Be it about a girl and a glass slipper or a maiden and seven dwarfs, Disney films have always provided a presence during childhood. The animated films have gained so much popularity since the 1937 debut of Snow White, that they have undoubtedly been dubbed as classics. The movies that fill the imaginative heads of the youth with dreams of the future are known as fairy tales, and these fairy tales often star a lady ravishing in appearance, wearing long, colorful gowns. These leading ladies today are known as the “Disney Princesses.” Whether it is because the Hollywood industries are lacking ideas, or because people are thirsting for a vigorous twist on some of these stories, live-action recreations have dominated the box office in recent years. Disney characters, from the legnedary animated Disney Princesses to talking animals, are being plucked out of their classic tales and placed in a colorful, more modern world.
On December 25th, 2014, a similar style movie, Into the Woods, was released. People looking into this live-action movie may be surprised to learn that the movie weaves together the plots of four different classics, including stories beloved by children but not written by Disney. The film is a modern take on Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel. In 2010, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was released and received extremely high box office earning.
This film, unlike Into the Woods, followed the original storyline of Alice in Wonderland pretty closely, but did include the twistedness that audiences have come to expect from Tim Burton. Regarding Burton’s live-action remake, Cat Clark ’16 exclaimed, “I love live-action Disney remakes! Alice in Wonderland is probably one of my favorite movies.” A number of other students agree with Clark that live-action Disney movies are fun to watch, find it difficult to adapt to the change in the Disney classics. Exchange student, Frederikke Johansson ’16 said, “I personally always remember loving to sing along to the Little Mermaid and the Lion King so it just seems weird for these movies to be made with real life people.” Following the success of Alice in Wonderland, a Cinderella movie was released on March 13th, 2015, the second remake of the same movie within six months. The blonde princess in blue has proved to be the most popular of the selection of princesses, and even has a movie-like model built of her castle at Walt Disney Studios. However, a new report states that the castle could transform into Elsa’s castle from Frozen, demonstrating the newfound interests of the young generation.
The upcoming live-action remakes to be released soon include recreations of The Jungle Book (1967), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Beauty and the Beast (1991.) Two out of the three involve Disney Princesses, which seem to obtain the greatest interest, particularly from girls. Anna Erskine ’18 said, “I love the princess movies, but always wondered what they would look like as real people, so it’s kinda cool to get to actually see that.” She is not the only one who is excited for these new releases, River Harper ’18 agreed, “I personally am excited for the Jungle Book release because it’s one of my favorites, and it will be awesome to see it come to life.”
There appears to be no stopping the production of Disney remakes as more Disney live-action films are released each year. This could suggest that as advancements in technology are made, the movie industry tends to want to modernize famous classics, in the hopes that the movies will exceed their original success. It is safe to say that there are mixed reactions regarding the live-action remakes of Disney movies; however, the act of watching live-action Disney movies does not mean that one must forget the animated classics in their totality. Jessica Saunders ’16 commented, “I think live-action Disney movies are pretty cool, but I hope that kids will still watch the original animations.” While live-action remakes seem to be making more of an appearance in movie theaters, it seems the original animated Disney films will forever remain classics.