The (Possible) Solution to Disney's Live-Action Remakes
Veering off the tracks from my normal posts, today's is about something that I hold near and dear to my heart: Disney movies. Like any child, Disney movies were at the core of entertainment available to me at a young age, and I still continue to enjoy them today.
Now let me preface this by saying there are many Disney live-action films that I enjoy. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is one of my favorite movies of all time (and the only one I can recite word for word). Dr. Syn, amazing! High School Musical, a classic! My problem is solely with the live-action remakes of their classic animated films. And this is nothing new. I know a lot of people have had their opinions about these movies, but I would like to share mine before anything else.
I have not been a fan of them. Big shock, I know. They come nowhere close to capturing or recreating the magic of the originals. Whether it's because of poor casting choices or added subplots that go nowhere or characters that didn't need to be there, the movies are always off the mark. Which is sad because, I will admit, they have produced some good moments and some of the casting has been spot on. They are just incapable of going all the way for sake of having star power. I also am not a fan of the singing. Many of the Disney movies from Disney's Renaissance (which refers to the movies from 1989 to 1999) were written with songs that are very reminiscent of those you would hear on Broadway. Because this was the style they went for, they would bring in Broadway singers to do the songs. Very rarely did the voice actors also provide the singing voices of their characters. But when you give this broadway-style songs to those who are not trained in that realm or are not comfortable singing them, it really takes the wind out of the sails and detracts from the magic of the musc. Where there should be a strong, powerful voice that evokes emotion, there's an auto-tuned, weak voice that can't find the right notes, turning what should be an emotional scene into a laugh fest.
But I digress. I'm not here to talk about the bad singing (save for Luke Evans as Gaston. Talk about a good casting choice) or the needless subplots. I want to talk about an idea that I had that could possibly save these movies.
Don't just retell the same story. Tell the story from a different perspective.
There are so many characters in each Disney film. Each one of them has their own story. While for the films of the Renaissance focus solely on the either the princess or titular character, they are surrounded with a colorful cast of people who each have their own story to tell. Because of this, it seems odd to me that Disney wouldn't go for one of these characters and expand their story while still keeping the original main character, just having them as part of the supporting cast.
Disney tried this with Maleficent, retelling the story from the villain's perspective. It wasn't a good movie and they tried too hard to be Wicked and make you feel sorry for Maleficent (which honestly nobody wants to feel sorry for her), but I appreciate what they were trying to do. They didn't want to just retell Aurora's story. They knew that there wouldn't be much to retell because she spends half the story asleep. They wanted to explore her world more and show it through the eyes of another character. But Maleficent is the only one of the remakes that has tried this. I would say it's because the film didn't do well, but they made a sequel, so it did well enough for Disney to want to explore her perspective more. So if they won't shy away from using Maleficent's perspective, why don't they try it with their other movies?
For example, in the Beauty and the Beast movie, let's see it from Gaston's perspective. We would see how and why he became so full of himself, why he was so fixated on Belle. Was it really because she was just beautiful or was there something more? We would see not only the burly, brawny Gaston we all know and love, but also a tragic character whose flaws become his downfall. Another example would be Shang from Mulan. What was his story? What was it like growing up as the son of a general? What were his struggles? Did he feel the same way as Mulan growing up? Someone who felt as though they would never live up to what they were expected to be. Why did he not like Ping/Mulan?
There are tons of characters like these who could have their stories expanded. And it's not limited to only the good guys. Again, they made a movie about Maleficent, one of Disney's most popular and loved villains. They could do a lot with their villains. Tell the story from the perspective of someone in the opposite position. They got close to this idea with the expansion of Jasmine's character in the Aladdin movie. But why not go all the way and just make it a Jasmine-focused movie? You would still had Aladdin, you'd still have Genie, and Abu, but you'd understand Jasmine more and you would see exactly where she 's coming from. Why she so keen to get out of the palace and not marry.
The result of these ideas would be dependent on their screenwriters and directors and how well they'd be able to build the story and characters, but they would still offer something new instead of rehashing the stories we are already familiar with and love. To me, it makes more sense to offer a new story in a world we already know and just expand it so we know what life is like for others. Those are the kind of movies that would get me to the theaters, not just waiting for the films to come out on DVD or Netflix, because I would be interested to see the world from these other characters' eyes.
There are so many amazing characters in the Disney films. So many who are beloved by those who grew up with them. As much as we love the main characters, the spotlight should shine on those supporting characters too.
What do you all think? Do you think Disney would do better by adapting other perspectives instead of retreading their original movies? Do you like what they're doing on? Have another idea as to how they make these movies? Leave your thoughts down below! I'd love to hear them!
Now let me preface this by saying there are many Disney live-action films that I enjoy. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is one of my favorite movies of all time (and the only one I can recite word for word). Dr. Syn, amazing! High School Musical, a classic! My problem is solely with the live-action remakes of their classic animated films. And this is nothing new. I know a lot of people have had their opinions about these movies, but I would like to share mine before anything else.
I have not been a fan of them. Big shock, I know. They come nowhere close to capturing or recreating the magic of the originals. Whether it's because of poor casting choices or added subplots that go nowhere or characters that didn't need to be there, the movies are always off the mark. Which is sad because, I will admit, they have produced some good moments and some of the casting has been spot on. They are just incapable of going all the way for sake of having star power. I also am not a fan of the singing. Many of the Disney movies from Disney's Renaissance (which refers to the movies from 1989 to 1999) were written with songs that are very reminiscent of those you would hear on Broadway. Because this was the style they went for, they would bring in Broadway singers to do the songs. Very rarely did the voice actors also provide the singing voices of their characters. But when you give this broadway-style songs to those who are not trained in that realm or are not comfortable singing them, it really takes the wind out of the sails and detracts from the magic of the musc. Where there should be a strong, powerful voice that evokes emotion, there's an auto-tuned, weak voice that can't find the right notes, turning what should be an emotional scene into a laugh fest.
But I digress. I'm not here to talk about the bad singing (save for Luke Evans as Gaston. Talk about a good casting choice) or the needless subplots. I want to talk about an idea that I had that could possibly save these movies.
Don't just retell the same story. Tell the story from a different perspective.
There are so many characters in each Disney film. Each one of them has their own story. While for the films of the Renaissance focus solely on the either the princess or titular character, they are surrounded with a colorful cast of people who each have their own story to tell. Because of this, it seems odd to me that Disney wouldn't go for one of these characters and expand their story while still keeping the original main character, just having them as part of the supporting cast.
Disney tried this with Maleficent, retelling the story from the villain's perspective. It wasn't a good movie and they tried too hard to be Wicked and make you feel sorry for Maleficent (which honestly nobody wants to feel sorry for her), but I appreciate what they were trying to do. They didn't want to just retell Aurora's story. They knew that there wouldn't be much to retell because she spends half the story asleep. They wanted to explore her world more and show it through the eyes of another character. But Maleficent is the only one of the remakes that has tried this. I would say it's because the film didn't do well, but they made a sequel, so it did well enough for Disney to want to explore her perspective more. So if they won't shy away from using Maleficent's perspective, why don't they try it with their other movies?
For example, in the Beauty and the Beast movie, let's see it from Gaston's perspective. We would see how and why he became so full of himself, why he was so fixated on Belle. Was it really because she was just beautiful or was there something more? We would see not only the burly, brawny Gaston we all know and love, but also a tragic character whose flaws become his downfall. Another example would be Shang from Mulan. What was his story? What was it like growing up as the son of a general? What were his struggles? Did he feel the same way as Mulan growing up? Someone who felt as though they would never live up to what they were expected to be. Why did he not like Ping/Mulan?
There are tons of characters like these who could have their stories expanded. And it's not limited to only the good guys. Again, they made a movie about Maleficent, one of Disney's most popular and loved villains. They could do a lot with their villains. Tell the story from the perspective of someone in the opposite position. They got close to this idea with the expansion of Jasmine's character in the Aladdin movie. But why not go all the way and just make it a Jasmine-focused movie? You would still had Aladdin, you'd still have Genie, and Abu, but you'd understand Jasmine more and you would see exactly where she 's coming from. Why she so keen to get out of the palace and not marry.
The result of these ideas would be dependent on their screenwriters and directors and how well they'd be able to build the story and characters, but they would still offer something new instead of rehashing the stories we are already familiar with and love. To me, it makes more sense to offer a new story in a world we already know and just expand it so we know what life is like for others. Those are the kind of movies that would get me to the theaters, not just waiting for the films to come out on DVD or Netflix, because I would be interested to see the world from these other characters' eyes.
There are so many amazing characters in the Disney films. So many who are beloved by those who grew up with them. As much as we love the main characters, the spotlight should shine on those supporting characters too.
What do you all think? Do you think Disney would do better by adapting other perspectives instead of retreading their original movies? Do you like what they're doing on? Have another idea as to how they make these movies? Leave your thoughts down below! I'd love to hear them!
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