#the only good remakes were cinderella and maleficent

[modern-alebrije]

MAYBE it'll be like, ariel is in line to take over the carniae sea from her dad, but she doesnt want to and its like a whole dynamic between them. like, "all your sisters took this responsibility, now it's your turn. you're royalty, this what you're supposed to do" and ariel just does everything she can to NOT do that, and she just focuses on her collection and dicking around.

[masterhallmark]

Rant incoming

I feel like the problem with a lot of Disney's live action remakes (and arguably Wish) is they're trying to appeal to a crowd that no longer exists, namely the people who used to claim that the Disney Princesses were sexist.

All the interviews tend to include, "Well she's not chasing a MAN anymore" which...almost no one sees the princesses like that, anymore. Virtually NO ONE still believes the princesses are man-chasing sexist caricatures of women.

Cinderella is now hailed as an abuse victim who stayed strong long enough to get help to get out of her situation. Anyone who says she should have saved herself is basically regarded as a victim blamer. And it's very clear in the film she wasn't looking to marry the prince, she just wanted a night off. She was the only one who wasn't in line to meet him. She didn't find out she met the prince until he went looking for her!

Snow White is now hailed for her negotiation skills, ability to calm down after extreme stress (she had a moment of panic and had to cry for a bit, but who wouldn't after finding out The Queen hired someone to kill you?), and ability to take charge of a house of adult men. And again, she was an abuse victim, this time trying to escape ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS. While she dreamed of her prince, it was secondary to her main goal of SURVIVAL. There are also entire video essays about how Snow White gave hope to people during The Great Depression.

Everyone acknowledges that Ariel wanted to be human BEFORE meeting Eric. We all know she was a nerd hyperfixating on humans, and also standing up to her prejudiced father.

We understand Sleeping Beauty wasn't the main character, the Three Good Fairies were, AND PHILLIP WOULD NEVER HAVE BEATEN MALEFICENT WITHOUT THEM! He literally depended on them! WOMEN SAVED THE DAY! But even then, is it really such a sin for a girl to fantasize about romance and fall for someone with corny pickup lines?

We all understand Jasmine just wanted someone to treat her LIKE A PERSON. She rejected every Prince before Aladdin because they treated her like a prize. So why did they need her to want to be Sultan? How did that make her more feminist when she already wanted to be treated like an equal and have a say in her future? Is it only empowering if you want a career in politics?

We admire that Belle, despite living in a judgemental village, was kind to everyone (even though she found the village life dull), and her story teaches girls that the guy everyone else loves isn't always a good guy. What's sexist about teaching girls about red flags? And she didn't start being nice to The Beast until he started treating her with respect and kindness.

Do I really NEED to defend Mulan or Tiana? I think they speak for themselves.

Rapunzel was yet another abuse victim who just needed a little help to get out of her bad situation. In this case, she also needed to learn that she was an abuse victim, and that what Mother Gothel did WASN'T normal, much like many victims of gaslighting.

And don't get me started on the non-princess animals.

Perdita had a healthy relationship with Pongo to the point she was open to express her pregnancy fears to him, and was ready to TEAR APART Cruella's goons for daring to touch her puppies as well as adopting the other puppies. Like, she was so ferocious the goons mistook her for a hyena! She's basically that "I AM THAT GIRL'S MOTHER!" scene from SpyXFamily if Yor were a dog. She and her husband were a TEAM.....but they made a Cruella live action to turn her into a girlboss?! The literal animal abuser!? THAT'S the woman you wanted to put on a pedestal when Perdita was RIGHT THERE!?

Duchess kept her kittens calm after they had been catnapped and was classy as heck. Nice to everyone regardless of social class during a time period where that was uncommon.

Lady stood up to Tramp when she believed he had abandoned her and didn't really care about her. She found out he was a heartbreaker and was like, "Nuh uh. No. You are not doing that to me! You put me through enough."

Miss Bianca from The Rescuers was IN CHARGE the whole movie, and was willing to risk life and limb to save an innocent child. THAT TINY MOUSE TOOK ON ALLIGATORS! And she picked Bernard to accompany her because he was the only one who wasn't ogling her. And then in the sequel SHE DID IT ALL AGAIN! I wish I were as brave as her.

Like, the public haven't accused these ladies of being sexist caricatures since 2014 (Actresses and actors don't count, they're out of touch like the rest of Hollywood) yet Disney is operating under the assumption that the public still thinks that way, hence all the "sHe'S nOt AfTeR a MaN iN ThIs VeRsIOn" talk.

The live action remakes are trying to attract an audience that doesn't really exist much, anymore, and back when it did exist, was comprised mainly of people who didn't actually watch the films. The Disney princesses are no longer seen as sexist, and feminine qualities are no longer seen as weak or undesirable.

[misscoolisback123]

How Cinderella translated better as a live action Disney than the others and why How To Train Your Dragon won't work

1. Practical effects with cgi:

First things first is that How To Train Your Dragon isn't Disney, but it seems like a low blow that Dean Deblois would stoop this low. In the 2015 Cinderella movie, there was an equal amount of practical effects with cgi. The mice were cgi, along with the fairy godmother's magic and the transformation of the pumpkin into a carriage, the mice into horses, a goose into a coach, a couple of lizards into the footsmen, and the transformation of her ball gown. There was cgi used for Lily's feet in the slippers, but it was done right. The animals besides the mice weren't cgi. Maleficent does this as well. The magic in both movies feels convincing. Whereas with the others, especially Beauty and the Beast, the cgi is too much. At least the dog who got turned into a footstool wasn't cgi.

2. Different personalities:

Like any of the Disney movies that got live action remakes, the animated versions are obviously charming and lovable. With Cinderella and Maleficent, Cinderella and Aurora felt different from their animated counterparts. Cinderella felt like another adaptation of the titular character, whereas Aurora felt completely fleshed out. These were both good examples of retelling the same story, but with different aspects of them. The others didn't do this. They felt like just full-out remakes. Beauty and the Beast had some differences here and there, but they were the same none the less. Emma Watsons' version of Belle was just Emma Watson playing herself. The upcoming Snow White remake is going have Snow White be a Girlboss feminist. It's going to suck. The same will probably be done to Astrid and the other female characters.

3. Retelling vs. Remake:

Cinderella 2015 was a combination of the 1950s animated movie and the original Charles Perrault fairytale. But it was more so of the Perrault version of the story over the animated one. Maleficent was the same. The others are just remakes. In the original fairytale of Beauty and the Beast, Belle was originally wealthy and had two sisters. Her family had lost their money but regained it after one of the cargo ships that belonged to her father's company was found. He asks his daughters what they want him to buy them. The sisters wanted dresses and jewelry, and Belle only wanted a rose. The 2017 live action Beauty and the Beast remake did this, but it fell flat. There was the wolf fight scene between the beast and the wolves. Amongst other things from the better animated movie.

Cinderella 2015 was amazing, and for most people, Maleficent is kind of a mixed bag. But the overall direction of both movies felt completely different from their animated counterparts. There was some stuff here and there, but they were different.

4. Different outfits:

From childhood to how we see them in the rest of their movies, Cinderella and Aurora wore completely different outfits. So does Jasmine. Belle, on the other hand, wears dresses that are similar to her animated counterpart. The only difference is that she wore the same blue dress throughout the entire movie except for the ballroom scene. When the beast died and came back, and at the end. Ariel is the same. They tried to make the outfits of Ariel and Belle look different, but they were just the same outfits.

This is where How To Train Your Dragon falls into the same category. Someone on reddit said that if the first movie had started off in live action, then the characters would still be charming, just like in the animated movies. The music would still be spectacular along with some iconic scenes. This is why Barbie 2023 is great. It felt completely different from the computer animated movies from the 2000s and 2010s. When it comes to the Disney princesses, I see more people dressing up as the animated versions over the live action ones except Cinderella. Toothless is already lovable and furious, but the live action movie would probably only give him one facial trait, meaning that we won't be able to tell if he's happy, sad, angry, scared etc. The aesthetics of Cinderella and Maleficent don't look cheap and ugly. Also, DreamWorks will have no involvement in this. Universal owns DreamWorks, and they're the ones who decided to do this. Just look at this upcoming Wicked movie. Some of the sets and costumes look cheap. Broadway musicals are another hit or miss when it comes to translating them into movies. The character designs in How To Train Your Dragon are so unique that it feels difficult to replicate them.

[wendytestabrat]

my plan to torture myself with every disney movie ever made

rn i’m on a mission to torture myself with watching and re-watching every animated disney movie (not pixar, the shit from the other studio) bc i have absolutely no life and i choose to spend my time as a grown adult watching shit made for 3 year olds. i’ve never been a big disney fan i always found the movies boring af bc they’re way too kid friendly and hardly appeal to adults or have any edge to them, unlike nickelodeon cartoons and even shit from other animated movie studios like dreamworks and blue sky, but that’s a whole different story (i love pixar tho) like even before disney turned into woke bullshit i never cared for it that much, but the movies back then were still 100x better than the crap they’re making now, honestly i think disney went downhill when they started making the movies CGI bc tangled was their last good masterpiece. it ruined that classic animated 2D feel that walt brought to the table. honestly this is a huge problem in animation in general like why is every movie CGI now can we please go back to the 2D shit??? so yeah i’m actually uncultured af and have hardly seen any disney movies DJDJSKSK and the ones i have seen i only watched once when i was a kid so it feels like my first time watching a lot of these. so yeah anyway i feel the need to torture myself with a bunch of movies i don’t even like that much bc as an animation connoisseur i don’t like feeling uncultured abt literally the biggest animation company in the world and feel the need to give my expert opinion. aladdin is the best i’ve watched so far in my binge that movie is honestly top tier and the only one i consider a cinematic masterpiece (AND appeals to adults), now i understand the hype around that movie bc i’ve been living under a rock. i feel like the genie character added a huge comedic element to it that most disney movies are missing lol. beauty & the beast is def a close second tho that movie feels 100x more mature than the other disney princess movies. ig disney movies are supposed to be animated dramas rather than comedies so yeah if ima go in expecting comedy ima be disappointed lol. so if ya’ll see me randomly posting shit abt disney movies in the next few days now u know why. we’ll see if i can also get around to torturing myself with some of the live action remakes and direct to dvd sequels and see if they’re rlly bad as everyone says they are lol. the only remakes i’ve seen are alice in wonderland, cruella, christopher robin, & maleficent (and prob 101 dalmations a longass time ago). i’ve been scared to watch the rest bc of how shitty they look lol.

what i’ve watched so far in this binge:

•snow white & the seven dwarves - this movie is boring af and dopey carried the whole thing. like 50% of the screen time is spent on animals singing, imagine having the opportunity to make the first ever full length animated feature film in 1937 and u choose to make a movie about a bunch of dumb animals SINGING

•sleeping beauty - boring, what even is this movie? the title of this movie should actually be “three retarded fairies” bc sleeping beauty herself does absolutely nothing in this movie LOL

•cinderella - boring but better than sleeping beauty & snow white. i loved cinderella as a kid tho but yeah as an adult not so much fhjdjsks

•peter pan - so damn boring MY GOD this one might actually be the worst i’ve watched so far, it’s not as good as i remember it being as a kid

•aladdin - MASTERPIECE i’d def wanna watch this again

•beauty & the beast - i love this movie def one of the better disney princess movies

•bambi - sooo boring but it’s cute & i get why kids like it, and no i didn’t cry when bambi’s mom died bc i don’t give a fuck about a cartoon deer with 0 personality. also thumper carried the whole movie

•working on pocahontas now this movie is boring af so far and it makes 0 sense how the native americans speak english LOL

[lumiereandcogsworth]

hey lumi! I just thought of another question I wanted to ask you, other than batb, which live action remake do you think is the best? I haven't seen any and I want an expert opinion 😄

oh my gosh!!!!! i’m so honored. and i’m also SO autistic so i did so much more here than you asked. but anyway i wanted to wait to answer this until today because the little mermaid (2023) just dropped on disney+ and i JUST watched it for the first time. so i can include it in my list!!

of course prefacing with these are all my personal opinions, im not a film expert (and i pray to God i never am) i just like what i like! so without further ado: my thoughts! also this is just in chronological order, not ranked.

alice in wonderland (2010) - dude!! this was SUCH a hyperfixation for me when i was a kid. somehow, batb 2017 is NOT the first live action disney movie i’ve been utterly obsessed with. this movie is so good. i love the lightly gothic, mysterious fantasy aesthetic that is has. i love the wardrobe, i want to wear every outfit alice wears. i love how dark it is, like there’s such an edge to it while still being pleasant and fun enough to respectably be a disney movie. johnny depp does a fantastic job of course, (purely discussing his acting abilities here) he truly brings the madness into the mad hatter. all the acting is fantastic though. i highly recommend this film. you don’t really need to have seen the 1951 cartoon, i hadn’t, but it doesn’t hurt to! (i don’t recommend the sequel, alice through the looking glass, though. they really should’ve quit while they were ahead on this one)

maleficent (2014) & maleficent: mistress of evil (2019) - i enjoyed both of these!! i actually liked the second one more, but either way, it’s such a fun take on sleeping beauty. and this is coming from someone who LOVES sleeping beauty 1959!! it’s different obviously but it really is a good time, absolutely worth watching.

cinderella (2015) - beautiful! lovely!! not the most exciting film honestly but i do love the aesthetics and wardrobe. it’s a really pretty, pleasant movie. i’d love to rewatch it sometime! if only disney+ had it! which it doesn’t! for some inexplicable reason!!

beauty and the beast (2017) - i know you said besides my wife but obviously i have to still list it because. that’s my wife. anyway perfect film no notes!

the nutcracker and the four realms (2018) - i wanted to like this one so much more than i did. but it was just, so weird. it derails from canon in a way that isn’t enjoyable. ah. twas a let down, for me.

christopher robin (2018) - i don’t remember much honestly but it’s cute!! certainly worth a watch, but i don’t recall anything too special about it. it did make me cry though (that’s not hard for me to do at movies, to be fair)

mary poppins returns (2018) - CANNOT RECOMMEND ENOUGH!! THIS MOVIE IS LIKE IF JOY WAS TURNED INTO A FILM!!!! AAAHHH!!! :) SO LOVELY SO WONDERFUL!!!

the lion king (2019) - :/ genuinely not worth your time. it was TOO similar to the cartoon in terms of storyline, so it felt incredibly pointless to me. plus, it’s kind of boring that they look like real lions. i felt like i was watching animal planet but then pulled out of reality whenever they spoke or sang afjskfj

aladdin (2019) - ever since i saw this, i’ve only ever had three takeaways, and i’ll say them like a compliment sandwich. 1. visually STUNNING. the colors and the choreography, the people! all very beautiful. 2. the romance was… very flat? i honestly kept forgetting there was a love story going on. when they kiss at the end i was like “OOOHHH RIGHT!!” lmao. there’s just so much other stuff going on, jasmine & aladdin’s love story really fell to the wayside for me. 3. i LOVED that they gave jasmine her own song. she’s like the only disney princess that didn’t have her own song, somehow, so i was happy they gave her one and it was SO good. i remember it giving me chills on the first listen. — so, all in all, it was fine. not the worst but also not a personal favorite. worth a watch.

mulan (2020) - BLEGH sorry i almost threw up a little. maybe the worst live action remake of all time? let’s think: what are the best parts of mulan 1998? the music? mushu? shang’s bisexuality? shang, in general?? WELL LOOK NO FURTHER BECAUSE THIS HAS NONE OF THAT!!! :) it’s genuinely just… so bad. they took the basic concept and turned it into a freaky ass action movie. they make it so mulan was like, gifted from a young age with superhuman abilities (calling it chi, which, i don’t know the full story but i believe there was some major cultural appropriation that occured) instead of just being a normal badass human!!! and it wasn’t the villain from the cartoon it was a random witch. nothing made sense and it was stripped of everything that makes mulan one of the greatest disney films of all time. *godfather voice* look how they massacred my boy.

the little mermaid (2023) - so honestly i never really liked the original cartoon. it just never clicked with me. but i had every bit of hope that this one would maybe bring it to life for me!! and… well, it wasn’t bad! it was visually lovely and the music was fun. i just don’t think i’m a “love at first sight” kind of person. but eric was an incredibly likable nerd boy, sebastian the crab was funny, and ursula was SCARY. especially at the end oh my gosh???? anyway. worth a watch, but not my personal cup of tea. ariel and eric get points for dancing a bit AND they hugged at the end which was really sweet. couples Do Not hug enough in media.

lastly, i can’t comment on: peter pan & wendy (2023), the jungle book (2016), dumbo (2019), lady and the tramp (2019), and cruella (2021), because i have not seen them. i will absolutely note though that i despise cruella 2021 in solidarity with my friend @freakwiththeknifecollection because it blatantly disregards the canon of 101 dalmatians 1961 and they couldn’t even like?? train the dogs?? for ONE scene?? huge huge mess. i’m just scratching the surface. if you want a live action cruella, look no further than 101 dalmatians 1996. top tier live action that i loved as a kid!!

[skinnylove584]

I finally got around to watching the 2023 Little Mermaid. Here are my thoughts that nobody asked for...

What I liked:

- Under the Sea and Kiss the Girl were the absolute best parts of the movie.

- Ariel helping Max swim was adorable

- The whole shipwreck sequence was phenomenal

- I thought the CGI ultimately was beautiful the under the sea shots were mostly stunning

- The castle is exactly how I envisioned it

- The addition of Eric's trinket room was a lovely addition and added depth

- Plot hole and context filled (Ursula's relation to Ariel, her voice, etc.)

-Halle did an excellent job not only with her singing but with her facial expressions and playing naive

- Jodi Benson's cameo

What I disliked:

- Scuttlebutt, I'm sorry that was awful and felt super out of place

- Eric's solo song, this had nothing to do with the actors vocal capabilities and everything to do with how poorly the lyrics flowed. It could have been such a great addition.

-King Triton's anger when he destroyed everything lacked true feeling overall he was too stone cold

- THE COSTUMES! Most of them looked so cheap and poorly made. I would have loved to have seen more dresses on Ariel as well as a nicer scarf for her hair.

- The hat tbh it just reminded me of a fedora and it took me out of it. (Though I do note Eric's affection to the hat because of Ariel was sweet)

- Putting Ariel back in the ratty dress instead of the silver one BIG mistake HUGE

- While I overall liked Vanessa, her actress fell victim to a poorly made dress and poorly styled hair

- This is just nit picking but the ever so slight tweaks to the music weren't my favorite it was the most tiny changes that threw me. I guess I'm just used to the original. Doesn't mean they were bad just wasn't what I hoped for.

- While I could appreciate the full circle moment of Ariel steering the ship like Eric, I gotta say I missed him killing Ursula. Ariel is brave and adventurous in her own right I didn't feel like Eric killing Ursula in the original took away from that BUT I could still appreciate it in this version.

-Tbh Ursla was kinda meh in this and I found her scenes kinda disorienting. Her CGI monster at the end was also very meh BUT the crazy water and chaos were not.

Overall I thought it was a good movie not bad not great. Out of all the live action remakes not my favorite but not the worst. To be honest, when Disney first started putting out live actions with Cinderella and Maleficent, they set the bar high. Even films like Pirates of the Caribbean were absolutely stunning. So when they announced this I expected the same attention to detail and I didn't feel like it delivered. I'd like to see these live action movies meet the same standards of quality as Pirates of the Caribbean. It just felt cheap which is a harsh word but that's what I can best describe it. I will say periodically through the movie they hit the target but as soon as they would hit it they would lose it. I was constantly being pulled in and out of the fantasy of it.

I give it a 6/10 a good movie glad I watched it but probably won't watch it again.

[writingforfun0714]

Y’all….that new Peter Pan and Wendy movie…looks bad.

Before everyone comes at me for being racist, lemme explain.

I have ABSOLUTELY ZERO problem with a POC Peter Pan. I have NO PROBLEM with a black Tinkerbell. I don’t mind a scraggly/hobo Captain Hook and I liked Ever Anderson from her role as Young Natasha Romanoff in Black Widow so not that my expectations for her are high, but I know that her acting can be pretty good for a kid. And as a POC myself, I’m all for representation.

But the track record for successful Disney remakes (of their animated movies) isn’t high. The remakes are kind of like this generation’s animated sequels from the 2000s. Some people really like the live-action remakes (just like there are some that love the animated sequels), but lots of people seem to hate/dislike them. I’m weird I guess..I like lots of the animated sequels but don’t like most of the remakes.

That’s one of my problems with this movie (at least from what has been shown so far). There isn’t anything new (besides designs/looks of the characters) introduced.

Personally, I really only enjoyed the Cinderella, Pete’s Dragon, and Jungle Book remakes (Maleficent/Cruella/Aladdin I thought was ok. Could’ve been better imo but definitely not as bad as some others). Cinderella, Pete’s Dragon and The Jungle Book remakes are the only ones I’ll actually rewatch.

I’ve seen most of the remakes (except for Pinocchio w/ Tom Hanks) and don’t like Lion King, Mulan, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, and Beauty and the Beast. I’d heard the Pinocchio remake was terrible so I just didn’t even bother.

I’m skeptical about The Little Mermaid remake (again, not because of a POC Ariel) but Melissa McCarthy has always been a fav of mine so I think I’ll see it (unlike Pinnochio. Guillermo Del Toro’s version on Netflix is so great and definitely superior).

But another problem I have with this new Peter Pan and Wendy movie is the color. Everything looked muted and not bright (even on Neverland). The Little Mermaid has this problem too. The lighting makes it look dark (yeah it’s deep in the ocean but even Finding Nemo did a better job w/ lighting). That’s the same thing with this Peter Pan remake. Everything looked a little saturated too, if that makes sense.

Now I wanna get to one of my main problems with this movie. The Lost Boys. I have NO PROBLEM with people identifying the way they want. Whatever makes you comfortable. But my problem was more with the delivery of the lines. Wendy looked over and said “wait, but you’re not all boys.” And one of the girls snaps back with a ‘so?!’

While I can’t exactly explain why I dislike that particular exchange, I just thought it didn’t sit well with me. I’m wondering because of the addition of girls that the way to become a ‘lost boy’ will change. In the book, Lost Boys were male babies that would fall out of their prams. I believe they said that only happened to boys because they weren’t as smart as girls or something (it’s been 20yrs so please correct me if I’m wrong).

I just don’t think we’ve seen enough at this point for it to be good. I’m really hoping that once other trailers are released, my opinion will change. I really think we just haven’t seen enough.

Also does the actress that plays Tiger Lily look a little too old? Idk I just thought she was supposed to be like a teen girl. The actress looks to be late 20s-early 30s maybe.

I’d also like to point out to those saying they hate the movie because there are girls that are Lost Boys. My problem was the delivery/acting of the lines, not that there are girls with the Lost Boys. Saying only boys are stupid enough to fall out of their prams is just untrue because that’s something that can happen to any baby. Plus those that say that Wendy being female is special because she’s a mother figure to the boys? Like do girls not deserve a mother figure too?? Disney has historically avoided mother/daughter relationships so this would be a great opportunity to switch it up.

And people have a problem with a black tinker bell like she isn’t some sort of made up magical creature. Like c’mon. Plus people saying Hook doesn’t look ‘hot’ anymore. Guys I don’t think he was ever supposed to be good looking. I’ve never seen any of the live action peter pans, but I know Jason Isaacs plays Cap Hook in one movie and yes, he’s good looking, but if I remember correctly, in the books, Hook used to be in the navy or something and eventually went crazy and started tracking down/hunting the kids. He’s supposed to look…like a hobo.

So yeah, in short, my problems are with the acting so far and the lighting/saturation. The effects look decent but again, I think I really need to see more footage and I hope my opinion will change cuz I really enjoyed the animated Peter Pan as a kid.

[tybaltsjuliet]

i am planning on seeing the little mermaid this week sometime, so, my current ranking of the live-action disney remakes that i've seen, to be updated following:

01. cinderella. god's perfect faery tale movie. it's so beautiful-looking, and -sounding. it's brilliantly cast. it adapted things like the mice in cute ways that weren't distractions or CGI abominations. (that said, my unpopular opinion about this movie is that the dress transformation moment actually *does* look a little too CGI for me. it could have looked WAY more interesting.) it expanded on the story without needing to act like cinderella and her prince were idiots, and most importantly, it does not treat people who enjoy this story like idiots, either.

02. maleficent. the codifier! the risk-taker! it's linda woolverton with the steel chair! the only time disney has put a Twist into one of these that WORKED and didn't feel like dumb fucking around with the audience because THE HEART IS THERE. the cursing at the christening is a perfect illustration of how *good* these movies can be when they want to at honoring what came before and literally bringing it to life. that scene gives me chills every time.

03. the sorcerer's apprentice. this counts as a disney live-action remake. to me. this is a very silly movie and i wish there were five sequels and a balthazar blake meet at disneyland.

04. aladdin and alice in wonderland occupy a deadlocked middle ground for me. i enjoy them a lot and it's clear they were made with care and love by people who wanted to try something a little creative and different, and not just as soulless cash grabs by The Rat. but the execution still leaves things to be desired. why must the hatter be so goddamn annoying? why the Girl Power clichés? WHY DID YOU FIGURATIVELY AND LITERALLY DEFANG JAFAR?

05. dumbo. it tried. i can never decide if i think dumbo looks charming or terrible and the plot was insanely contrived but, hey. i love circuses and i whooped out loud when i saw the map beginning in sarasota, florida. colin farrell did NOT have to put his whole heart into this movie but god bless the man for it.

06. the jungle book. it was fine, and far be it from me to look a gift tiger voiced by idris elba in the mouth. but this was not necessary.

07. alice through the looking-glass. points for alice's dope chinese court outfit and the, what, sixty seconds featuring richard armitage and rhys ifans. demerits for literally everything else. possibly unfair to class this with the others since it's technically not a live-action remake but a sequel to one.

08. 101 dalmatians. even as a kid i thought it was silly that this movie got made, and i just don't find cruella very funny in this. plus i get annoyed every time i see that take about how she says SUCH feminist things.

09. beauty and the beast. how 'bout that dan stevens done up full rococo dandy? that's all i've got.

[marciabrady]

Hi, I loved all of the points you made with 2015 Cinderella. I haven't watched the original one in a while, but you reminded me of do many lovely things, and I completely agree with your take on her character! And I was wondering if you could write a little about all of the other live-action remakes, which one is your fave and which one is the worst (after Cinderella ofc) and why - compare the princesses' personalities a bit, and maybe say what was better than in the oryginal (if there was anything?). I'm thinking about Aladdin, Mulan, TLM and BatB - oh, and Maleficent, if you count this one :) I must say I haven't seen the new TLM yet, but Disney's remakes have been letting me down since Cinderella, so I'm in no rush and don't worry about spoilers! Love your opinions and blog in general, btw ❤

Thank you for being complimentary to one of my last posts! This question yields a lengthy response, though, so I'll try to be brief while covering all of the topics you inquired about:

In terms of favorites, I wouldn't say I'd rewatch any of these films? They're generally uninspired and bad rip-offs of a superior property that already exists. If I had to rank them though, BATB and Aladdin were the least unenjoyable to me, TLM and Maleficent really were not for me and didn't understand their source material, and Mulan was unforgivably bland.

To compare their personalities is a difficult assignment because the live actions essentially show us the same character, meaning all the live action Princesses are the same to me? They made them all display strength in the same way, made them broader/softer to appeal to more people, etc, so I wouldn't really say that Emma Watson's Belle and Lily James' Cinderella or even Halle Bailey's Ariel are different characters from one another. In the process of "fixing" the Princesses, they just stripped the characters of any individuality...but, if we're comparing the live action characters to their animated counterparts, there are quite a bit of differences.

Emma's Belle leans more into the snobbish vibe that we see from the animated Belle but also feels more vulnerable in certain moments? I've only seen this movie once, and it was six years ago, but I remember Emma's Belle having a one-off with the Beast about how the villagers think she's odd and I thought that was nice. Belle in the animated film never really questioned herself, though she did have a similar scene with her father near the beginning of the movie so...I don't know, I'm really not a good judge on Belle lol Naomi's Jasmine feels somewhat true to the animated counterpart? I think the difference here, though, is where animated Jasmine was locked away her entire life the first time we meet her, Naomi's Jasmine is someone we meet out and about the Palace grounds. So I guess Naomi's has less restrictions on her? I can't think of another difference. Halle's Ariel isn't really a character, it just feels like Halle Bailey starring in The Little Mermaid to me? That might be a marketing thing, because they pushed her pretty aggressively for years, but the best way to explain it is that she acts the way Emma Watson sings. She doesn't really emote, she sings along in Under the Sea when it doesn't make sense for her to, she just doesn't really feel fully emersed or like she's acting. And honestly it's not really fair to judge her on this factor because she's even admitted she's not an actress? So...I'd say Halle's Ariel is just a nice, agreeable girl that's generally palatable and can sing well. The original Ariel has more fire to her, a feeling of being marginalized, is definitely more flawed and nuanced, fully realized, fiery, emotional, realistic, and headstrong. Elle's Aurora and animated Aurora...whew. Elle's Aurora is a child- she's giggly and naïve and innocent and doesn't understand the world around her. She doesn't have the presence or the grace or the charm of the original Aurora, nor any of the romanticism that is so central to the character. Where, in the original, I had no doubt that Aurora was competent and essentially raised herself, I don't know how Elle's Aurora got by lol I think the original Aurora had a sense of love and duty and loyalty, where Elle's Aurora is more withdrawn generally but also blindly reactive. Mary Costa's Aurora is introspective and intelligent, with so many gears turning at all times, but also dripping with enigma and essence while Elle's Aurora is simple and assuming. The remake Mulan is written to be perfect, while the animated Mulan is loyal, persistent, determined, sometimes negative, humorous, with a hazy moral compass on a practical level but a very sound higher self that she taps into.

You mentioned what was done better...I'll challenge myself to say nice things about each, which will be easy since Lily isn't included lol it's a minor detail but I loved that Emma's Belle got the snowball thrown in her face- and I don't even mean that in a shady way. The animated Belle was beloved by everyone and the smartest and the prettiest and treated incredibly by everyone, so the fact that she also threw snowballs at the Beast while he kept missing her was too much lol the fact that the Beast was allowed to be more athletically inclined and get her back, so that they met more as equals, even in such a fleeting moment, was welcome by me. I like the inclusion of Jasmine having a female friend. The original Aladdin is down BAD for female characters, and while I would've preferred the older maid that Jasmine has in the spinoff books, the fact that we got more women in general in that universe is a win. I think it was nice that they gave Halle's Ariel more vocal screentime. In the original, there were so many moments I wish I could've heard Jodi's Ariel speak more (when Ariel doesn't have a voice), and while I think the scenes are incredibly effective in the 1989 film where she is voiceless and I support the creative decision, more Ariel is always a good thing. With Elle's Aurora...it's nice we get to see her at different ages? The live action Mulan...doesn't have Mushu? Which allows for a more grounded story??

[alfairy]

Literally the only Disney live-action remake I even remotely give a shit about is Christopher Robin. I've got a soft spot for how tiny they made the stuffed animals, and bringing in Jim Cummings for Pooh and Tigger as usual is a huge bonus.

Yeah I will admit a few of them are good. Mostly towards the beginning, where you can tell they cared a little bit while they were making them. I liked Cinderella and Maleficent just fine. I haven’t seen Christopher Robin but it does look super cute and the stuffed animals are so cuddly looking

[synergysilhouette]

Best to worst Disney live-action remakes (that I've seen)

Cinderella--I regret the removal of songs, but two of them are on the soundtrack, and the visuals and costuming as stunning, as well as staying true to Cinderella's original character without making her "I'm not like other girls" and giving the prince more screentime and development.

Alice in Wonderland--Making a sequel instead of a remake was a stroke of GENIUS. I only ranked "Cinderella" higher since the remake had a good distance of time between it and the original, so it was like reliving the fairy tale.

Beauty and the Beast--The fans ruined this for me. I didn't even HEAR the autotune until I heard about it. All in all, you can't improve upon perfection, but I'm glad it was loyal to the original. Belle's yellow dress still feels underwhelming to this day, though.

Aladdin--the singing was MUCH better to the remake of BATB, but the storyline felt more political and less fantastical, particularly with Jasmine's storyline.

The Jungle Book--Beautiful, though I don't really jive with animal-centric films (save Zootopia since they're in a human-like environment).

Cruella--I enjoyed it more than I thought, but I wanted more carnage and mayham (and if they were able to do that without the animal cruelty, it'd be a bonus--though a challenge to Cruella's core character). I'd love to see Helena Bonham Carter play an older version of Cruella.

Maleficent--I was on board with the "other side to the story" angle, but not at the risk of ruined characters; the fairies and Phillip aren't heroic, Stefan is an awful person, and Aurora is a means to an end and an unfortunate obstacle in Maleficent's way.

Alice Through the Looking Glass--I'm just glad they brought back the cast members.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil--GREAT title, but the storyline felt more or less the same as the original, with rushed characterization for the dark fae and Aurora and Maleficent's relationship being broken WAY to easily.

Mulan--The original may not be my favorite Disne movie, but Mulan is my favorite Disney princess, and EVERYTHING about this movie disrespected her and her original film, in my eyes. We deserved MORE songs, not less, Shang and Mushu are iconic, and Shan Yu is underrated. In the ideal world, a live-action version would've married the original animated musical with acclaimed Wuxia films ("House of Flying Daggers" keeps coming to mind).

Disney has always had an iffy track record with live-action films to begin with, which I guess is why they're leaning on remakes. I'd enjoy more satires like "Enchanted" or creative sequels like "Alice in Wonderland"--or perhaps remakes that utilized deleted content and concepts. Adapting the underrated films would also make sense in my eyes, but I get why (from a financial standpoint) that wouldn't be wise. I don't really wait in line for any of the remakes, though I'm curious to see if we'll ever hear about the remake for "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

[whiteraven0001]

Hot take: the only two good Disney remakes were Cinderella and Maleficent

[thewingedwolf]

watched the new little mermaid and it’s cute, better than most of the other disney remakes except maleficent and the jungle book (like cinderella tier). the singing and acting is really good and transplanting it into the caribbean was done really well!! the outfits were really good, the cgi on ursula was damn amazing and part of your world was great as well. the added relationship between eric and his mother, and the kind of subtextual double meaning when eric, the white adopted son of a black caribbean islander, admits that the two worlds can’t ever meet, was kind of interesting, and there was something fun there about like, these two very similar multiracial societies who fear each other being lead by parents terrified that what befell their child’s parent will befall their child. also, while i still high key judge taking all the queerness out of the story (oh but making ursula a drag queen would have been homophobic, okay, so give ariel two dads then? there was a way to honor divine and howard without just excising them from the narrative!), but melissa mccarthy was damn funny and the vanessa actress was amazing, when she gets found out and she starts screaming with melissa’s voice? that’s cinema ❗️

but it made what sucked kinda stand out lol. the cgi on the fish and mermaids was distractingly bad, like “chris evans’ face on skinny steve’s body” kind of bad. the scuttlebutt song and the arrangement on kiss the girl was soooooo bad someone needs to tell lin manuel his head has gotten too big and he needs to actually try instead of just slapping random sounds together (encanto was so good!! why did this one sound so bad!!). and i am once again begging people to use light in their damn movies!! very frustrating that a studio that once would just invent new programs to do cgi and animation they had envisioned now just kind of half asses cgi like this…disappointing.

the only quibble story wise was that there was this kind of hanging thread of ursula being triton’s sister and eric’s mother fearing the sea gods, that are kind of dropped. like, javier bardem and Noma Dumezweni were kinda wasted emotionally. wanted the last scene where all the mermaids and people are at the shore watching ariel and eric leave to hit a little harder emotionally, and look a little cooler.

also, for all that i love eric bc he’s the only disney prince with a kill count, loved that they gave the kill shot to ariel lmao that’s my girl

[misscoolisback123]

Cinderella 2015 is the best live action Disney princess movie

Here's why:

Storytelling: This live action remake didn't feel like a remake of the animated movie. There was some stuff here and there, but it felt like it was another adaptation of the fairytale. Both movies were adapted from the 17th century fairytale by Charles Perrault. His version is the version that is universally well known. This is the version with the fairy godmother, the glass slippers, and the stroke of midnight. The animated version is a retelling of it, while the 2015 version of it feels more like it follows along with the fairytale. Some references from the animated movie are obviously the characters. They were subtle, and that's a good thing.

There were the scenes with her pink dress. In the animated movie, the mice create her dress from her mother's old patterns as this is what she wanted. In the 2015 version, they worked together with Cinderella. When her dress was ripped by the step sisters, it wasn't overly dramatic like in the animated movie. But she was still sad none the less. The overall tone wasn't a radfem or terf take on Cinderella. This was made during a time when radfems were rejecting Disney princesses and femininity.

Costumes: The costumes in the 2015 version of Cinderella were completely different from the animated movie. Cinderella's maid dress was the dress she wore when she first met the Tremaine family. The step sisters' costumes were made to look like the animated movie, but with a unique twist. The outfits for Lady Tremaine were awesome! Even her casual outfits were great. Like the animated ball gown, the 2015 Cinderella ball gown is iconic in its own way. They both have a timeless feel to them, as is the standard for Disney princess dresses and outfits. Prince Kitt had a very handsome and distinguished color palette. Speaking of color palettes

Set Design and Color Palette: The sets and color palettes for the 2015 version of Cinderella were beautiful. They didn't feel like a copy of the sets from the animated movie. The colors for the costumes were different as well. Especially her ball gown. Like Rapunzel, people forget that in the animated movie, her ball gown was silver. But people are used to seeing her in a blue dress. But even so, the 2015 ball gown was obviously much different. Even Kingdom Hearts portrayed her with her silver gown. Disney, at the time, decided not to give into the edgelords who have only read the bastardized Grimms version, and instead, they listened to the original author. The Tremaine house or what used her father's house feels like a whimsical country home. The castle felt like a dream. Even the castle garden was beautiful! The overall design of it all was truly magical.

No Girlboss feminism: As we all know, Girlboss feminism was just terrible. Intersectional feminism is now trending. This is the better version of feminism. With the upcoming Snow White remake, it's going to fail for a multitude of reasons. Disney princesses are badass in their own right. No, Rapunzel is not a Girlboss. Her goal was to see the lanterns. Even during her adventure, she didn't treat anyone terribly. In 2015 and even now, people are tired of Disney princess shaming. Especially now. Whereas in 2015, it was perfectly fine to dunk on them.

Not Dark: I previously stated that the movie felt like it was another adaptation of the Charles Perrault fairytale. His version isn't dark. In fact, a lot of the original fairytales of Disney movies weren't actually dark. The Brothers Grimm only collected them and made their own changes. I read some of them in high school, and they didn't seem very dark to me. Maleficent in my IMHO did the whole dark fairytale theme right. Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz original stories don't seem dark to me either. Once Upon a Time sort of did this as well, but it felt right. Even Emerald City on NBC did the same thing as well. The original fairytale of Beauty and the Beast doesn't feel dark as well. But with the live action version of Beauty and the Beast, Disney caved into the edgelords. Beauty And The Beast is my first favorite Disney princess movie, and I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't. It felt like a complete rip off of its animated counterpart. Tangled is my second favorite Disney princess movie, and I would hate to see it become a live action remake. Even the original fairytale of Rapunzel doesn't feel dark like the others.

Someone on reddit said that a majority of the fairytales created into movies by Disney were basically Disneyfied until the Grimms got their hands on them. No, Charles Perrault is not responsible for making Cinderella lame as he was the actual author. The only reason why people say this is because it's not dark and edgy. Making dark fairytale themed pieces of media is fine as long as it's not trying to claim that classic fairytales were originally dark. Along with shitting on the Disney versions.

[fuzziekins]

101 Dalmatians, the live action version. i remember loving it when i was a kid because Dalmatians and i love dogs, and with all the live action remakes Disney has made (the wave in remakes seem to have started with Cinderella but 101 Dalmatians was actually one of the first in the 90s i believe) so i decided to give it a rewatch this week because i could...also because i love Disney and wanted to watch a Disney movie (disclaimer: just because i do love Disney does not mean i agree with everything Disney has said/done, that i do not like all of their movies, and i am still mad at them for not giving us anywhere near enough gay).

It was definitely not as good as i remember it. Some parts i remembered clearer than others and some were funny. The animals in the barn going after Cruella, for one thing. And, as suspected, the puppies were a highlight. One of my favorite scenes was still after the puppies were born, they had been watching a scene from The Aristocats followed by Homeward Bound and then they were given their collars with their names. Not all were the same as the animated movie, and i'm not sure how many of the names from the original book were for the 15 puppies versus how many of the names were for the other puppies they found later. i think my favorite part about though, specifically, was how the spots on each individual Dalmatian can play a part in their names (the tail of Dipstick's tail being black, the spots around Jewel's neck resembling a necklace, for example, also similar to how Lucky's spots in the animated version on his back resemble a horseshoe) and that's what i always loved about Dalmatians; that no two spots on every dog are alike and that they're all so unique. The fact that they incorporated the video game into the movie and you could actually see some scenes and graphics from it definitely brought me back, i loved that game so much. And, obviously, Glenn Close was AMAZING. She gave everything she had into playing Cruella and made her completely believable. She sold every scene and was probably the closest thing we'd get to an embodiment of a real life Cruella DeVil. i wouldn't quite compare her to Angelina Jolie playing Maleficent because while both are classic, evil, and perhaps two of the worst (aka best) Disney villains in existence they are still very different. But as far as that statement goes, i was never a fan of the Maleficent movies (if one happens to be on i might put it on in the background but they'd be far from my first choices to actually watch) and while i'm not as much a fan of the live action 101 Dalmatians as i once was, credit where credit is due - these women portraying these villains are absolutely FABULOUS.

The rest of the cast of the movie was so meh to me. Roger and Anita were two completely different people and, while i believe the take of Anita working for Cruella and enjoyed the idea of Perdi being the inspiration for the spotted coat, i don't like the other changes. Especially the way in which the two of them met. Pongo pulling Roger on his bike desperate trying to look for/catch up to Anita and Perdita lasted WAY too long and it felt more like something directed at little kids where they could laugh at the dog pulling Roger and getting him hurt and into all other sorts of trouble (i mean, yeah, it's Disney so it is directed for kids but there were so many other things they could have done). While in the animated movie i don't believe it's explicitly stated how long they're together before they're married the meeting was far more enjoyable and cute. The live action movie felt like it went from 100 down to 5 so quickly; they started so angry at each other but as Roger's leaving he's all "but it's not because i like her" and that night it's not only revealed they basically made out after he saved her but he also wanted to marry her that day? That's not how it works (and not just because this is pre-Frozen with the whole "you can't marry someone you just met"). Not to mention Anita's pregnancy. That went completely over my head as a kid (understandably so) but watching it now i'm not sure what bothers me more. That they find out in the first month (which, in current times does make sense but should they even be announcing it?), or that it feels completely unnecessary. (Or maybe it's just my personal awkward feelings, i don't know.) i also wasn't a fan of Horace and Jasper. i'm not sure if it was the characters or the way they were written or just the actors playing them or maybe it was the chemistry between the two but...they were NOTHING like their animated counterparts. And the electrocution scene...ok yeah it's funny, they tried and failed to go over the electric fans and got their crotches shocked badly. But as an adult i could totally see that coming and it lasted for too long, taking the full humor out of it.

i have a LOT of feelings about Disney doing all these live action remakes. Some of them feel completely unnecessary (Jungle Book, Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, Robin Hood to name a few). Some of them turned out ok and are decent movies if you don't compare them to the animated movie (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin). The only movie i thoroughly enjoyed as a live action remake was The Little Mermaid (save for Scuttle's rap and Flounder's design primarily). As to where 101 Dalmatians sits on that list, for me at least, it's one of those movies that is easily pictured as a live action movie. It can be done and it makes sense. But did they do a good job of it? No. I almost wonder if, it had been remade now, how different it would be and if it'd be remotely more enjoyable. But it doesn't need to be nor do the animated movies keep needing to be rehashed into live action - especially when some of them are more computer animated to look realistic than ACTUAL live action. Even so, if we got 101 Dalmatians now we wouldn't have Glenn Close as Cruella. She, along with the actual Dalmatians, are the only saving graces of this movie.

wait guys. reblog this and tell me what the last movie you watched was. bonus points if you add a short review <333

[cherrybombfangirlwrites]

Happy STS!!

Do you have any pieces of media (worldbuilding/ magic/ lore / characters... etc) that directly inspired your WIPs? How did they inspire you ?

@bloodlessheirbyjacques ✨ (:

Happy STS!

This is a really good question. I take inspiration from so many places, so I'll just try to list specific ones off the top of my head for both of my introduced WIPs.

Fractured Stars Falling

Fractured Fairytales (those really old 80s/90s cartoons that went with the original Rocky and Bullwinkle). Lots of silly and ridiculous spins on the original fairytales, always made me laugh as a kid.

Maleficent, Cinderella (2015), and Beauty and the Beast (2017). The only live action remakes by disney that were actually good. I want my fairytale retellings to have a lot of similar vibes (especially Maleficent).

The Princess Bride. I want Sleeping Beauty's Bodyguard in particular to have as much "Maleficent meets Princess Bride" vibes as possible. Plus Princess Bride is a classic and the comedy in it is my kind of humor.

How to Train Your Dragon. The vibes mostly, both the movies and books. Plus, VIKINGS AND DRAGONS. Also I listen to ALL of the soundtracks when writing, and a lot of the tracks are in my FSF playlist.

The Land of Stories. A book series packed full of fairytale retellings. I love this book series, and it has some of my favorite retellings of fairytales to date (ESPECIALLY Goldilocks, Cinderella, and Red Riding Hood). Plus Connor is my adorable son and he's the funniest character (and all of the characters are hilarious). And his twin sister Alex is me as a kid and in middle school.

Peter and the Starcatchers Series. It's an AMAZING Peter Pan retelling that's got a lot of dark fantasy, lots of pirates, and cool while also really dark and fucked up magic. I can't remember when I first read these books, I think I was like ten, but I love them so much. I own the whole series, and I reread the books frequently.

The Twisted Tales books. Basically each one is a twist on a disney movie if things had played out differently- like if the villain won, if the hero had to travel to the underworld (Meg and Mulan), if the love interests never met, etc. Lots of fun stuff, and the Mulan book is a 1000 times better than that boot-licker live action remake.

Enchanted. One of my absolute childhood favorites. If you need a refresher, it's that 2007 Disney movie about a princess who accidentally travels to our world and her fairytale worldview clashes with the "real life" one. Lots of fun shenanigans ensue while the movie also pokes fun at fairytales while also saying "maybe life can be a little bit magical that if we make it that way." Also Giselle is my childhood hero and kin, I adored her as a kid.

Cry of the Icemark. It's this really awesome book series that's kind of old, I read it in like 6th grade, and it was pretty ancient then. It's got a FUCK TON of viking vibes, and lots of dark fantasy with werewolves and vampires. The main character Princess Thirrin is a badass warrior queen who becomes the ruler of her kingdom as a teenager after her father dies in battle and she leads them to war. And she falls in love with a cute warlock who helps her win the war.

The Sisters Grimm Series. Another great collection of fairytale retellings all combined into one book series. Lots of dark fantasy and so much action and lots of mystery elements on top of that. The main characters, Sabrina and Daphne, who are sisters and descendants of the Brothers Grimm, are fantastic and hilarious.

Real, mostly ancient world history. I've mentioned this before, but the different regions in Eltya are all inspired by and based on different historical eras and time period aesthetics. The Viking and Roman vibes in Dinvirty are my favorite.

The City is Ours

Marvel. I used to loved the movies a lot, but after learning how the writers have watered it all down and erased so many jewish, lgbtq, poc, disabled, and other identities along with watering down or messing up others and dumbing down cool storylines- I can't bring myself to enjoy the movies as much anymore. Not while knowing how the comics were better and Disney is messing it all up by erasing characters identities that are vital to their character and story. So I've made it my mission a tiny bit to do what I can to fix that with this series. The vibes of the MCU are great but the execution was terrible, especially in the representation department. (I'm also trying to read more comics so I know what the characters are really like, but I'm broke and don't know where to start lol) *Except for Black Widow and Captain Marvel, those were actually good.*

DC, specifically the Arrowverse. I haven't watched much, but I loved what I've seen so far, and I want this WIP to have similar vibes, especially with the Arrow and Supergirl TV shows. (plus they do a little bit better than the MCU with translating the comics to the screen, it's not great but it's better). And Kara (Supergirl) is my favorite and she's an awkward and golden hearted sweetheart.

The Renagades series by Marissa Meyer (I've only read the first book but it's fine). The vibes are FANTASTIC, the characters are really good, and the plot was really good too. Definitely want my series to have a lot of the same vibes.

Micheal Vey series. I read these books in middle school and it was an amazing reading experience. The characters are really good, the plot is great, and the villain is really REALLY well written and kind of terrifying. I want this WIP to have very similar vibes.

The Incredibles. There were only two movies and they were some of the best in the superhero genre ever. I took a lot of inpiration from these movies for this WIP, and I want it to have a lot of similar vibes from this one too.

The LEGO Batman movie. The true best adaptation of Batman. It's really cute, fucking hilarious, and the creators clearly put so much love and effort into it. The comedy is also my kind of humor, and I want my WIP to have similar comedy (but a little darker).

Thank you so much for the ask @bloodlessheirbyjacques !