I LOVE IT. I want nothing more than to see my favorite animated characters in, not just a different realm and dimension , but existing as real, live humans before my very eyes! It’s a dream. As an artist who creates and draws my own characters, as well as fanart of Disney characters, it soothes parts of me to see these 2D characters in our real, human 3D world. This is what makes looking at cosplay and images of face characters at the Disney parks so satisfying…
(x)
(x)
(from the parks)
In reality?
It’s pretty bad.
Cosplayers always are better at capturing a character in real life, than the official company that made the character, but it’s actually still ironic because Disney’s official face characters at the parks ALWAYS look, talk, walk, act, sound and totally BECOME their animated counterpart TO A TEE.
Yet…I don’t think a single live-action Disney film was any good. I can’t think of a single one I actually enjoyed. Well, of the more recent ones.
I’mma be honest, at first, I thought maybe Disney was just re-imagining these stories as live action and these were totally separate entities from the animated films… like how the characters in the Marvel films are in a different universe than the ones in the comics…. but no. These films are supposed to be live action versions of the animated films.
Cinderella was bad.
If the cartoon and 100000+ other versions of Cinderella didn’t exist then MAYBE I would have enjoyed it, but as it is, it was just a mash up of the Brandy version of Cinderella and the original Disney cartoon, but in live action.
Beauty and the Beast was WORSE.
Honestly the worst out of all of them (so far). 80% of the cast was flat and the acting was horrible. Actually, I wrote about all the reasons why I cannot STAND this version of BatB here - Trini Moeggens's answer to Is the older or newer “Beauty and the Beast” Disney movie better?
The Junglebook was the least annoying out of all of them…
But it was still pretty bad. That giant orangutan is just…. gahh. I don’t even remember anything else about it but the watering hole scene and the orangutan. (EDIT// Man I really don’t remember anything because it wasn’t an orangutan, it was a “gigantopithecus”. Thanks Gregory!)
Pete’s Dragon was… absolutely forgettable.
I know the cartoon isn’t super well known anyway (bad move on Disney’s part, if you ask me) but I saw this movie and I literally don’t remember a single thing.
It might have made Disney some money when it first released, but people aren’t raving about it now (and probably forgot it existed too) which says a lot.
AT ONE POINT Disney actually did a GOOD job with translating animated characters into the 3D realm.
The live action version of 101 Dalmatians is a really good example.
This is a film that pulled all the visuals, character designs, and character personalities from the animated films, but the characters were much more rounded and felt like real human people. Still, they were able to add depth to their characters without making them feel forced or out of character.
THAT is how you do a live-action version of an animated film. So why can’t they just do that again?
Or they can do something new (instead of just retelling the same story over again) like they did with the Maleficent film.
I believe this current “remaking classic Disney cartoons into live action versions” trend really picked up for Disney with the tv show Once Upon a Time. Disney thought.. “hmm people seem to really like seeing our animated characters in live action.. let’s give them full length movies and make more money that way!”
In the show, many of Disney’s animated characters come to our real world.. which is a GREAT concept on paper.. but there were so many inconsistencies, it made zero sense.
Some characters were exactly like their animated counterparts, almost as good as the actual Disney park face characters (mostly for moneygrabs, I’m sure).
And other characters looked NOTHING like they do in the cartoon:
And some started out looking nothing like the cartoon and suddenly got recasted to look more like them but without explanation:
The first Rapunzel
The second Rapunzel a few seasons later… boy did she make a drastic change, huh?
Yes. Many of us love the idea of seeing our favorite animated characters as flesh and bone, 3D humans (at least I do).
Yes. Many of us want to see films like this, even if they can’t poop out some fresh content for once.
But this is one of those things that you either do it 100% right… or you don’t do it at all.
We want to see our animated characters translated in their 100% entirety into our world. Not some vague idea of who they are, or a revamped concept of their character. Not someone who looks like they are just pretending to be the character in a high school play (looking at you, Emma Watson). Not a bad cosplay of them. We want to actually SEE the character, HEAR the character. FEEL that it’s them. Otherwise, it feels like more of an insult.
Disney’s got a whole other crop of films set or rumored to be live action versions of animated films and I’m honestly scared.
I’m scared that many cartoons will NOT translate well into the 3D realm.
For example, there may be a live action Lilo and Stitch film coming out soon. Stitch is supposed to be this horrendous, ugly, unnatural looking creature, who only Lilo thinks is cute. Meanwhile, everyone else can see how ugly and creepy Stitch looks. If Disney makes the live action Stitch cute, it will defeat the impact of Lilo seeing him as such when no one else does… YET if they make him really ugly, gnarly, and creepy looking (like the cartoon implies he is), then it will not be as “aesthetically pleasing” to viewers and will not sit well with the younger audience (and/or their parents). Of course, they’ll probably just make him very cute but have him make ugly or unnerving faces and expressions in some scenes.
I don’t think Lilo and Stitch is the only one that may suffer…
There’s also Aladdin…
Mulan (I heard a stank rumor they are cutting Shang out of the film?! hope that’s not true)…
…and Kim Possible films all currently in the works (this one I have sliiiiiiiightly more hope for? ….not really)…
EDIT/ Forgot about the newest one closer to release, the “live action” version of The Lion King… which, people are debating about because honestly it’s not a live action version. It’s just the CGI version of The Lion King, so it doesn’t even really count here.
It’s a scary time we’re living in.
All we (well…I) really want is new and fresh traditionally animated films that are action/adventure focus with some romance on the side. Basically a revival of Disney’s Experimental Era (2000–2005) with more films like Treasure Planet (which only failed because Disney MADE it fail on purpose), Atlantis the Lost Empire, or even ones from the Renaissance Era like The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Give us new stories from countries outside of northern Europe. Find people from other countries and collaborate with them to tell their stories. Animate Filipino stories, more Chinese stories, African stories, ….something! But no.
Guess it’s up to me. Just gimme like 20 years, a few million dollars, and a good animation studio and production team.
Also I love the Tangled Princess Rapunzel Dress Embroidery Cosplay Costume
When the Tangled movie would be released?
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