Disney can’t stop churning out live-action remake after live-action remake. Neither can anyone else it seems. Animation is charming and fantastical, while live-action is realistic and relatable, so the desire to turn one into the other does make a lot of sense.
We’ve taken a look at five times where a live-action remake was better than its animated original, and five times where the animated version should have remained the only version. Read on to find which films landed where.
Live-Action: Jungle Book
This was a tricky one. The first in Disney’s recent, big-budget explosion of live-action remakes was met with hesitation. Could it really work to have the cast turned from cute cartoons into realistic animals without losing the childish charm of the film? Yes, it seemed. The response was rather warm, with the film keeping to the essence of the original, while giving action sequences more weight and toning down the frequency of musical moments. Whether this can truly count as ‘animated’, considering most of the cast are still actually animated, is a bigger point of contention.
Animation: Alice In Wonderland
The original Alice In Wonderland is a masterpiece of imagination and surrealist visuals. Every character shines, with every location taking on an evergreen sense of wonder and mystery that has been replicated basically no-where else since.
The live-action adaptation also failed to pull this off, gathering an ensemble cast (Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, for example) and placing them into a lackluster, unimaginative and disappointing universe that certainly didn’t live up to the original. Somehow, it spawned a sequel too.
Live-Action: Peter Pan
The first Peter Pan film (and its fantastic sequel, Return To Neverland) were brilliant films, there is no question. However, the 2003 remake surprised everyone by taking the animated film to an even higher level. Jason Isaacs is brilliant as both Captain Hook and George Darling (a tradition that stems from the stage production), while Richard Briers injects delightful humor through Smee. It might have seemed difficult to top such an enthralling original, but they seemed to have pulled this one off with ease.
Animation: Cinderella
The live-action Cinderella remake seemed to lie under the radar quite well upon its release back in 2015. Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden and Helena Bonham Carter are just a few names from the ensemble cast, but its attempt at magical beauty just didn’t have the same effect as it did in cartoon form way back in 1950. For some reason, Disney seems to be working on yet another adaptation, casting the likes of James Corden and Romesh Ranganathan… Interesting.
Live-Action: The Flintstones
It’s a lot easier to remake an animation when that animation is based around humans. You don’t have to worry about animating an animal in a convincing way, because you can’t really get more realistic than a human playing a… human. The 1994 comedy stars John Goodman as Fred and does the Hanna Barbera classic justice. Reimagining the stone cars and bringing in puppets to portray the pet dinosaurs was a great move that gave a homely, original feel to a film that could easily have taken a major wrong turn.
Animation: Dumbo
Everyone who has seen the live-action remake of Dumbo will agree that this was a giant mistake. Firstly, can you really advertise a film that focuses on a flying elephant made from computer graphics as live-action?
Tim Burton is usually a master of direction, creating brilliantly surreal landscapes for his unique characters to exist, but even the combination of him and Danny DeVito couldn’t catch this falling elephant.
Live-Action: 101 Dalmatians
In a rare twist, this animal-centric remake worked really quite well in real life. Giving Glenn Close the central role as Cruella De Vil was a stroke of genius that made sure the film was a hit, but choosing to partially animate actual, real dogs is probably what stopped the film from its potential bomb. The film still received its fair share of controversy, however, with sales of Dalmatians spiking and causing many to be rehomed and, in some cases, euthanized.
Animation: Scooby Doo
Arguably the biggest misstep in cinematic history was to allow the Scooby-Doo universe to become a live-action franchise. The charm of the series comes from the gang encountering drawn, cartoonish monsters, not running around surrounded by what looks like terrible video game graphics.
The first two live-action films do enough of a disservice to the cartoon version on their own, but the two prequels that came direct-to-DVD a few years later are simply some of the worst films ever.
Live-Action: Maleficent
While not strictly a remake, this live-action Angeline Jolie-starring film was a massive hit. It takes the underdeveloped character of Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty and gives her center stage. The story of Charles Perreault’s original fairy-tale is retold from the perspective of the title character. This gives the plot of the original SleepingBeauty a lot more nuance than it had before. This is what live action remakes should always attempt to do. Its success has led to a recent sequel, (Mistress Of Evil) which has received much more mixed reviews.
Animation: Beauty And The Beast
Beauty And The Beast is one of the few almost perfect Disney classics. It doesn’t really (directly) delve into any of the outdated racism that plagues the older films, and gives us some of the best songs any soundtrack has produced, courtesy of the brilliant Alan Menken. The live-action remake puts Emma Watson front and center. This film only creates an odd mish-mash of cartoon goofiness with realistic people, with the strange pseudo-animated landscape just not sitting quite right as a finished product. We did get a new song, though, in ‘Evermore’, which certainly holds up to the music of the original.
