Disney Remakes: Beauty & the Beast and Aladdin
- Sunna Mjöll Valdimarsdóttir
- Sep 8, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 15, 2019
With Disney remaking their animated films there is always the question if they hold up to the original or possibly if they are even any good. In this post I will talk about Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. This is more of an opinion peace than a criticism of the Disney live action films.
Now that Disney is remaking their animated films, it is a topic that I want to discuss. When it comes to Disney films my favourites are the renaissance films (The Little Mermaid to Tarzan are commonly known as the renaissance of Disney). Those are the ones that I have the strongest opinions on and therefore are the ones that I will be most critical off when it comes to changes in the remakes. When it comes to the older films, I‘m quite indifferent to most of them and my opinions are not as well formed, and I have less criticism for those films. In this blog I will mostly be discussing Beauty and the Beast, and I will also touch upon Aladdin.
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is my favourite Disney film and, in my opinion, one of the greatest animated films ever made. The animated film was released in 1991 and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1992. That is 10 years before the Best Animated Feature at the Oscars was created in 2002, first winner being Shrek. At that time only 5 films were nominated. That is a feat in its own right. It got a great reception at The New York Film Festival, where it was shown unfinished. It was filled with sketches and key frame animations and not polished coloured frames. It is a great film and when I found out about the live action remakes, this was the film I was most worried about.
I was terrified that they would change the story or an element of the story that was crucial and that it wouldn‘t be good. I was happy with the cast but also slightly worried. However, I didn't have to worry because it was a good cast and they did very well. When it came to the film itself, I was very happy with the almost frame by frame remake of the original animated film and the changes that were made were relevant changes that go with the times. My favourite change is the change in Gaston. He was an annoying villain in the animated film and in the live action he is practically a psychopath with no morals. He is expertly played by Luke Evans and if there is anything that stands out in the live action it is Gaston. He is usually the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the live action. The live action however, doesn‘t hold up to the animation. It doesn‘t have the same magic that the original had. It is a good remake of a great film and I would say that it is a good film, but not great. There is something that didn‘t translate between animation and live action. I‘m not sure what but it is a decent attempt.
Aladdin
When it comes to Aladdin, I feel like I have very similar things to say. The live action remake is fairly similar to the original. It is not as much frame by frame as Beauty and the Beast was, but it was for the most part the same story. There were things that were kept from the animation that I thought didn‘t fit in the live action films, specifically there was the time when Prince Anders arrives, and Aladdin saves the kids from a horse. The rider of the horse, a guard, calls him a street rat and other such things. In the animation this was a perfect moment to show how people look down on him for being poor. In the live action there was something about the way this point was made that felt very out of place. Another thing that kind of bothered me was Jasmines new song. The song was fine and works for that character but it doesn‘t fit in with the older, classic songs. I did, however, really like Mena Massoud as Aladdin.
The biggest fear about Aladdin , always seemed to follow news relating to Will Smith. In my opinion, he was very hit or miss in this role. When they released a minute from Prince Ali, people were not happy because it was slow and didn‘t have the same power as it did in the animation. I was happy when I saw the film and the seemingly slower pace of the song and the music worked within the pace of the live action film. The film was overall good, and I was very pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed it despite the changes that bothered me. It had some of the same magic as the original, but it sometimes felt like it was in a more condensed form. Sometimes it felt like things had been edited out for length. The finale went by too fast, I thought. In the animation there was so much that happened in the finale and in the live action it was almost over before it began. I had a little bit of a problem with how the characters were introduced because I wanted the introductions to be more like they were in the animation, where we get to meet every character mostly separately. In the live action we meet Aladdin and then we meet Jasmine at the market when Aladdin saves her. I wanted some time with Jasmine before Aladdin, but it worked and it is more of a personal opinion than anything else. I did like our introduction to Jafar though. All in all the film came together pretty well and I understand why they have decided to do a second one.
The Other Films
Currently I haven‘t seen many of the others and more are coming soon. The only other one I have currently seen is Cinderella (I don‘t count the 1998‘s 101 Dalmatians as part of these remakes, but that is a great film). I have always been indifferent to Cinderella and the older princess films and I don‘t really have anything to say about them.
With the coming films I‘m probably most excited about Mulan. I know they are changing a lot when it comes to Mulan but I‘m super excited about it. I can hardly wait. I have heard not so great things about The Lion King but I‘m still hopeful since I haven‘t seen it yet. I will probably write more of these when I see more of these remakes. The intention is to see them all and see what changes with the times.
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