Disney just celebrated its 100th birthday on October 16th, 2023. Disney has been making movies since the 1920s that have captured fans’ hearts for years. After being in business for so long, the company has been starting to lose copyright on some of their old cherished films. They don’t want anyone else to make money off their characters, understandably, so now, they must renew the copyright. To create a new copyright, they need to reuse those original characters, so Disney is remaking the old films as live action films. However, many fans question the need for them. Most of the new remakes are taking the same old films that fans love and destroying what made them so beloved. So, to show how bad some of these films were destroyed, we’ll discuss the worst 3 of these abominations.
All of these opinions are based on how accurate the remake was to the original Disney animated films. Even if the movie itself was really good (or really bad), this article is based on the original Disney films that everyone has cherished for one hundred years.
The Three Worst:
- Beauty and The Beast (2017)
To start out with one thing: Emma Watson can act. The Harry Potter franchise proved that. Can she sing? Who knows? In this film, her voice is layered with so much autotune, you can’t even hear her original voice. Now, is that Watson’s fault? No, but the directors did her so dirty. In this film, they use CGI a lot. The beast, for example, has absolutely no practical effects, and is entirely CGI. While fans may not be surprised by it, they are still turned off by it. At times the beast is even creepy to look at. The whole plot with the plague is stupid, to be frank. In this movie, Beast has a new book that can take the reader anywhere they want. So, Belle and the Beast travel back in time to watch Belle’s mother die for no apparent reason other than to just do it. Is that really necessary? No it isn’t . On the bright side, this movie actually lets Gaston remain the villain that he is; however, he brings Maurice into the woods, ties him up, and tries to murder him, which is a little too much. At the end, when the beast dies, the enchantress is standing in the castle watching him die. Then, she waits for Belle to say her iconic line of how she loves the beast in order to save him. However, the enchantress should never have been there, as it just adds many more questions to the film. Was the enchantress watching the beast this whole time? Could she have saved the beast before the last petal fell? While Disney did try to keep the original story the same, the finished project was not something that fans have desired. Many fans will watch the original animation many times without ever getting tired of it, but this remake is not something fans will be dying to see again.
- Mulan (2020)
Apparently, this live action is supposed to be more “authentic” to the original story made (not by Disney), which is why this is nowhere near the original Disney movie. What is this? Certainly not the beloved 1998 film. Clearly it’s too hard for Disney to just keep the original as.. just that: the original. Starting with the obvious, Mushu. Mushu is an iconic character from the original movie– no one can say they don’t know who Mushu is. So it is definitely a punch to the stomach that Disney decided to remove Mushu from the live action. Disney seems to want to have a more serious story when they do their live actions. However, at what cost are they doing it for? To take an iconic character or story and just completely throw it away is hurtful to everyone who loves the original. Another thing being that the original film was a musical. However, this new remake decides to just take all the songs away. Why? Music in the original such as “Reflection” and “I’ll make a man out of you” are songs that will always be cherished. Disney loses the magic of these iconic films by disregarding the songs that fans have loved for years. The character Mulan also seems to have very little character development from beginning to end. In the original, she goes from not really wanting to not be a woman, and then hiding who she is so she can go and fight in her father’s place. As women weren’t allowed to fight in the war at that time, obviously she is going to hide being a woman. Then she goes through the struggle of army training, almost getting sent home, and then working harder than she ever has to finally make it. Then when she almost dies, a doctor has to come save her life, and it gets revealed she’s a woman. In the remake Mulan is just good at fighting from the beginning. She doesn’t really have a struggle to be able to fight. She just can. Mulan isn’t forced to reveal that despite being a woman, she was capable of winning a war- she just kinda does it on her own volition. Not really sure why, but apparently in this remake Mulan didn’t have to worry about dying when going to war, like in the original. To be honest, an entire essay could be written just about this film and how bad it is. So hopefully, no one will get a recommendation to watch this movie anytime soon.
- Peter Pan and Wendy (2023)
Peter Pan is a cherished film that millions have watched over the years. On the other hand, the newer Peter Pan and Wendy is like a slap in the face to the original movie and all of the creativity. One of the biggest plot lines to the story is how Wendy is the only girl on the island, with the Lost Boys viewing her as a mother figure due to the fact they no longer have one. Hold on: Lost Boys. They are Lost Boys– not Lost Girls or whatever else Disney decided to use in the film. This is crucial not simply because they’re no longer boys, but because gender and character tie into the plot line and what it stands for; its significance. In the original, Wendy wants to leave, and reminds all the other Lost Boys of their mothers that they had forgotten about. If there are already other lost girls inhabiting Neverland then Wendy would never have to fill that motherly role, as another girl could simply step in her place. That way, Lost Boys would no longer care if Wendy left without them, and this appeal to the boys would be totally lost. In the original, Wendy convinces the Lost Boys to come with her back to London. This leads up to them all getting captured by Captain Hook, and while this is horrible, it’s what prompts Peter Pan to save them all while helping Wendy, John, and Michael return home. In the remake Wendy, her brothers, and the lost children do get captured. However, when they are captured Captain Hook talks to Wendy about his past and his sad life that no one truly cares about. Then, Wendy saves herself from the adult pirates and Wendy is the one who drives the ship home. Wendy brings the lost boys home for her parents to adopt. Then Peter reveals the “biggest” shock: Peter had lived in the Darling’s house before he ran away to Neverland. This movie stands only as a waste of 2 hours that can never be earned back. But what does the world expect? Did they actually think Disney would use the original source material to make this movie? No, of course not! Yet again, Disney is attempting (and failing) to appeal to younger generations by making every female protagonist a “girl boss” that could never need nor afford to be saved. In the original film, Peter Pan saves Wendy’s life, and yet in the new movie, a 13 year old can apparently fight against an entire ship of adult pirates and prove to be victorious. The original film projects a negative portrayal of Native Americans, and to adapt with what’s considered socially acceptable (or rather, solely just to save their own hides from a loss in sales) they removed that scene from the movie. But, why was Tiger Lily purposely left there? A villain should be allowed to be simply that. Sorry to Captain Hook, because the backstory Disney gives him is simply bad. It does nothing to add to the story, and only serves to stand as just another segment of this abhorrent film they try to call a movie. Tinkerbell’s character is also ruined in this movie and there are truly not enough pages to talk about that.
Honorable Mentions:
This is the one list that movies do not want to ever be on. However, there were many bad Disney remakes made that didn’t make it into this article. Some include Alice In Wonderland (2010), Pinocchio (2022), Lady and The Tramp (2019), The Lion King (2019), Dumbo (2019), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1996), Maleficent (2014), Aladdin (2019), and Cruella (2021).
Many understand why Disney feels the need to remake the old films to keep the copyright. However, it really isn’t necessary to execute it as they have, completely changing the original plot. New generations will watch the remakes in the theaters and will end up losing the original magic. Overall, there is a big message for Disney: While they may get lucky one out of five times they make a remake, they need to stop. They need to stop destroying movies that people grew up loving. Create a new character and a new plot. If they must remake the original, keep the plot the same. Stop inserting all the new ideals and beliefs that they assume the characters would have now. Just leave the originals alone.