Disney #8: The Good and Bad with Live Action Remakes

 Hey all,

I do like a lot of the live action Disney movies. You know the ones. They are the remakes of the animated movies ones but live action. There's quite a few that a lot of people can't stand. I am going to cover what is good and bad about the live action remakes. I will start with the bad, and then go onward  to the good.

This is coming from me personally what is bad. I didn't mind watching Mulan's live action movie, but I found it boring! Plus some of the things in this live action movie, as well as even the live action Disney movies I do enjoy, were missing from their animated counterparts. In Mulan, we don't have musical numbers, we don't have Mushu, we don't have Li Shang. These were some of the things that made the original Mulan awesome! We don't even have the comedy of the male soldiers from the original. The 3 soldiers that Mulan befriended in the original were very funny. There's not really any comedy or comradery in the live action Mulan.

I really enjoy the live action Lion King. I have always loved the OG Lion King. But somehow, the new Lion King does everything the old one did, but in a less spirited way. Despite having Beyonce, the songs do not have nearly the punch they had in the original. The movie lacks a certain energy or zest in the original.

On to the good in live action Disney movies! There are quite a few I enjoyed. I loved the live action Little Mermaid, was a fan of live action Beauty and the Beast. I LOVED the live action Aladdin. I really really loved the Cruella movie. The Disney live action Jungle Book I found made the original animated version even better. Cinderella was a masterpiece. I will cover what I liked about each of these below.

Although they made some changes with the songs in the live action Little Mermaid, I felt it had a lot of charm and was really fun. Ursula is my fave Disney villain, let alone character, and I thought Melissa McCarthy did a really good job at portraying Ursula. She was deliciously evil, which is what Ursula embodies for me.

I loved Halle Bailey's Ariel. Her singing was amazing and she was so happy on screen. She was a fresh take on Ariel. I also liked some of the ways they fleshed out the story so that it was not just a carbon copy of the original. It was one of the more fun life action Disney movies.

In the live action Beauty and the Beast, I really liked the costume design. I know that Emma Watson was super auto tuned, but I liked the singing. I especially loved Luke Evans as Gaston and Josh Gad as Le Fou. It was a fun movie. I obviously prefer the OG animated one but this one was enjoyable.

Now I know there are people who didn't like the live action Aladdin, but it was very funny and I laughed and I liked Will Smith's take on the Genie (Robin Williams will always be king though!). I loved the singing and I do sometimes still listen to the songs on the soundtrack online. The costumes were beautiful in this as well and it was so much fun to watch!

I was never fully into the OG Jungle Book animated movie. I since have come to appreciate the animated one because the live action Disney Jungle Book fleshes out so much of the original message and trying to get Mowgli to his own people, humans. When I watched the animated one, I didn't understand so much why they needed to get him to a human village beyond Shere Khan being a threat. The backstory in the live action Jungle Book fleshes it out. It's been awhile since I saw the live action one but it's one of the better live action adaptations of the animated Disney movies.

Cinderella, along with Cruella, are two of the best live action Disney movies I have ever seen. I will cover Cruella after I cover Cinderella. Besides Cinderella being a visual treat with the great costume work and the locales on film, it is such a good adaptation. Lily James and Cate Blanchette steal the show in this movie! Blanchette is deliciously evil and James is such a good Cinderella. Helena Bonham Carter is a great presence in this movie as well!

Cruella was one of the best live action Disney movies I had ever seen. It takes a lot of creative directions to show how Cruella became who she is and how deliciously evil she becomes. How fabulous she is too. The set designs and especially the costume designs are great and Emma Stone looks absolutely fantastic! The movie was really well done.

I won't speak on 101 Dalmatians too much, one of the first live action Disney movies I saw way before Disney started really pumping these out but I always had a soft spot for that version as well as the animated one and Glenn Close is absolutely fantastic as Cruella. One of the best casting decisions ever.

I haven't seen the live action Pinocchio, so I can't speak my opinions on it. I have seen Maleficent 1 and 2 and the first one was just ok but I did enjoy the second one and both have great makeup and costumes. Not as good as Cruella or Cinderella's costumes, but I love Angelina Jolie's whole look!

I almost forgot about the live action Lady and the Tramp! The OG one is a classic but I didn't care for it as much as other people did. I really enjoyed the live action movie despite the changes. It's not my favorite live action Disney movie but I still thought it was heartwarming and I did still like it.

curlyalicia