Brannagh's innovations, wonderful artist. On top of that I was a thronie at that time and had a serious crush on Richard Madden, who played my favorite character Robb Stark on the show, and was the Cinderella prince. To make it even better Groove had released a beautiful Pullip doll that I coveted with a dress inspired by this particular Cinderella film. So no power on earth was keeping me away from this movie!
It met and exceeded all of my exceptations. I loved, it was my favorite film of that year.
I had not planned to see The Jungle Book, but when a loved one had a great time watching it and wholeheartedly recommended to me I gave it a shot at the end of its run when it came to a smaller theater in my town, an old-fashioned theater where admission is only a dollar. I ended up being pleasantly surprised, especially the way that Ka was reimagined and the great Idris Elba's rich, commanding, velvet baritone as Shere Khan.
Now though I loved Cinderella and thought Jungle Book was pretty good too, I was a little more cautious by the time Beauty and the Beast rolled around to theaters.
I like Disney's 1991 Beauty and the Beast, it is a classic. I love Fairytales in general and Beauty and the Beast is perhaps my all-time favorite tale, my very favorite adaptation being a French version of Beauty and the Beast from 1945. However, with the remake of Beauty and the Beast it became more evident that this was a going to be a long trend of remaking their animated film in live action, and I think that they need some new ideas. Remaking your own movie again and again is not the most creative choice you could make.
One of the reasons I thought Cinderella was awesome was because it offered a new take on the 1940s tale, we got to know both of Cinderellas parents, see her relationship with her mom and the sweet person that she was, and get to know her father and see his vulnerability. We also saw a different take on the stepmother, that was more subtle and could have conceivably made a man fall in love with her, and we see how the abuse of Cinderella graduated escalated. The movie also offers a reason why she stays in this enviornment, to protect her parents house and the inheritance. The Prince is less archetypal and Cinderella meets him before they dance together at the ball, and he already cared about her, and goes himself to find her instead or letting his servants do anything. I really liked the original Cinderella, and I loved this one, but I didn't see it as a remake. I felt it was different enough from the first movie to stand as its own film.
Though I thought Jungle Book was nice, the particular praise I had about Cinderella being innovative is not something you can really say about Jungle Book. It is a remake song for song. They made a neat innovation or two that I liked, but still changed lit. I was alright with that this time, but to do this wth film after film, year after year will I think will eventualky cause you to hit a plateau. I don't understand the purpose of remaking your own movie in this way, when you can just pop in a Blu-ray or DVD of the original if it is going to be almost the entire script of your own movie. No matter how good the movie was I feel like you can't sustain this indefinitely.
I was still planning to see Beauty of the Beast because I loved the story. I was also initially pleased with the casting of Emma Watson from Harry Potter. I think this actress is pretty and natural and smart and spirited. However, when it dawned on me that this was specifically a remake of the Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast I was more skeptical. I like Emma, and thought she looked good dramatically from what I could see in the preview, but after hearing her sing I think her voice is just okay. I thought she sounded a little thin and wavery, some described it as heavily autotuned. Although I was still making up my mind about Disney remakes overall, since this adaptation was musical theater the level of difficulty was much higher than I felt this cast could meet so I took a pass this time.
I like the musical Beauty Beast, and have seen it performed live, but because I have heard the likes of James Barbour and Terrance Mann singing these songs not just anyone will cut it for me. And I didn't like how they took Broadway veteran performers like Audra McDonald who has won 5 tonies, and put them in small parts though they had the best voices in the cast and are experienced film actors, in order to make way for popular celebrities. I have heard great things about this movie from everyone who saw it, but I decided to put viewing it. i will rent it one rainy day and it might be fun, but its not a movie I have to see no matter what.
While my previous reservations about remakes still apply, I am curious about the Lion King remake and might go see that as the last Hoorah! I'm going to be viewing with this a more critical eye because I saw this performaned on Broadway when I was lass. I remember standing in line for hours three different ocassions to get in, but never making it because it was always sold out. When I finally got to see it with my family when I was 8 it took my breath away, the acrobats, the stilt walkers walking down the aisle, extravagant costumes. What really is unique about The Lion King is that it had cutting edge make-up and masks and instruments inspired by African theater to really give the feel that we were in the middle of the Savanna. Julie Taylor is a genius when it comes to visuals. If The Lion King film adaptation preserves this imaginative retelling that many audiences all over America haven't seen then I would happily go see the movie.
To answer the question which Disney film would I like to see remade live action I think I would choose The Hunchback of Notre Dame, because I think it is really underrated, one of Disney's darkest films and I always liked it. I also think that this one has more potential to be fresh to today's audiences because it can include more elements from Victor Hugo's novel than the movie did.
