Disney’s live-action remakes from 2015 to 2023, including titles like Cinderella (2015), The Jungle Book (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Dumbo (2019), Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (2019), Mulan (2020), Pinocchio (2022), and The Little Mermaid (2023), are a deliberate business strategy focused on profitability by leveraging nostalgia, existing intellectual property (IP), and brand recognition.

According to Disney CEO Bob Iger, these remakes are vital for sustaining revenues across theatrical releases, streaming platforms like Disney+, merchandise, and theme park experiences.

Nostalgia drives initial audience interest by tapping into fans’ emotional connections to classic stories, while the extensive use of IP supports diversified revenue streams, from box office sales to themed merchandise and park attractions.

Story and character adaptations across these remakes reflect efforts to align with modern values and broaden representation.

For example, The Little Mermaid (2023) cast Halle Bailey, an African American actress, as Ariel, updating the character's age to 18 and enhancing her personality with traits of defiance and curiosity, making her relatable to contemporary youth.

Prince Eric’s character was deepened to reflect mutual desires for freedom, adding emotional complexity.

Other remakes incorporated more agency for female characters, diverse casting, and new songs that support themes of inclusivity, gender equity, and cultural sensitivity.

Mulan (2020) and Aladdin (2019) similarly adjusted themes or character portrayals to avoid stereotypes and appeal to a global audience.

However, some films like Pinocchio (2022) adhered closely to original narratives without significant innovation, leading to criticism of lackluster creativity.

Public and critical reception have been mixed and often polarized.

Critics often cite the remakes’ overemphasis on modern political correctness potentially undermining story depth and emotional resonance.

Disney’s live-action remakes from 2015 to 2023, including titles like Cinderella (2015), The Jungle Book (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Dumbo (2019), Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (2019), Mulan (2020), Pinocchio (2022), and The Little Mermaid (2023), are a deliberate business strategy focused on profitability by leveraging nostalgia, existing intellectual property (IP), and brand recognition.

Title:

Content: Alert
Operation Blue Bird continues … 30,000 people surround the Legislative Yuan in the evening to protest against the delay of the Beijie Red Line and the Blue Line for 15 minutes.
“If you can ’ t afford it, don ’ t give birth to me ” … A middle school student laments that his parents will not be able to pay their tuition fees after remarriage.
Mobile signal analysis crowd provoking... Wang Yichuan shouted "Christmas City also did" blue committee exposed the New Taipei City government 's statement
Can't you watch it from your own family?
"Little Mermaid" director points to Disney's problems
Disney has been the first brand of American animation, bringing many beautiful memories to children around the world, including the early years of "Snow White", "101 loyal dogs", as well as described as the "Renaissance" period of "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin" and so on.
However, the recent Disney animation or live-action film, there is a big problem: each time in the casting and plot direction of the controversy, many people complain that too much "political correctness", or to put some ideas into the story arrangement, character layout and other basic details are put aside, turned into an alternative "educational film".
With such a big change, audiences can ’ t fail to feel that last year ’ s five most expensive movies, Disney Group accounted for four, even celebrating the centenary of their own animation as “Star Wish ”, both at the box office and in word of mouth have lost.
Recently, the director of "Little Mermaid", "Aladdin", "Hercules", "Treasure Island", "Ocean Strange" and other famous Disney animation director John Musk admitted at the seminar on animation and special effects, video games: "I think they should carry out a part of the course correction, put the concept of the secondary, the entertainment of the film, the story and whether the characters attract people should be more important." "
In John Musk ’ s eyes, the traditional Disney classic is not a concept that you want to put in, but rather an audience into the story and the characters and the world in the film, which he believes should still be the core of the current Disney film, “You don ’ t have to completely put aside the idea of putting in, but before that you have to create characters that the audience can empathize with and feel eye-catching. ”
"He said.
John ’ s past Disney animations also included “The Princess and the Frog, ” the first black princess to be the main character. Even so, he said the film was not built to promote an“ awakening culture, ” although he could understand the criticism.
As for the past few years, Disney has become more and more frequent remakes of old animations into live-action versions, he believes that the film companies are always looking at how to reduce the risk, and when they see that the audience likes something, they are thinking, is there a way to change the appearance and sell it to them again, or even do it better than the last time?
Just a few Disney classic animation remakes, audience word-of-mouth or film ratings are not as good as the original animation, based on their own history, John Musk did not take last year caused a lot of controversy of the live-action version of "Little Mermaid" to open: "They do not ink on the story of the father and daughter, that is the core of the whole movie, and that crab, you can see the real animal in the zoo, They all have a much richer expression than the ones in the movies, and so does the Lion King."
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How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

What motivates Disney to keep producing live-action remakes despite mixed reviews?

According to Disney CEO Bob Iger, these remakes are vital for sustaining revenues across theatrical releases, streaming platforms like Disney+, merchandise, and theme park experiences.

Title:

Content: There’s a lot going down in the world of Disney princesses right now, I’ll have you know.

The sheer excitement over it all makes it clear we’re no longer entertaining that simpering, old-fashioned stereotype anymore: The one that says Disney princesses are just for kids.

From Amy Adams’ delightful return as Giselle in Disenchanted to Anne Hathaway’s potential third outing as Mia Thermopolis, aka Princess of Genovia, in a now-confirmed Princess Diaries 3, fans have been aquiver over the developments in recent days.

This supports the argument that dismissing these characters as ‘only for little girls’ is something that needs to be firmly left in the rear-view mirror.

When the first Disney princess came along in 1937, a massive 85 years ago, yes, Snow White did sing/wish/wait for her prince, while making it a point of pride to cook and clean the house for the seven bachelors’ whose pad she had just crashed.

The world-leading animation studio then leant heavily into princesses more in the intervening years, offering Cinderella and Aurora from Sleeping Beauty in the 1950s, before delivering a whole new glut of leading ladies from 1989 at the beginning of the so-called Disney Renaissance, when they produced a big string of hits.

These movies brought us Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Jasmine in Aladdin, who were then hastily added to make the original Disney princess line-up of six. Their profiles subsequently went stratospheric thanks to the magic of the mouse’s merchandising machine. Dolls, dresses, pencil cases, backpacks, stickers, lunchboxes – you name it, they were on it.

An entire generation of people were raised on this stuff (hi), and over time, many aged out of it and moved on. It’s always been easy to dismiss Disney princesses as reductive, especially when Disney themselves went so hard-core on the accompanying pink and sparkles; it was Disney themselves that ruthlessly zeroed in on young girls in particular with their marketing.

However, now we live in a society less constricted by rigid gender rules and far more supportive of independence, representation and leadership as ideals, the Disney princess has slowly been evolving to keep up with the times via Disney’s first Black princess Tiana, as well as Pocahontas, Mulan, Rapunzel, Merida and Moana all being added to the ‘official’ princess line-up.

Not all Disney films with female leads revolve around relationship with men now, either (see: Elsa in Frozen, Brave, Encanto, Turning Red and new family-focused, LGBTQ-led release Strange World).

This leads us to Adams and Hathaway’s involvement in the latest excitement around Disney princesses, encouraging a celebration of their past work.

When Adams debuted as Giselle in Enchanted back in 2007, her pitch-perfect performance as a glorious pastiche of a Disney princess was met with rave reviews and Oscars-buzz (that sadly failed to materialise). It was the first time Disney had knowingly acknowledged the more ridiculous aspects of the princess trope they had created – likely helped along by Princess Fiona turning the whole thing on its head first in Shrek, back in 2001. They then subsequently began to freshen things up.

Now Adams is back in Disenchanted, 15 years later, and has lost none of her magic in the meantime. What has happened in the interim though is the 48-year-old is now a six-time Academy Award nominee. Only one of those nominations had been bestowed prior to Enchanted’s release, but today she’s one of Hollywood’s most celebrated and admired stars.

Her dramatic chops prove that Disney princesses aren’t just for children.

Enchanted is accepted as quality filmmaking by everyone who has bothered to see it – why else would the long-gestating sequel finally see its release now, and with the full roster of its original stars – and, despite mixed reviews for Disenchanted, I don’t see why we can’t pick up that Academy Awards conversation again we were having back then for Adams. How poetic if she finally picked up that iconic statuette for playing a Disney princess?

Hathaway must also be brought in here. Although she is not yet confirmed for a return as Mia, Disney has finally confirmed they have a threequel to The Princess Diaries in the works, which is reported to be a continuation of the story they covered in the first two films rather than any kind of reboot. Also – most promisingly for the fans – the actress has on multiple occasions over the years signalled her desire to return to the role.

She may now be an Academy Award-winner herself after Les Misérables, but to a whole subsection of her fans (and probably the largest) she will always be known as gawky American high-schooler-turned-princess Mia Thermopolis, an extremely relatable character to the film’s tween and teenage audience compared to the old-school Disney princess type – and Hathaway is just fine with that.

With these powerhouse actresses back in the Disney princess conversation, let’s step away from the cliched dismissal of them as only for kids and out of touch with the times. As Disney knows all too well, there will be a generation of fully-grown adults delighted for these films (hi again).

On that note, we’ve also got the reinvention of two of the company’s original six princesses coming up (the last two remaining) with The Little Mermaid and Snow White. Disney did some gently increasing refreshing in recent years with Cinderella, Aurora (although really it was more about Maleficent), Belle and Jasmine in their live-action remakes, but there’s a lot more to be said about these two forthcoming titles.

The casting of Black singer and actress Halle Bailey and Latinx West Side Story star Rachel Zegler speaks volumes over what the studio has planned for the new takes on these classic princesses, with representation front and centre, as well as reports of updates to storylines to keep in step with modern times.

It’s no longer all about the pink and sparkly cookie-cutter princess – Disney doesn’t make them like it did decades years ago. As the company moves with the times, so should we, and re-embrace the Disney princess for everything they are today.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE : Legendary Disney animator Floyd Norman reminisces over working with Walt Disney during The Jungle Book and his incredible 66-year career

MORE : Bob Iger returns as Disney CEO, replacing predecessor Bob Chapek in stunning move

Nostalgia drives initial audience interest by tapping into fans’ emotional connections to classic stories, while the extensive use of IP supports diversified revenue streams, from box office sales to themed merchandise and park attractions.

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Content: How long can the IP marketing of Disney ’ s “Duffy family ” lack of stories behind the fire go?
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Source: Securities Daily
At 3: 00 a.m. on December 29, 2021, more than 5,000 people lined up at Shanghai Disney to buy the 2021 "Duffy and Friends Christmas Series" released by Disney.
Shanghai Disney customer service introduced to the media, the series contains six dolls and six key chains (the most popular Lina Belle was sold out at the earliest, so the line does not include this character), priced at 2148 yuan (RMB, the same below).
According to media reports, the scene on that day was called "chaos": some customers claimed that "queues to urine blood"; because the queue was too large, many shops and games closed on the day, causing some foreign tourists running to give way to tourists in line. "Distribution."
It should be noted that the sales form of "distribution" has previously been mainly popular among luxury brands.
The Shanghai Disney official issued an apology after the sale, but still failed to quell the tourists' comments about the chaotic management of the park. The "Hunger Marketing" and "Abstinence of scalpers" hats were placed on Shanghai Disney 's head one by one. "More than 12 hours in line, have never been so speechless in my life."
The issue of cattle has been repeatedly mentioned, but the official has not been resolved.
At the same time, in December this year, it was also revealed that Shanghai Disney staff will resell Disney products at high prices.
Although the official said that the person was an intern, also terminated the contract with the other party and will take further measures.
However, the presence of insiders to resell this is also one of the reasons for the anger of many users in the comment area.
For the problem that the products have been out of stock, Shanghai Disney has repeatedly responded that it is due to insufficient production capacity during the epidemic.
Some Disney doll lovers reported to the Securities Daily reporter that the queuing phenomenon of Disney dolls has only begun this summer.
These dolls have been on the shelf for the past few years, and no one has bought them for a long time, and they will be discounted. "I used to go and buy them casually."
Why do little dolls make a big splash? What ’ s the difference between the Duffy family IP and Disney ’ s previous IP?
As a world-renowned IP empire, Disney has created many familiar works, such as the Princess series movies and Mickey Mouse series animations, which have many fans around the world.
But the reporter found that for the seven dolls in the Duffy family, Disney did not launch a continuous series of stories and screen works for these seven images.
For example, Lina Belle, the most popular of the Duffy family, was officially launched just before the National Day this year.
The official only for the people of Lina Belle, "clever and keen to solve the mystery of the little fox".
The only extension that can be said to have a story is that the official first released a 39-second short film, no voiceover, no special effects, no narration, introducing a cute pink little fox in the forest to save the lost Duffy.
These "no head and no tail" fragmentary settings, does not affect the popularity of Lina Belle.
Compared with Megatron and Optimus Prime, the Baidu index shows that from September 30 to December 30, Lina Belle's overall daily average of 7871 far exceeds Megatron's 3643 and Optimus Prime's 1707.
After the official launch, the name of Lina Belle repeatedly and frequently rushed to the hot search.
Millions of videos were played, and visitors interacted with Lina Belle, who was played by staff members in the park.
What experience the character of Lina Belle can provide to visitors depends on how the staff in the doll costume understand the character.
For example, this year's hot search "Lena Belle down" incident, is because the interpretation of the day of Lena Belle staff, refused the request of tourists, and made an impolite action.
And the scene before the performance of lively, active, love social cute image does not match.
"When I first launched, I had no feeling for this doll, it was an ordinary pink fox.
Later, I wanted to buy it because I saw a lot of interactive videos, and the scene staff made this character live. ” A “character fan ” of Lina Belle said.“ We all guessed that there was more than one staff member who played Lina Belle, but they were all “Lina Belle ”, which enriched Lina Belle ’ s personality. ”
The only way for fans to express their love is to buy the perimeter, or buy tickets to interact with the scene. ”
Pangu think tank senior researcher Jiang Han said that Lina Belle or Duffy family hot, in fact, Disney took advantage of the current Internet emerging from the rise of the trend of the media, with the play of short video from the media, do not need too much story, and do not need too much content to support IP.
Jiang Han said that we now see that scalpers have fried Disney products at sky-high prices, and it has not been solved for so long.
Although for the company, the high premium of these products may not directly bring benefits to the park, more is in the pocket of the cattle.
However, the high price will allow Disney products to form a high market potential in the market, so that the products have influence and representation in the market.
Disney can use this market potential as a follow-up to the launch of new dolls and new peripheral market power.
It is worth mentioning that "Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Business" has been an important source of revenue for Disney in its financial statements.
Previously, Disney announced the 2021 fiscal year (as of October 2) full-year revenue of $67.418 billion, an increase of 3%; net profit of $1.995 billion, a year-on-year turnaround.
Among them, due to the impact of the epidemic, the park traffic is not as good as before, and the opening days are shortened, the annual revenue of Disneyland is 11.212 billion US dollars, down 8.4% year-on-year, accounting for two-thirds of the total revenue of the park and derivatives department; the operating loss reached 2.213 billion US dollars, and the loss of 1.696 billion US dollars last year, the loss further increased.
But its fourth-quarter data showed that Disney Parks, Experiences and Products revenue was $5.45 billion, up 99% year-on-year and accounting for nearly half of the park ’ s full-year revenue.
If the popularity of the Duffy family IP series in China can be maintained, it is likely to help Disney ’ s revenue in fiscal 2022.
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Story and character adaptations across these remakes reflect efforts to align with modern values and broaden representation.

Title:

Content: It’s possible that being an only child was one reason I was not exposed to the phenomenon of Disney princess worship during my youth. On the other hand, the lack of a coordinated merchandising effort during the 1970s probably had much more to do with the fact that the company’s princess lineup wasn’t yet emerging as a cultural trend.

In that decade, Disney focused most of its marketing on the so-called “Sensational Six” core characters, including Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck; along with product tie-ins to the 1977’s “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.”

Of course, Disney had only made three princess movies up to that time. Those included 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” 1950’s “Cinderella,” and 1959’s “Sleeping Beauty.” Following the introduction of Aurora in 1959, Disney would make moviegoers wait 30 years for the next princess to arrive in a film that would herald the start of the Disney Renaissance.

And that film was 1989’s “The Little Mermaid.”

Written and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, the 28th Disney animated feature film was very loosely based on the 1837 Danish fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. It boasted a string of memorable songs that brought imbued the production with Broadway panache. Alan Menken wrote the score, and collaborated with Howard Ashman on the songs. The film scored three Academy Award nominations, winning two for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “Under the Sea.”

The animated film featured the voices of Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Pat Carroll, Samuel E. Wright, Jason Marin, Kenneth Mars, and Buddy Hackett.

Buoyed by the success of “The Little Mermaid,” the Disney Renaissance ran from the late 1980s to the late 1990s and unleashed a series of critically and commercially successful animated films. Of the 10 films considered part of this period, five were Disney princess films. By 2000, the list of Disney princess included Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Mulan. Andy Mooney, a former Nike executive who had been named president of Walt Disney Company's Disney Consumer Products division, saw an opportunity. He pitched the Disney Princess franchise line — and a generation of children became entranced consumers.

More than 20 years have gone by since the end of the Disney Renaissance and the official launch of Disney’s Princess Line. These days, Walt Disney Pictures is focused on making live-action adaptations of its animated films. The latest of these is “The Little Mermaid,” directed by Rob Marshall from a screenplay written by David Magee. The film was released theatrically on May 26.

When evaluating a remake, adaptation, or reinterpretation of a classic film, one must consider not only the quality of the new film, but also how it compares to the original. It’s not enough to ask if the film entertaining and well executed. One must also determine what makes the remake valuable in its own right.

“The Little Mermaid” is set in the 1830s in the Caribbean. Ariel (Halle Bailey), youngest child of King Triton (Javier Bardem), lives in an underwater kingdom. Disney wisely mentions in its synopsis of the film that Ariel is 18 years old — not 16, as she was in the animated version.

Unlike her older sisters, Ariel is defiant and rebellious. She is captivated by a world beyond her reach, defying her father’s orders to study humans and collect their possessions from shipwrecks. She is often joined in this endeavor by her aquatic companions Flounder and Sebastian (voiced by Jacob Tremblay and Daveed Diggs, respectively); as well as by the birdbrained Scuttle (voiced by Awkwafina), a seabird whose understanding of human culture is amusingly erroneous.

When a sailing ship she has been watching is destroyed in a storm, she rescues Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). When Triton learns Ariel interacted with the surface world, he goes on an overprotective father rampage, destroying her collection of bric-a-bracs, baubles, and curios while reiterating his mandate that she should not indulge her inclination to learn, explore, or meet new people. Ironically, Prince Eric’s adoptive mother, Queen Salina (Noma Dumezweni) places similar constraints upon him because she is fearful of the outside world and of losing her son.

Desperate to be reunited with Prince Eric — who she is in love with despite the fact that the two haven’t even actually met at this point — Ariel turns to Triton’s evil sister Ursula (Melissa McCarthy), a scheming sea witch who sees this as an opportunity to oust Triton and take power over all the world’s oceans. Ursula strikes a deal with Ariel, giving her legs in exchange for her voice. There’s a catch: If Ariel fails to receive true love’s kiss from Eric before the end of three days, she will become Ursula’s property. To make sure Ariel fails, Ursula also causes her to forget about needing to score that kiss.

That’s just the setup. If it seems a bit drawn out, imagine how it feels watching it on the screen. With a runtime of 2 hours and 15 minutes — 53 minutes longer than the 1989 animated version — it sometimes feels like we’re treading water. One wonders if, in a post-pandemic world filled with ADHD brains, kids can manage to maintain focus on this narrative that meanders its way from scene to scene without a sense of urgency. Sebastian and Flounder know that there is a looming deadline, but in this version of the story, Ariel has been robbed of that knowledge. In the animated version, she at least had a specific objective. She actively worked toward that goal. In this version, she is a starry-eyed young woman crushing on someone she barely knows, drifting dreamily between infatuation and limerence.

Because it is both a retelling of a classic fairy tale and a redesign of a beloved Disney property, the film suffers from a pronounced scarcity of creativity and originality. There are updates to the story, changes in individual characters, and a few additional songs. Some of these facelifts work, such as the addition of Queen Salina. Some of these addendum fall flat, such as Eric’s song “Wild Uncharted Waters,” written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda’s song “The Scuttlebutt,” performed by Awkwafina and Diggs, is a more palatable add-on, despite that fact that it is jarringly different tonally from other music in the film.

All the film’s flaws and miscalculations can be forgiven by its most impressive saving grace: Bailey’s performance is as remarkable as it is enchanting. Bailey stands out again and again in the murky, sketchy CGI undersea sequences, glowing with charisma and agency. She brings the magic that is noticeably lacking in elsewhere in the film, balancing the nostalgia of childhood memories with a contemporary attitude. She carries this film on her shoulders, filling it with a sense of wonder and awe that will inspire children to seek out unexplored horizons and work toward achieving their dreams.

Mind you: I’d prefer Ariel did not have to literally transform — for a man — to be deemed successful. This version somewhat mitigates that theme. Personal transformation is fine when prompted by a desire to become a better person, while self-change enacted strictly to please an individual or a group is unwise and unhealthy.

The film also features recurring examples — both subtle and palpable — that show gender equity, diversity, and inclusivity are beneficial to society. These are the very same principled concepts extremist legislators and ultraconservative judicial officials currently vilify as “woke,” as if being socially aware, compassionate, and empathetic has somehow become objectionable. If you ascribe to that mindset, you should probably skip this movie.

The bottom line is “The Little Mermaid” may not be as artistically inspired as the animated version, but a standout performance by Bailey keeps the film afloat. It frequently captures the kinetic energy of a Broadway stage production, delighting audiences both with signature songs and newly added sequences that enhance the story and the characters. It is consistently entertaining, with sporadic moments of dazzling brilliance.

If you don’t trust an old curmudgeon to properly evaluate a Disney Princess film, I’ll share a few points my 16-year-old daughter made.

According to B.C. Zumpe, the film’s CGI could have been better. She particularly enjoyed a scene in which Ariel and Eric are dancing in a village near his castle, while a Caribbean band plays.

“Some people want all the characters to look exactly like the originals,” she said. “It wouldn’t be fair if Disney excluded Halle just because of her skin color. They chose her for her voice and her spirit. Even if you’re only upset because she looks different from the Ariel you grew up with, you can’t expect them to keep everything the way you want it.”

My daughter also felt that Awkwafina did a good job in voicing Scuttle. She appreciated how the film promoted the idea that it is good to interact with other cultures and be open to new ideas.

She’s a good kid.

Photo courtesy of DISNEY

Halle Bailey stars as Ariel and Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric in “The Little Mermaid.”

Photo courtesy of DISNEY

Melissa McCarthy stars as Ursula in “The Little Mermaid.”

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What controversy arose from Disney's casting and updates in The Adventures of Pinocchio?

For example, The Little Mermaid (2023) cast Halle Bailey, an African American actress, as Ariel, updating the character's age to 18 and enhancing her personality with traits of defiance and curiosity, making her relatable to contemporary youth.

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Content: Snow White director’s son calls Disney remake a “disgrace”

Disney

The original Snow White director’s son has slammed the upcoming Disney remake as “insulting” and a “disgrace.”

Disney has recently recreated several of its classic films into live-action adaptations. Past examples include The Little Mermaid, Dumbo, and Pinocchio. However, these recreations have generated backlash for various reasons.

For example, Halle Bailey’s role as Ariel wasn’t universally agreed upon. This is due to haters complaining that the princess should have been white like in the 1989 animated movie.

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Now, the upcoming remake of Disney’s Snow White starring Rachel Zegler has been under fire for its controversial portrayal of the seven dwarves among other reasons. Here’s what the son of the original Snow White director had to say about the film.

Son of Snow White director criticizes upcoming Disney remake

In an interview with The Telegraph, David Hand, who worked as a Disney designer in the 1990s, admitted his negative feelings toward the Snow White remake. Hand’s father, also named David, served as one of the directors of the 1937 film.

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“It’s a whole different concept and I just totally disagree with it, and I know my dad and Walt would also very much disagree with it,” 91-year-old Hand said. He continued by calling the movie a “disgrace” and discussed Disney’s “radical thoughts.”

“They’re making up new woke things and I’m just not into any of that. I find it quite frankly a bit insulting [what] they may have done with some of these classic films,” Hand remarked. “There’s no respect for what Disney did and what my dad did. … I think Walt and he would be turning in their graves.”

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The Snow White remake has finished filming and is scheduled to premiere on March 22, 2024. Other Disney live-action projects in the works include Lilo & Stitch, Moana, and Mufasa: The Lion King.

You can find out more about Zegler’s Snow White controversy here.

Related Topics

According to John Musker, what should Disney prioritize in its remakes?

How has Disney leveraged nostalgia in recent years?

By turning classic animations into live-action films with major stars

Prince Eric’s character was deepened to reflect mutual desires for freedom, adding emotional complexity.

Title:

Content: Filed under:

The Little Mermaid live-action remake actually fixed the right character

The biggest story changes aren’t for Halle Bailey as Ariel

Whenever a new Disney live-action remake of an animated classic comes out, there’s always a hullabaloo about what, if anything, changed from the source material. Specifically, fans question whether the latest remake updates anything to take modern standards into account, or a creator boasts that it does — whether it’s giving LeFou an “exclusively gay moment” in 2017’s Beauty and the Beast or canning the Siamese cat song in 2019’s Lady and the Tramp.

For whatever reason, though, most of the filmmakers behind these projects seem determined to also “fix” the stories’ main heroines — usually losing what made them so appealing in the first place. The most nefarious case in point is Beauty and the Beast’s Belle, a character beloved by young bookworms everywhere. Making her a book-lover wasn’t enough for the 2017 remake, which also turned her into an inventor for some reason — and then did absolutely nothing with that plot point.

But in the case of the new Little Mermaid, director Rob Marshall and screenwriter David Magee actually picked the right character to update.

That isn’t Ariel, who for the most part keeps pretty much the same personality she had in the original, though she certainly gets more moments to flesh it out. Ariel is a beloved heroine, and Marshall and Magee understand what made her so appealing in the original animated Disney film. She’s curious, passionate, and idealistic, and the 1989 movie takes great care to highlight those things, while also embracing her faults, like her absent-mindedness and stubbornness. Halle Bailey’s stellar performance as Ariel in the live-action version bolsters all of those points. Even with some added moments, her Ariel is pretty much recognizable. She isn’t the one who needed to undergo a modern makeover, after all.

The character who really needed a change was Eric.

The original animated Eric is a hero of his era. He meets the minimum requirements to be a Disney Prince, in that he’s handsome and brave, and not much else. In the 1989 film, Ariel sees him on a ship, playing with his dog, and immediately falls in love with him. That’s pretty true to the original Hans Christian Andersen story — not to mention the Disney fairy-tale movies that came before — but in 2023, we need more evidence that this is a man worthy of Ariel’s time, and worthy of her giving up everything to try and be with him.

The 2023 live-action version of Eric, played by Jonah Hauer-King, isn’t just a hunk. He feels restless in his palace, and he wants to explore the world beyond his island nation, but he feels trapped by his mother’s rules. That’s a direct parallel to Ariel’s story, so it makes sense that she would relate to him. Her bargain with Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) is more about her desire to escape her father’s controlling rules about her being in love. (Ariel’s “Daddy, I love him!” line doesn’t make the cut in this version.) There’s a sense of comfort in knowing that there is at least one person on land who would understand her choice to leave the ocean. In Eric, she sees more of a kindred spirit than a soulmate.

The new Little Mermaid also gives Ariel and Eric more time to get to know each other. Instead of the dinner scene where Ariel bungles basic social interaction, now Ariel and Eric bond over Eric’s vast collection of trinkets he found on his adventures. As it turns out, they’re both total nerds when it comes to their interests, and they’re both just squirming to talk about what they love with someone. Ariel still can’t talk because of Ursula, but she’s still an active participant in the interaction, showing Eric a thing or two about his treasures from the sea, and eagerly poring over his maps. All their interactions are fueled by an awkward yet adorable attraction that just makes their romance all the more believable, and worth rooting for.

There are some superfluous changes to the live-action movie that don’t really add anything meaningful. For instance, Ariel’s sisters are rulers of their own seas, not Triton’s decorative choral singers, but they still don’t contribute much to the plot. Ursula has added motives, but that doesn’t come up beyond her introduction. Scuttle the seagull (voiced by Awkwafina) raps for a bit, because sure, why not? If you think too hard about some of the more consequential world-building changes in 2023’s The Little Mermaid, the movie begins to unravel.

But what makes The Little Mermaid isn’t whether the fish look good, or what exactly fuels Triton and Ursula’s feud. It all comes back to Ariel and her journey, which is fueled by the central romance between her and Eric. Just because Ariel falls in love doesn’t mean she’s not a strong and beloved protagonist, and just because Eric is a handsome and dashing prince doesn’t mean he lacks the substance behind that charming smile. By updating their romance, the 2023 Little Mermaid makes the love story more satisfying — and resonant for a new generation.

The Little Mermaid swims into theaters on May 26.

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Other remakes incorporated more agency for female characters, diverse casting, and new songs that support themes of inclusivity, gender equity, and cultural sensitivity.

Mulan (2020) and Aladdin (2019) similarly adjusted themes or character portrayals to avoid stereotypes and appeal to a global audience.

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If you can only show a Disney cartoon to a child … this expert chooses “Mulan ”
Disney was once the number one American animation brand in the eyes of global audiences, and even more so after the acquisition of Pixar, when it comes to Disney cartoons, everyone may soon think of "Snow White," "Cinderella," "Puppet Story" and other immortal classics, or "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King" during the Renaissance, or the most popular "Frozen" in recent years. Show your child a Disney cartoon, parents will certainly get into a painful struggle, but there is an American director analysis, the best choice is "Hua Mulan"!
"Mulan" definitely can not be included in the ranks of Disney's most popular animated films, in the United States box office is only 120 million US dollars, there is a gap between the 200 million "Aladdin", "Beauty and the Beast", and far less than the 300 million dollar "Lion King", even if the film critics think that the performance is not ideal, the North American box office is not as expected "Strange in the wind", are more than "Mulan" Sell some seats.
Mulan from the Chinese legend, will not be the most familiar Disney princess in the American audience.
But why did American director Sean Tyson so strongly recommend “Mulan ” as the best example of a Disney cartoon?
First, in his eyes, "Mulan" is Disney's most successful performance of "female power", especially in recent Hollywood movies all vigorously highlight the power of women, but always seem too deliberate, so that people accept it instead of disgusted.
The biggest feature is that Mulan has to go through a lot of struggles and tests to get out of her womb. She is not like the "Star Wars" series of Rui, Marvel's "Captain Marvel" or even Disney's live-action version of "Mulan", they originally have human strength, almost no struggle.
Animated Mulan In order to save his father from gambling on the family's glory, he must struggle to catch up with his male colleagues in the military camp, and be careful not to be found by them.
Compared with the popular heroines in recent years, they have not suffered too much failure, and they have not suffered too deep a struggle, which has greatly weakened their growth and lacks weight.
Second, "Mulan" is an open cross-cultural sense of the starting point, most of the Disney animation protagonists are designed to be Western cultural origin of the characters, European and American audiences are easy to bet on feelings, "Mulan" tells a story in the East, can let European and American people see the difference across cultures, each other's human response is almost different, open another kind of vision.
While Sean acknowledged that the characters and story were also adapted from an American perspective, not just a look at Chinese culture, but a common human aspect, especially for younger audiences.
Third, "Mulan" is full of entertainment, Sean with his own editing expertise, praised the film has Disney animation in the most fun, charming supporting roles, such as Eddie Murphy's voice of Mulan, Mulan next to the cricket, flower grandmother and so on.
The film also has a love story, with political threats, and a very depressing villain... contained in a plot about glory and self-positioning, which is rich in content.
I don't know which one parents will choose when it comes to the problem of "only showing one Disney animation to their children".
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However, some films like Pinocchio (2022) adhered closely to original narratives without significant innovation, leading to criticism of lackluster creativity.

What does Disney's reliance on sequels and spin-offs instead of new IP suggest about its creativity?

A stalling of the company's creative engine.

What has been the general critical response to most Disney's live-action remakes?

Public and critical reception have been mixed and often polarized.

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Content: The original "Little Mermaid" director can 't stand it! The real version of the irony: the zoo crab expression is even richer
Reporters Lau Wan-yan / Comprehensive Report
Disney has created countless moving animated films, accompanied by many people to grow up, such as "Snow White", "Sleeping Beauty", "Beauty and the Beast" and other classic films, in recent years, these classic animations have been remade as live-action versions, but Disney has been criticized for pursuing excessive "political correctness", while trying to convey specific ideas, ignoring the story itself. And the depth of the role, deeply criticized by the outside world.
The real version of "Little Mermaid" was criticized.
(Courtesy of Disney)
According to foreign media reports, the director of the "Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin" animation, John Musk, publicly pointed out that Disney should revise the line, focusing on the "entertainment" and "story attraction" of the work, "the concept" should be placed on the secondary, bluntly, "they should revise the line", and added that "it is not necessary to completely put the concept into, but until then, the most important thing is to create the audience. It's a role that captures the eyes of the audience."
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The director of the animated version of "Little Mermaid" believes that the live-action version should be more about the relationship between father and daughter.
(Courtesy of Disney)
John Musk emphasized that Disney ’ s classics were never born out of preconceived ideas, but rather immersed the audience in the world built by the story and the characters.
He believes that while it is not necessary to completely abandon the concept, before that, you should first create characters that the audience can feel and feel attracted to.
As for Disney ’ s frequent remakes of old animations into live-action versions, he believes that this is to make the audience like things, and then sell them again, and he obviously does not agree with this practice.
Disney ’ s remake of the classic animation, apart from Aladdin, has a mostly bad reputation. John Musk pointed to the 2023 live-action version of “The Little Mermaid ” and bluntly said:“ They don ’ t put much ink on the story of their father and daughter, that ’ s the core of the whole movie. ” The lions in the Lion King are much richer.
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Critics often cite the remakes’ overemphasis on modern political correctness potentially undermining story depth and emotional resonance.

What approach makes Disney's classics successful according to John Musker?

Immersing audiences in story-driven worlds rather than pushing preconceived ideas.

What controversy arose from Disney's casting and updates in The Adventures of Pinocchio?