A bit of film this week. We all know Disney as a film studio which makes films about fairy-tales and other family-friendly films. But recently, the company has started to make some of it’s most iconic films, The Jungle Book (I can understand why they did this as the animals were all animated very realistically), Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Lion King (in production), Alice in Wonderland (this I can slightly understand), Aladdin (in production), Pinocchio (in production), Peter Pan (in production) etc. again. And I don’t think they don’t really have any reason to do so. (There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. The Alice in the live-action version was a lot older, and there was a lot more story. The Jungle Book only had one human in it: the boy, everyone else was animated so they look like real animals.)

Now, before I go any further, I would just like to say that, like most blog posts, this is entirely my own opinion. Also, this blog post doesn’t include the following:

• Disney-Marvel films (I don’t really like superhero films anyway, except Big Hero 6.)
• 20th Century Fox films that the company may now own.

So, let us begin on this magical tale all about Disney. So make sure you are sitting comfortably, with your favourite drink (mine’s berry-flavoured herbal tea) and let’s begin!

Making classic fairy-tales

Once upon a time, in the Disney Brother’s Studio in California, there was Walt Disney. He and his company made many classic films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and many more.

Fast forward several decades, Disney were still making films. But they were no longer original musical films that made the company a great company. They were making the same fairy-tales in live-action, with only minor changes to suit the modern audience.

But strangely enough, everyone still loved the live-action films. The live action version of Cinderella brought in half a billion dollars at the box office. Beauty and the Beast bought in just over a billion dollars. But the same success wasn’t always enjoyed on film-reviewing sites such as Rotten Tomatoes.

The classic animated version of Cinderella got 97% at Rotten Tomatoes, whilst the remake got 84%. A minor change, but still a change nonetheless. Another example is Beauty and the Beast. The classic version got 94%, whilst the remake got 70%. Another example is Alice in Wonderland. The original got 79%, whilst the remake got 52%. (I’m using the films that didn’t really change as examples. The original Jungle Book, with all the songs and joy, got 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. The remake got 95%.)

What could Disney do to stop this?

Disney could stop being as innovative as Apple (which releases new versions of the same product year-on-year with the occasional new product) by making films on fairy-tales. There are TONNES of fairy-tales out there that can be made into anything by anyone because they are in the public domain (meaning it’s either so old that it’s entered the public domain or the person who wrote it surrendered the rights to it.) Below is me scrolling through the list of fairy-tales page on Wikipedia:
So, please Disney, start making great, original (ones that haven’t been made before) films. And then everyone would live happily ever after.

What do you think about the live-action fairy-tale remake? Comments below!

(And for film recommendations, I recommend The Sound of Music.)