Every year for the past decade, Disney has churned out live action adaptations of their beloved animated films. There are around 21 of these movies and they’re mostly fueled by nostalgia and greed. They tend to have a higher budget but lower quality. Yet, the general public seems to flock to the cinemas to watch the newest rendition of their childhood movies. It’s not only Disney who has been translating their IP into live action, notably Netflix has been following this trend. This has led to an oversaturation and eventual fatigue over the lack of creative innovation since companies have seemingly been drawn to live action remakes which has resulted in a lack of support for the medium of animation
In 2010, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland had been a commercial success; despite receiving a divisive 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. Many have pinpointed the surge of adaptations on this film, despite Disney’s past dabbling in live action with 101 Dalmatians and The Jungle Book. The financial gain Disney received from Alice in Wonderland gave them an idea to create more and more live action films. Maleficent (2014) and Cinderella (2015) followed shortly after. The difference with the earlier remakes is that instead of following the plot, they were reimagined fairy tales that could stand on their own. It was distinct and fans seem to keep coming back, addled by nostalgia and the promise of something new. It’s safer to remake an already established film, the familiar IP brings in a “built in” audience. Lesser risks, more profit for Disney.
Many of the films are either a hit or miss with audiences. Cinderella (2015) succeeded where other Disney princess movies fell flat due to the movie's reminiscent charm of the original 1950 film, whilst still remaining original. It was a lightning in a bottle situation that Disney has tried to recreate over and over without understanding why it did so well. It had no songs yet it had the whimsical feeling patdown. If you compare that with Mulan (2020), you could see where the movie had failed. It lacked the heart and genuine passion that should come when you adapt an iconic story. The very core of Mulan was erased in favor of creating this sort of girlboss persona that had fallen flat. It tried to appeal to modern audiences yet failed due to the lack of understanding of the character. Mulan, in the animated film, had her obstacles and developments which were erased in the live action film. The movie no longer had the nuance of the source material. Most of the live action films are like this, lacking the very charm that their animated counterparts had and made the films so popular to begin with.
There has been an influx of movies centered around animals that have been re-polished for the big screen. The difference is that they are CGI now instead of 2D animated. The problem with adapting animals into live action is that they can’t be as expressive as their animated counterparts. In The Lion King (2019), it feels as though you are watching a National Geographic documentary instead of a film due to the hyper-realistic CGI. The whimsy and charm does not translate well from 2D to 3D, the reason why the original Lion King worked so well was because of its art style and suspension of reality. The audience cannot feel the human emotion on the animal’s face because the CGI cannot portray it on realistic animal features. Dumbo and Lady and the Tramp (2019) also fell victim to this, with their releases being almost immediately forgotten about. While they have faded into the background, the point still stands. Audiences cannot resonate with the themes and feelings when the characters themselves cannot express it in their faces and gestures. Despite these repeated criticisms from fans and onlookers, the upcoming announcement of Lilo and Stitch (which was teased with a CGI video of Stitch) has failed to reassure fans of Disney’s ability to adapt our childhood favorites.
This suggests companies do not value animation as much as they used to. That is why The Animation Guild is currently on strike. The late hours for little pay has made the animators working on both the CGI and animated films burn out. Live action adaptations fall flat because companies now value profit over the artistry and quality of animation. They incentivize nostalgia and brand it as catering to the newer generations. The heart and whimsy simply does not translate well into other mediums. Some things are better left animated.
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