Ranking the Live-Action Disney Remakes

I’m going to start this post off with a quick disclaimer. If you’re someone who is by no means a fan of Disney’s recent trend of producing live-action remakes of their animated classics, you’re not going to get much out of this post since it will be a generally positive take on these films. Yes, since 2010, Disney’s live-action output has primarily been focused on live-action re-imaginings of some of their most iconic animated films. However, while these films have been quite successful at the box-office, they’ve been far more polarizing in terms of their overall reception. While general audiences seem to be fairly receptive towards these new spins on Disney classics, there are a sizable number of folks who have been highly critical of this trend for the exact same reason that folks would take issue with any remake in general. Why would anyone even bother remaking something that’s been regarded by many as an undisputed classic? And yet, as someone who recognizes that the original animated films will always be there regardless of how these new films turn out (which is why I’m thankful for the advent of Disney+, which prominently features both incarnations of the films that have recently gotten the live-action treatment), these recent remakes have never bothered me in the slightest. In fact, I’ve recently started to detest the use of the adjective ‘unnecessary’ when it comes to reviews because I feel that it’s become one of the most overused words in critical vernacular, especially since you could easily apply it to any film that comes out and not just the ones that are remakes/sequels/reboots. In other words, while many of these films are re-imagining some of my favorite Disney films of all-time, I try not to let my affinity for the originals overly cloud my judgment towards the remakes because I personally feel that doing so would be largely unfair to them. And so, with that in mind and in honor of the latest Disney remake Mulan’s impending ‘Premier Access’ release on Disney+, today I’m ranking these live-action remakes from ‘least favorite’ to ‘favorite’. While their placement on this list will primarily stem from overall preference, I will also factor in their efforts to present a new spin on their classic stories.

Before we begin, though, I just need to lay out the ground rules for this list. For starters, I won’t be including the two sequels that were spawned from these recent remakes, 2016’s Alice Through the Looking Glass and 2019’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. The reason for this is quite simple; from a subjective standpoint, they’re not ‘remakes’ anymore. Instead, they’re just ‘sequels’ to the remakes. However, I will briefly address them when I go over their predecessors. Also, for this list, I’m only going to be focusing on the remakes that have been released since 2010 since this is when this current trend first began to take shape. Because of this, there are two films from the ’90s that won’t be appearing on this list even though they are technically the first big Disney remakes. The first is the original live-action remake of The Jungle Book (that’s right, Jon Favreau’s version wasn’t the first time that a live-action adaptation of Disney’s Jungle Book was made) which was directed by Stephen Sommers and released in 1994. Admittedly, I haven’t seen it at the time that I’m writing this, but I’ll probably do some kind of post on both it and a different Disney-produced Jungle Book film from the ’90s, 1998’s The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story, in the future, perhaps when the sequel to Favreau’s Jungle Book comes out. The other big remake that won’t be included here is the 1996 adaptation of 101 Dalmatians, but again, that’s because I’m saving my thoughts on that film and its 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmatians, for a different occasion; in this case, the upcoming spin-off Cruella that will hit theaters next May. Lastly, while it does technically count as a ‘live-action remake’ and can genuinely be considered as a part of this recent subgenre, I’m also not going to include the 2016 remake of Pete’s Dragon since it’s a remake of a live-action film rather than an animated one. Yes, for this list, I’m mainly focusing on the live-action remakes of animated Disney films, and while two of them are technically more like ‘sequels’ than ‘remakes’, I believe that they still count here given that they are primarily based on their animated counterparts. And so, without further ado, I present my current rankings of the live-action Disney remakes that have been released since 2010.   

10. ALICE IN WONDERLAND

We start things off with the first big live-action reimagining of a Disney classic from this modern era, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. This is the first of the two films that I mentioned earlier that are more like ‘sequels’ rather than ‘remakes’ as it follows a teenaged Alice returning to the world of Wonderland (referred to in-universe as ‘Underland’). Like the original animated film, Burton ultimately went with a combination of elements from both the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland novel and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass, rather than just being a direct adaptation of the source material. And right off the bat, the best thing that I can say about this film is that it’s another prime example of why Burton is one of the greatest visual directors in the industry. While the film’s visuals do feel a bit excessive at times due to the scenes in Underland being almost entirely green-screen based, they’re still very much the best part of the film as they wonderfully capture the eccentric nature of the Wonderland setting through the equally eccentric style of Tim Burton. Because of this, it’s easy to see why this film won Oscars for both its production and costume design and how its production designer would go on to direct his own live-action Disney remake a few years later. That said, though, there are a few instances where Burton’s style arguably goes a bit too far for a film that’s primarily geared towards younger audiences. In other words, moments where creatures get their eyes poked out and a scene where Alice crosses a moat filled with the heads of the Queen of Hearts’ victims do make you wonder how the film was able to get away with its PG rating. But despite this and an often-uneven plot (which, yes, is saying something for an Alice in Wonderland film), the film still manages to be another solid outing from Burton, especially thanks to its cast. Helena Bonham Carter is an absolute standout as the figuratively and literally big-headed tyrant the Red Queen and the film sports an impressively stacked voice cast with big names like Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman.

Thus, while it wasn’t exactly a runaway hit with critics, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was a smash hit financially as it managed to gross over $1 billion worldwide. This has mainly been attributed to the general lack of competition that it faced upon its release in the Spring of 2010 and the boost that came from 3-D ticket sales since this was right when the 3-D format was experiencing its peak resurgence. Because of this, a sequel was eventually made in 2016, Alice Through the Looking Glass, under the direction of James Bobin, who was fresh off the 2011 Muppets film and its 2014 sequel, Muppets Most Wanted (Burton was still heavily involved as a producer). Like its predecessor, though, it didn’t do too well with critics, and unlike its predecessor, it was a rather notorious underperformer at the box-office. But while we’re not going to spend too much time comparing these two films, I will say that there are two things that the sequel does better than the original. First off, it boasts a brighter visual style that is still a lot of CGI overload, to be fair, but is all-around more pleasant to look at. It also means that there aren’t really any moments that push its PG rating like Burton’s film did. The other key advantage is that since the first film was primarily focused on Alice finding the confidence to help her Underland friends stop the Red Queen, she is a far more confident lead in Through the Looking Glass, which is well-reflected by Mia Wasikowska’s excellent performance in the role. And so, with all this in mind, while the live-action Alice in Wonderland films are far from being my favorites when it comes to Disney’s recent live-action output, I don’t necessarily ‘dislike’ them, either. They may be far from perfect, but as much as they do have their incredibly vocal critics (especially those who love taking these films to task for not being the most faithful adaptations of their source material), there’s no denying that they also have their fair share of fans.    

9. LADY AND THE TRAMP

The most recent film on our list, Lady and the Tramp was one of the many exclusive titles that debuted on Disney+ the day of its launch, and I won’t lie, it was, in fact, the first ‘Disney+ Original’ that I watched. While most of the attention that day was directed towards the pilot episode of The Mandalorian, I was genuinely looking forward to the live-action remake of one of Disney Animation’s most underrated projects. To be clear, I’m not saying that the original Lady and the Tramp is a forgotten entry in the Disney canon, but you could also argue that it often gets overshadowed by the other Disney films of the decade such as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. Nevertheless, it’s a charming love story that was nicely translated into a live-action film by director Charlie Bean. Now admittedly, there aren’t many deviations from the original film, with the biggest changes consisting of minor things such as giving the dog-catcher a more prominent villain role and changing the song sung by Aunt Sarah’s pair of troublemaking cats in light of the original’s often-accused case of racist stereotyping. But even though this does make this version of Lady and the Tramp one of the more straight-forward installments of the recent Disney remakes, that’s not such a bad thing in this instance. Whereas almost all the other remakes are big-budget, CGI-heavy flicks, the Lady and the Tramp remake is refreshingly simple in its approach since the original film was more of a light-hearted romp with the period setting of a classic 1900’s Midwestern town. It also helps that the filmmakers utilized actual dogs to help bring the characters to life even though it goes without saying that CGI was used for the process of making them talk. All in all, this is just an incredibly cute and harmless film that does a nice job in recapturing the charm of its source material’s timeless romance.   

8. DUMBO

In 2019, Tim Burton took on his second major live-action Disney remake with Dumbo. Admittedly, the story of a lovable circus elephant who uses his big ears to fly may have seemed like an odd choice for Burton to direct, but at the same time, it did fit his usual M.O. of stories about misfit characters. Thus, while Burton’s Dumbo doesn’t feature his traditional gothic style, its visuals are still very much on point throughout as they do a wonderful job of capturing the bright and majestic visual aesthetic of the circuses of yesteryear. The film also has the benefit of having greater opportunities for new material when compared to some of the other remakes on this list since the original Dumbo is one of Disney’s more simpler-plotted affairs, especially due to its short 64-minute runtime. As such, all the key moments from the original such as Dumbo’s mother being put into captivity after causing a ruckus and the moment where Dumbo first publicly showcases his flying ability during a clown act are covered in just the first forty minutes. After that, a new subplot occurs when a greedy theme park entrepreneur purchases Dumbo for use in his circus while the members of Dumbo’s original circus troupe work to free his mom from her captivity at the entrepreneur’s amusement park. The remake also focuses more on the story’s human characters, namely WWI veteran Holt Farrier and his two kids Milly and Joe, who take the place of Timothy Q. Mouse from the original as Dumbo’s primary allies since this film doesn’t feature any talking animals. However, the new material that’s added in ends up feeling just as simplistic as the original film’s plot which, to be fair, was reportedly the point according to screenwriter Ehren Kruger. Ultimately, though, Dumbo still works quite well as a good-natured family film with a solid cast headlined by Burton regulars such as Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito and some fun nods to the original, including the infamous pink elephants.

7. MALEFICENT

Since Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is technically more of a sequel than a remake, one could argue that 2014’s Maleficent is where this current crop of live-action Disney remakes truly got started. Under the direction of Alice in Wonderland’s production designer Robert Stromberg, the film serves as a live-action reimagining of Disney Animation’s 1959 outing Sleeping Beauty that, as the title suggests, mainly focuses on the story’s iconic villainess, Maleficent. However, instead of just having her be the main antagonist, the film turns her into more of an anti-hero whose actions against Princess Aurora and her family were the result of her getting revenge against Aurora’s father, her former love interest, for stealing her fairy wings. And while she does curse Aurora to fall into an eternal slumber on her 16^th birthday, she ends up developing a motherly connection to her to the point where she’s ultimately the one who saves her from the curse. As you might have guessed, those who prefer Maleficent’s traditionally villainous persona weren’t too pleased with this interpretation of the character, but overall, I think that it’s a uniquely fascinating take on Maleficent and the mother-daughter relationship that forms between her and Aurora is genuinely sweet. But, of course, the biggest highlight of the film is Angelina Jolie in the title role as she perfectly encapsulates the look and persona of the ‘Mistress of All Evil’… even if that designation doesn’t necessarily apply to this version of the character. Thus, Maleficent turned out to be a big hit with audiences upon its release in the summer of 2014, ultimately grossing over $758 million worldwide. This effectively paved the way for a sequel in 2019, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, which was generally on par with its predecessor in terms of quality while also expanding upon its fantasy world, namely by introducing more members of Maleficent’s race, the Dark Feys. Really, the only major disappointment with the sequel was that there were fewer scenes between Maleficent and Aurora. Nevertheless, the Maleficent films are a solid duology of fantasy flicks that pride themselves on being female-driven stories.

6. THE LION KING

Now I’ll be the first to admit that Jon Favreau’s CGI-based remake of The Lion King (which admittedly makes this one a bit questionable to include on this list since it’s not really live-action but arguably still counts based on its status as a remake) is quite arguably the most straight-forward remake of this bunch when it comes to retelling the original film’s story. Apart from some minor additions like an earlier introduction for adult Nala and a rivalry between her and Shenzi the hyena, this is the exact same story as the 1994 film with the exact same story beats. In other words, the biggest difference between the two films is that Favreau’s version is CGI whereas the original was traditionally animated. But while this has made the new Lion King one of the most controversial installments yet of the recent Disney remakes, I’d argue that it still manages to be a solid enough film. Like Favreau’s other big remake, The Jungle Book, much of this is due to the utterly impressive visual effects that do such an incredible job in maintaining their photorealistic nature. And while this does mean that the film lacks the more extravagant moments of the original (i.e. there’s no scene of Timon distracting hyenas by donning a grass skirt and dancing the hula (although there is a brilliant substitute bit for that part)), the attention to detail is truly spot on. Plus, I’d argue that the film still manages to hit the right emotional beats from Mufasa’s death to the moment where Simba speaks with the spirit of his father. And so, if anything, I’d say that at the very least, the new Lion King succeeds as a demonstration of how far CGI has truly come in the past few years. Obviously, I’m not saying that it’s ‘better’ than the 1994 film, but with phenomenal visuals and a great voice cast that includes the likes of Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Billy Eichner, Seth Rogen, and the Queen Bey herself, Beyonce, it’s also quite far from being completely worthless. And yes, this is all coming from someone who lists the original Lion King as his favorite Disney animated film of all-time, but as I’ve made it clear already, just because it’s my favorite doesn’t mean that I was going to hold that against this new film. Still, I will admit that the fact that it is largely note-for-note the same as its traditionally animated counterpart does keep me from putting it any higher on this list.

5. CHRISTOPHER ROBIN

Christopher Robin is the other film on this list that’s more of a sequel rather than a remake as it revolves around a grown-up Christopher Robin being reunited with Winnie the Pooh and the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood gang. But, of course, it still counts on this list since it utilizes much of the iconography from Disney’s interpretation of Winnie the Pooh, and since Winnie the Pooh was such a significant part of my childhood, this was easily one of my most anticipated films of 2018. At the end of the day, I’m happy to report that it did not disappoint. Christopher Robin is an incredibly poignant story about the tragedy that is the loss of childhood innocence through the harsh but sadly natural process of growing up. But while this ordeal ends up being an incredibly rough one for Christopher Robin (e.g. losing his father at a young age, enduring the horrors of World War II, etc.), it is what also makes his eventual reconciliation with his friends and family incredibly cathartic. Ewan McGregor does a fantastic job in the title role and when it comes to his Hundred Acre Wood friends, it was only appropriate that they bring back Jim Cummings, the voice of Pooh and Tigger for many a generation (mine included), for his iconic roles. Now admittedly, many have noted that Christopher Robin sports a rather bleak tone, which is true if focusing solely on the first half of the film before Christopher Robin regains his childhood innocence. After that, the film takes on a more light-hearted tone and the scenes where Pooh and company get into all sorts of adventures in London are purely delightful. And really, that perfectly sums up the film in general. It’s a truly delightful family flick that’s fully bolstered by the ever-enduring charm of its timeless characters to be another great Winnie the Pooh story.  

4. ALADDIN

As I’ve mentioned plenty of times before, director Guy Ritchie’s live-action remake of Aladdin ended up being quite a noteworthy success story even though, before its release, it was quite possibly the most scrutinized installment yet of these equally scrutinized remakes. Simply put, it was almost as if this film could never catch a break as it caught flak for various reasons ranging from certain casting choices to the infamous first reveal of Will Smith’s Genie in his traditional blue form. But when it finally came out, it managed to earn over $1 billion worldwide while also doing decently enough with critics, many of whom felt that it turned out to be much better than they initially anticipated. And if you ask me, that means that this film deserves a lot of credit for managing to avoid being the disaster that many predicted it would be. Now as far as being a remake of its animated counterpart, Aladdin is in the same boat as Lady and the Tramp and The Lion King by not making a lot of radical changes to the original story of a good-natured thief who tries to woo the Princess of Agrabah with the help of a wisecracking Genie. Despite this, however, one great change that it does make is letting Princess Jasmine play a far more proactive role in the story. With no disrespect to her animated counterpart, this is the best incarnation of the character to date, especially thanks to Naomi Scott doing a phenomenal job in the role. Meanwhile, Mena Massoud shines in what is surely going to be his breakout role as Aladdin while Will Smith, despite all the pressure that stemmed from having to follow in the footsteps of Robin Williams’ iconic rendition of the Genie in the original animated film, successfully delivers his own, unique take on the character. Ultimately, the only thing that holds this film back is its mediocre interpretation of Jafar, which is primarily due to this version’s more grounded take on the character. But at the end of the day, the live-action Aladdin ends up being a lot of fun, and while it may have seemed like a weird choice to have it done by a director who’s known more for making gritty crime dramas, Guy Ritchie does a highly respectable job when it comes to maintaining the original’s great atmosphere and unforgettable musical numbers.  

3. THE JUNGLE BOOK

Out of all these films, Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book is arguably the best example of a live-action Disney remake that isn’t fully tied to its animated counterpart. While it’s still very much the story of a young boy named Mowgli who is raised by wolves in the jungles of India and pursued by the sinister tiger Shere Kahn, it’s ultimately a combination of the 1967 animated film and Rudyard Kipling’s original novel. In other words, it only features three of the songs from the animated film (“Bare Necessities”, “I Wanna Be Like You”, and “Trust in Me”) and places greater emphasis on the dramatic parts of the story such as Mowgli’s history with Shere Kahn, who killed his human father, and the dangerous power of ‘Man’s Red Flower’, fire. Favreau does an excellent job of balancing these two aspects of the story, resulting in some excellent emotional moments (e.g. when Mowgli first leaves for the man-village and says goodbye to his adoptive wolf mother Raksha) while also featuring plenty of great homages to the original. But, of course, the most notable aspect of this film is its extensive use of CGI to bring both its animals and its jungle landscapes to life. And because Favreau’s VFX team did such an outstanding job with the visuals (which ended up netting them the Oscar that year for Best Visual Effects), sometimes it’s easy to forget that Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli, is literally the only ‘real’ thing on-screen 95% of the time. All this and a top-notch voice cast that includes big names like Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, and Lupita Nyong’o helps make this adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic story a full-blown visual masterpiece. And as I noted back in the intro, Favreau and screenwriter Justin Marks are currently prepping a sequel that, according to Marks, could potentially incorporate some of the unused elements from the animated film’s original screenplay by Bill Peet that was ultimately rejected by Walt Disney himself for being too dark.

2. CINDERELLA

No matter how much these live-action Disney remakes get ragged on by their biggest critics, there will always be the select few that were genuinely well-received, and the one that started it all for this group was Kenneth Branagh’s 2015 remake of Cinderella. Unlike both Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent, which received mixed reviews upon their release, Cinderella fared quite well with critics and became the first of these remakes to secure a ‘Fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And just like Christopher Robin, this was another one of my most anticipated films back when it was coming out due to the original Cinderella being one of my all-time favorite Disney films growing up. All in all, Branagh’s remake does a wonderful job of bringing this classic story to life. Sure, it’s another case where the remake is predominately faithful to its animated counterpart without many significant changes, but in this instance, the changes that it does make are some of the best to come from any of these recent remakes. Easily the best example of this is how it expands upon the relationship between Cinderella and Prince Charming, namely by having them meet before the ball, which also allows the latter to be a more fleshed-out character compared to his animated counterpart. And while Cinderella continues to get a lot of flak nowadays for allegedly being ‘too passive’ of a protagonist, I still stand by what I’ve been saying these past few years in that her unshakably optimistic nature in the face of all the crap she’s put through makes her a far better heroine than she’s often given credit for. Sure enough, this is well-reflected in the live-action remake, especially thanks to Lily James’ outstanding turn in the role. The same goes for Richard Madden as the superior version of Prince Charming, Cate Blanchett as the unforgettably sinister Lady Tremaine, and Helena Bonham Carter in a scene-stealing turn as Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother. And so, with a phenomenal cast, gorgeous production design, and all-around excellent direction from Kenneth Branagh, the live-action Cinderella is one of the most uplifting films to have come out in recent years.

1. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

To be perfectly blunt, folks, I have the feeling that this film’s placement at the top spot on this list is going to garner some controversy given its usual reception. Let me put it this way; when it first came out, it did relatively well with critics. It currently boasts a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a decently solid score for a film to have on that site, and it also grossed over $1 billion worldwide, effectively making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2017 behind only Star Wars: The Last Jedi. In other words, it was, at the very least, clearly a big hit with audiences. However, I think it’s safe to say that this was the film that fully intensified the utter contempt that the ‘Disney remake’ critics have towards this trend, especially due to the legendary reputation of the film that this remake was adapted from. Before 2017, all the live-action Disney remakes were based on older animated films such as Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella. As such, one could argue that the overall expectations for them weren’t as intense given how long it has been since their releases. Beauty and the Beast, on the other hand, was the most recent Disney animated feature to get the live-action treatment at that point and it also happens to be one of the studio’s most beloved outings. It is, after all, the first animated film that was ever nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, a distinction that only two other films have achieved since then. As such, this remake clearly faced stricter expectations because of how much the original has meant to my generation, and the same can also be said for the remakes of Aladdin and The Lion King that would come out later and would end up garnering far more polarizing reactions from critics. Thus, despite what I just said about the film maintaining a solid rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of those who gave it a ‘Fresh’ review aren’t as positive about it nowadays. And yet, I’m not afraid to admit that I still love this film.

Yes, this is yet another instance of a remake that doesn’t make a lot of changes to the original’s story, but overall, I was genuinely fine with the updates that they did make. This includes, among other things, Belle being an inventor just like her father (played excellently by Kevin Kline in a uniquely more subdued take on ‘crazy old Maurice’) and her discovery as to why he has been overly protective of her all these years after her mom died from the Plague. I also loved all the new songs that were made for this remake, especially the Beast’s new solo, ‘Evermore’. And while I’m well aware that much of the criticisms towards this film have been directed towards Emma Watson in the lead role of Belle, namely due to her singing, I still think that she does a fantastic job in the role if we’re talking about all the other things that have made Belle one of the most popular Disney princesses. She’s then backed by a phenomenal supporting cast that includes Dan Stevens as the Beast, Luke Evans and Josh Gad as the scene-stealing duo of Gaston and LeFou (so much so that they’re going to get their own Disney+ series) and the likes of Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson, and Ian McKellen as the Beast’s servants. In short, I will fully admit that there’s probably quite a bit of bias behind my decision to place this film at the #1 spot on this list. I saw it twice in theaters, with the first time being in IMAX at the film’s ‘Fan Event’ screening on my birthday. I also bought the soundtrack on iTunes not long afterward and loved the film so much that my mom asked one of her co-workers to pick it up on Blu-Ray and ship it to us so we could get the special Best Buy Steelbook*. In other words, I know that I’m probably in the minority when it comes to liking this film, which has certainly faced tons of scrutiny over the ‘necessity’ of its existence and has often been negatively compared to its animated counterpart. And yet, as this entire list has hopefully established by now, I don’t really care about any of that stuff, even if this is another case like The Lion King since the original Beauty and the Beast is one of my Top 5 favorite Disney films. Ultimately, though, that doesn’t prevent the live-action Beauty and the Beast from legitimately being one of my favorite films of the 2010s.

*(By the time that I was fully intent on getting the Steelbook, it wasn’t available at any of the Best Buy stores that were near our home in Rhode Island, hence why we needed to have my mom’s co-worker pick it up for us in Wisconsin where he’s from. As our way of saying thanks, we then proceeded to get him his own Steelbook copy of the film. In other words, as a friendly piece of advice for all you Blu-Ray enthusiasts out there, if you’re ever interested in getting a film’s Steelbook release, be sure to pre-order it in advance because it could very well go out of stock as soon as it hits the shelves, especially if it’s for a highly popular film like one of the MCU films or, say, a billion-dollar grossing remake of a Disney classic…)

And that concludes my rankings list of all the major live-action Disney remakes that have been released since 2010. Thanks for following along and be sure to be on the lookout for my review of the next big live-action Disney remake, Mulan, not too long after the film makes its Disney+ debut on September 4^th.

In Defense of Disney's Live-Action Remakes

(Disclaimer: As some of you will recognize, this is not the first time that this specific post has been published. A few weeks ago, I submitted a different form of this post to the animation website Rotoscopers. I knew that it would spark some controversy there due to those who aren’t big on Disney’s remake run, but I wanted to point out some positives about the company’s current live-action film strategy and try to reason that it’s not the worst thing in the world. I would like to thank the team at Rotoscopers for publishing my post and will be dedicating this new version of it to them. I will also be providing a link to the Rotoscopers post for you folks to check out if you haven’t already. The major difference between the two versions of this post is simple; with Rotoscopers, I had to keep it to a specific word limit. Here, expect a much longer post that’s much more in line with the usual content that I post here.)

This weekend sees the release of one of the year’s most highly anticipated films; Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The film is a live-action adaptation of the studio’s beloved animated masterpiece of the same name from 1991 and is the latest in a growing line of new adaptations of classic Disney stories. For you see, Disney’s current live-action film slate is primarily based around one thing; live-action remakes/re-imaginings of their animated classics. This trend first got started in 2010 with Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, a pseudo-follow-up to the studio’s animated take on the Lewis Carroll story of the same name from 1951. While the film received mixed reviews from both critics and audiences, it was a smash hit at the box office, as it managed to gross over $1 billion worldwide. Four years later, that commercial success continued with Maleficent, a ‘re-imagining’ of Disney’s 1959 effort, Sleeping Beauty. It was the same situation; the film attracted a polarizing reception but was a major box-office hit. One year later, Disney then released a remake of Cinderella but unlike the previous two films, this one not only did well at the box office but it was also the first to be generally well-received by critics. Because of this, Disney then proceeded to announce a wide slew of remakes/re-imaginings over the next few months for films like Mulan, Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, and so on and so forth. It’s honestly gotten to the point where almost every single Disney animated classic has a remake that has either come out, is slated to come out, or is currently in the works.

But, as some of you might have guessed, this slew of ‘remake announcements’ hasn’t gone over entirely well with everybody. Namely, there are quite a few people on the internet who are not a fan of Disney’s current live-action film strategy for various reasons, including the obvious argument of ‘why remake a classic’ and the fact that these remakes are now the primary projects on the studio’s schedule instead of original films. In fact, some of my good friends in the blogger community are in this exact crowd. As for me, though, I’m eagerly looking forward to a lot of these new remakes because of the great potential that they have. Now, for the record, I’m well-aware of an old quote from Walt Disney himself in which he remarked that ‘you can’t top pigs with pigs’, which basically asserted his own theory on the idea of sequels after he produced several sequels to the studio’s 1933 classic short, Three Little Pigs, that weren’t as successful as the original. But that was a different time; nowadays, nothing is ‘truly original’ anymore, meaning that stuff like this is bound to happen. Now, let me be clear, I love seeing an original film as much as the next person. Heck, my #8 favorite film from last year was Swiss Army Man. However, I’m not one of those people who outright condemns sequels, reboots, and remakes just because they exist. Thus, today on Rhode Island Movie Corner, I’ll be listing three reasons as to why I’m enthusiastic towards the upcoming line of Disney’s ‘live-action remakes’. Again, let me be clear; I understand where those who are against the remakes are coming from but, please, hear me out on this for a moment.

REASON #1: MANY OF THE RECENT REMAKES HAVE BEEN GOOD

Now, of course, this is an argument that can be quite subjective, just like film itself, hence why I decided to start this post with this argument right out the gate. There is no such thing as a ‘universally beloved’ film; every film has its critic and the recent Disney remakes are no exception to this. However, some of the most recent remakes in this lineup have genuinely been a success with BOTH critics and audiences. And again, as I noted earlier, this wasn’t initially the case. Both Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent were polarizing, to say the least, and believe me when I say that I have come across opinions on both sides of the spectrum. I have seen plenty of people who have expressed absolute contempt for these remakes. But, at the same time, I’ve also come across quite a few people that absolutely love these films. Therefore, it makes a lot more sense to me now why Alice in Wonderland managed to gross over a billion back in 2010; there were some people out there who did really like it. Same situation with Maleficent, which overcame its mixed reception to gross over $750 million worldwide and end up as the 4^th highest-grossing film of 2014. So, in short, while the films may not have done well with critics, they were doing well with audiences and, if you ask me, that usually matters more; knowing that audiences were enjoying it. Clearly, most audiences aren’t bothered by these remakes coming out and, if you ask me, why rain on their parade?   

But then when Cinderella came out, things were a little different as the critical reception was far more positive compared to Alice and Maleficent. Maintaining a solid 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and with over $500 million worldwide, it was very much the first in this line of Disney remakes that was a true bona fide success from a critical standpoint and not just a commercial one. Again, it did have its critics (believe me, I’ve gotten some flak from some people online for liking this film) but it ultimately proved that, if anything, these remakes could be fantastic. And then, in 2016, audiences were treated to not one but two highly successful adaptations of classic Disney films (note: before any of you bring up the critically-bashed sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, that doesn’t really count in this instance because it’s primarily a sequel). Director Jon Favreau’s adaptation of The Jungle Book was one of the best-reviewed films of 2016 and it grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide. And then, near the tail-end of the summer, there was Pete’s Dragon. It didn’t reach the same commercial heights of the other remakes, which is understandable considering that it’s based on a Disney film that isn’t as well-known compared to something like The Jungle Book, but it too was well-received by most critics and it did manage to break even with around $140 million worldwide on a modest $65 million budget. Now, let me be clear, I’m not saying that all the upcoming Disney remakes are going to be successful with both critics and audiences. There probably will be some critical duds here and there. However, no matter how well or how bad these upcoming remakes fare with critics, the previous three Disney remakes will stand as genuine success stories and proof that not only can they be done, but done well.

REASON #2: THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR NEW TAKES ON THESE STORIES

To me, the best thing that a ‘remake’ can do is offer a new take on a classic story. And that’s one of the key reasons as to why I am genuinely looking forward to most of these Disney remakes. While some will no doubt share many similarities with their animated predecessors, it’s not like they’re going to be ‘note-for-note’ copies or anything. The only real instance in which I’ve seen this happen is director Gus Van Sant’s 1998 remake of Psycho and the critical bashing that film got is a good reason, I’d say, as to why you don’t see a lot of ‘note-for-note’ remakes. Alice in Wonderland, for example, was a ‘continuation’ of the original story while Maleficent was the story of Sleeping Beauty told from the perspective of the titular villain, Maleficent. Say what you will about the films themselves but the decision to tell these stories from a different angle was, at the very least, ‘something different’. The other big Disney remake of this nature, which ultimately ended up being the most different from its predecessor, was Pete’s Dragon. Instead of being a musical like the original 1977 film was, the new adaptation was more of a drama. And while this may have ticked off some fans of the original, to the point where some even referred to the new film as ‘Pete’s Dragon in name only’, again, it was ‘something different’. Jon Favreau took a similar approach with The Jungle Book. While there were some elements of the original animated film that were featured in the new version (e.g. its most popular songs), Favreau also utilized elements from Rudyard Kipling’s original story to create something along the lines of a hybrid between the film’s two primary source materials.

Now, admittedly, the 2015 remake of Cinderella was basically just the same general story as its predecessor; a young girl is subjected to relentless cruelty from her wicked stepmother and stepsisters but her life then changes once she meets a charming prince. So, of course, some of you may ask “Well, why the heck did they remake it, then?” But, you see, they did throw in a few new things here and there to differentiate itself from the original, like having scenes with young Ella and her parents (whereas in the original, these scenes were just part of the opening narration, sans her mother) and additional scenes between her and the Prince prior to the Ball instead of just having them first meet at said Ball. Stuff like this, especially the latter, did help the film expand upon the story of the original which, as great as it is, is admittedly a product of its time. And, overall, it’s clear that a similar method is going on with the new Beauty and the Beast. While still the same story of a young woman who slowly falls in love with the monstrous-looking prince of an enchanted castle, there are a few changes that have been made here and there to make it its own thing; most notably, Belle is now an inventor just like her father. Now, for the record, I’m not saying that these changes are going to automatically improve upon the original, nor am I expecting the new film to be ‘better’ than the original. Instead, I view it in the same way that I do the other Disney remakes; as a nice complement to the original that can stand on its own merit alongside the original. On that note…

REASON #3: NOTHING. IS. GETTING. REPLACED!

This is the one point that I feel should be stressed ad nauseam… because, clearly, this is the one thing that those who are against the Disney remakes fear the most when it comes to them. They fear that these remakes are the studio’s way of ‘erasing’ the original animated films from existence, implying that animation is inferior to live-action/CG. Trust me when I say that this is not the case whatsoever. This isn’t like the original Star Wars trilogy, where George Lucas has continually made changes to the films without ever giving us any chance of viewing them in their original format. No matter what happens with these remakes, the originals will still be there at the end of the day. Case in point, the original Beauty and the Beast was just given a fancy new 25^th-anniversary Blu-Ray right in time for the release of the new film. They also released the original Jungle Book on Blu-Ray a few years ago; sure, it may have been two whole years before Jon Favreau’s live-action version and it’s since gone back into the Disney Vault but, again, it shows that Disney still cares about the original versions. Yes, there have been a few behind-the-scenes videos in which those working on the new BATB (namely, director Bill Condon) say stuff along the lines of ‘technology allows us to do things we couldn’t do in 1991’ but that’s just the marketing material talking. Not once have they ever said ‘we’re trying to replace the original film’. In fact, most of those who’ve worked on these Disney remakes have made it clear in interviews that they adore the original films and were doing their best to try and live up to their reputation.   

And at the end of the day, if any of these upcoming remakes don’t turn out so good, so what? It’s not like they’re ‘metaphorical murder’ or anything (note: that phrase ‘metaphorical murder’ was an actual comment made by a critic of the Disney remakes). The reputation of their original sources won’t be tarnished by them; heck, if anything, they’d just end up making the originals even better by comparison. This is a mentality that’s been around for pretty much every other remake, reboot, and so on and so forth that’s come out in the past few years, not just the ones from Disney. Whenever one’s announced, the internet reacts to it like it caused the plague or something. But, really, that’s all that it is; a mentality, not a reality. Sure, some remakes are more questionable than others but it’s not like there’s some law out there that states that a certain film can’t be remade. The worst possible outcome would be that it’s just a lame remake, nothing else. Heck, this backlash towards the Disney remakes is honestly not too far off from what happened with the new Ghostbusters film. As we all know by now, when that film was first announced, it was absolutely savaged by the internet, particularly from angry fanboys who just couldn’t handle the fact that their favorite franchise was being brought back (and don’t get me started about when they found out that women were starring in it). But, it came out, and it did ok with critics. More important, though, is the fact that all copies of the original Ghostbusters films did not spontaneously combust into flames as was feared. And guess what? Neither did any of the Disney animated films when their live-action remakes were released.

In fact, some of the most beloved films of all time just so happen to be remakes. John Carpenter’s The Thing? Remake. The Departed? It’s a remake of a Hong Kong film from 2002 named Infernal Affairs. And the classic Wizard of Oz that we all know and love from 1939? That was the 11^th film adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s books (and it sure as hell wasn’t the last either)! Bottom line, just because Disney’s releasing a bunch of remakes doesn’t mean that they consider animation to be inferior. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that films like Frozen, Zootopia, and Moana are more than enough proof that animation is still Disney’s primary source of film output. Now, I’ll admit that I do think that Disney probably should’ve been a bit more conservative when it came to announcing all these remakes. It probably would’ve been better if they had announced like one or two a year instead of, you know, a new one every other week. Still, I think it’s exciting that we’re getting new takes on the classic stories of our childhoods that will help introduce them to a new generation. Just remember that the original films still exist, okay guys? Because if there’s any real sign of these films being overshadowed by their new live-action counterparts, it’s more the internet’s fault and not Disney’s (Remember when all those videos bashing The Jungle Book came out before the remake's release? Well the same thing just happened again with Beauty and the Beast.). And to those who aren’t big on these upcoming remakes, that’s fine; no one’s forcing you to watch them. Just let those who are excited for them have their fun, okay?

Click here for the original version of this post that was submitted to Rotoscopers.com

DISNEY MONTH: Ranking the Disney Princesses

Today marks the beginning of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s ‘Disney Month’, in which I’ll be honoring the best of Walt Disney Animation Studios in preparation for the release of their 56^th animated feature, Moana. And to kick it all off, I’m doing a very big list. Today I’ll be ranking the characters that make up one of Disney’s biggest franchises; the Disney princesses. I’ll be ranking them based solely on their characterizations in regards to the films that they appear in. And for the record, when I say ‘films’, I mean the ‘original’ films that they were in; no direct-to-video sequels or any stuff like that. Disney’s ‘Princess Line’ has certainly been one of the company’s most profitable franchises since it was first established sometime in the early 2000’s by then Disney Consumer Products chairman Andy Mooney. However, at the same time, the franchise has seen quite a lot of backlash from some audiences, namely feminists who argue that it instigates stereotyping and bad life lessons for the young girls that it markets to. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that pretty much all the Disney princesses before 1991 have attracted a considerably polarizing reception. But with that said, I’d argue that there’s more to some of these earlier Princesses than most give them credit for. Sure, by comparison, some of the newer Princesses have technically gotten more development because of the times but that doesn’t mean the earlier ones don’t have their strengths too. So, with that said, I’ll be counting down the franchise’s current 11 members, plus two characters that aren’t part of the lineup but, in a way, technically are, from ‘least favorite’ to ‘best’. I recognize that there might be some controversy surrounding the order in which I rank these characters so please be civil in the comments if you disagree with me in any way. Here we go…

12. AURORA (SLEEPING BEAUTY)

Starting this list off is ‘Sleeping Beauty’ herself, Princess Aurora. As I noted in my 50’s Disney Retrospective, Aurora and her prince, Phillip, are unfortunately the weakest part of the original Sleeping Beauty. In her case, it’s mostly just due to one main reason. As her ‘nickname’ suggests, she spends most of the film asleep after pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel after being cursed to do so by the evil witch Maleficent when she was a baby. Obviously that’s the main plot of the story but it does limit her as a character. As is, she’s basically just the usual ‘nice’ Disney princess dreaming of her true love. Because of this, I actually have to give a lot of credit to the live-action remake, 2014’s Maleficent, because I think the Aurora in that film is the superior interpretation of the character. Now with that said, even in that film she’s still basically a side character in the story. After all, the film is called Maleficent so that means that the focus is more on her and Angelina Jolie is very much the star of the show in the title role. Still, I do have to give Elle Fanning a lot of credit because she actually did kind of make the most out of her somewhat limited role. I liked the relationship that formed between Aurora and Maleficent in this film. I didn’t mind that the film portrayed Maleficent in a more sympathetic light, which mainly stems from the maternal instincts that she begins to have towards Aurora. It gets to the point where she’s the one who awakens Aurora from her eternal sleep, not Prince Phillip. Yes, I know that there are quite a few people out there who REALLY hate the live-action remake but I’m sorry, it kind of has an advantage over the original when it comes to Sleeping Beauty herself.

11. POCAHONTAS (POCAHONTAS)

I’ve gone on record saying that Pocahontas is one of my least favorite Disney animated films. Aside from being a rather dull affair, it also doesn’t help that most of the characters in it are weak, including the titular heroine herself, Pocahontas. While Pocahontas certainly has more to do character-wise than Aurora, she’s still a rather bland lead. Now when it comes to the problems that I have with her portrayal in the film, I’m not referring to the fact that the film has been generally criticized for its representation of Native American history. And at the very least, Irene Bedard, who the character was also physically modeled after, does a solid job voicing her. But like I said before, there’s not much to her. Like many of the other Disney princesses of the time, she’s adventurous, headstrong, and isn’t exactly willing to adhere to the cultural norms of her time. In her case, it’s the fact that she’s being set to marry one of her tribe’s most famous warriors, Kocoum, who Pocahontas dismisses as being ‘so serious’. But once the European settlers arrive, she then meets and subsequently falls in love with settler John Smith, eventually saving his life when he is sentenced to death by her tribe after he took the blame for one of his settler friends killing Kocoum. But really, this romance doesn’t matter in the long run considering that, historically speaking, they weren’t ‘lovers’ and she instead ended up marrying another settler named John Rolfe. But, then again, I did mention the fact that this film isn’t that historically accurate so… yeah. Really, there’s not much else that I can say about her and that’s why she’s near the bottom of this list.

10. SNOW WHITE (SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS)

Snow White, the young girl with ‘hair as black as ebony, lips as red as the rose, and skin as white as snow’, is the original Disney princess in what was the original Disney animated film; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And just like the film itself, Disney has come quite a long way in terms of its Princess characters following Snow White. But that doesn’t mean that Snow White is a ‘bad’ character, per se. It’s just that nowadays her characterizations are very simple when compared to other Disney princesses. She’s kind, innocent, and wishes for her prince to come for her one day, hence the name of her song ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’… and that’s basically it. Does she do much in the film? Not really. Like Aurora, at one point she’s put into an eternal slumber, in this instance by means of the Wicked Witch’s poisoned apple, and this lasts until she is woken up by her prince. Speaking of her prince… yeah he’s only in it for a few scenes. But despite the limited nature of the role, I still think that Snow White is a decent enough main character for the time. As Roger Ebert noted in his review of the film, the filmmakers arguably made a smart move by not outright focusing on Snow White, instead spending more time on the Evil Queen/Wicked Witch and the Seven Dwarfs. So, in short, Snow White may not be one of the best Disney Princesses but of course, there wouldn’t be any other Disney Princesses if it wasn’t for her.  

9. MERIDA (BRAVE)

Merida, the star of 2012’s Brave, was the first Pixar character to be inducted into the Disney Princess lineup. The film itself did ok with critics but not exactly on the same level as Pixar’s most famous efforts. It also didn’t help that this was the first Pixar film that was released after their first critically-maligned effort, Cars 2, which came out the year before. So, in other words, the generally ‘meh’ reception towards this film effectively continued the growing doubt that the internet began to have over Pixar in terms of the quality of their work that would only be cooled, for now at least, by Inside Out and Finding Dory. But anyway, the first time that I saw this film, I liked it okay though I’ll admit that I was a bit disappointed by it. But when I saw it again recently, I found that I did warm up to it quite a bit. Sure, it ultimately ends up being a rather straight-forward family film, despite starting off on a much different kind of note, but it’s still an enjoyable Pixar flick that mainly benefits from what makes up the heart of the story. And that is the mother-daughter relationship between Merida and her mother, Queen Elinor. Right from the get-go, the film establishes the main conflict that emerges between the two of them. Elinor is constantly trying to get Merida to act more like a princess while the latter clearly does not want to live that kind of life, especially once she learns that she is being forced into betrothal to one of her father’s allies’ sons. So, when Merida goes to see a witch to try and change her fate, she accidentally ends up turning her mother into a bear and now they must work together to reverse this curse before it becomes permanent.

And sure, despite the shift into kid-friendly territory that occurs from this point on, the relationship between the two is the best part of the film as both end up learning from each other while on their journey. Elinor learns to lighten up and not follow tradition all the time but Merida, who proves to be a likable heroine and talented marksman with a bow and arrow, learns that there are times where one must take responsibility for their actions, especially if they’re of royal status like herself. After all, when she was arranged to be wed to the son of one of her father’s allies, she ends up breaking tradition by shaming the other clans of her kingdom in an archery competition as an act of defiance, effectively causing a stir amongst the clans that threatens to tear the kingdom of Dunbroch apart. But in one of the best scenes in the film, she manages to calm the feuding clans by admitting her mistake but at the same time also convincing them that she and her ‘suitors’ should be free to live their lives and fall in love with whoever they want, instead of being forced into it. Really, her only major downfall as a character is that when her mother is first turned into a bear, she tries to shirk responsibility by constantly saying that it wasn’t her fault, even though the facts clearly say otherwise. But despite that, Merida is a solid protagonist and while Brave may not have been one of Pixar’s most beloved efforts, it seems as if, at the very least, she is commonly regarded as being one of the best things about it.

8. RAPUNZEL (TANGLED)

And now we go from one computer animated Disney princess to another; in this case, the first computer animated member of the Disney Princess line. Tangled, of course, is the story of Rapunzel, the girl with the long golden hair who was trapped for years in a tall tower. The film expands upon this story by having her be the daughter of the king and queen of the kingdom of Corona. Her long hair was the result of a magical golden flower that possessed healing abilities. The King of Corona used it to save his wife when she was sick while pregnant and thus, Rapunzel inherited some of the flower’s magic in her hair. This ends up getting Rapunzel kidnapped from the kingdom and locked away in a tower by an old woman named Gothel who had been using the flower to maintain a youthful appearance. It isn’t until her 18^th birthday when she finally leaves the tower, with the help of a thief named Flynn Rider, so that she can see the kingdom’s annual releasing of lanterns, which was the King and Queen’s way of hopefully finding their daughter. Now there was some controversy over the film’s change in title from Rapunzel to the arguably more generic Tangled. However, it does prove to be a fitting title considering that the film does equally balance the roles of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider in the story. Rapunzel proves to be a lovable free-spirited heroine and the many creative ways in which she uses her hair are awesome. And a lot of Rapunzel’s likability comes courtesy of her voice actress, Mandy Moore. Not only does Moore give Rapunzel an infectious enthusiasm for experiencing the world outside her tower but she also succeeds in establishing her as a no-nonsense young woman who is very much capable of taking care of herself. Say what you will about the film’s title but Rapunzel is very much one of the best parts about Tangled.

7. MULAN (MULAN)

Technically speaking, Mulan isn’t actually a Princess. Sure, she’s the main character of her film and she does save the day and become a hero of China but she’s not a member of the Royal Family. But she was made a member of the Princess line so, yeah, now she’s counted as one, I guess. Regardless of the legitimacy behind this decision, she is an excellent protagonist in what is one of the most underrated films of the Disney Renaissance. The daughter of an aging war hero, Mulan ends up taking her father Fa Zhou’s place in the Chinese army when he is summoned to help fight the Hun army, as she knows that he’s too old to fight anymore. In doing so, Mulan proves to be an excellent role model for young girls by showing that they can do just as much as the boys can. At the same time, there’s also some fun humor that comes from having Mulan pose as a man, from hiding from her army buddies while swimming in a lake to speaking in a ‘manly’ voice as ‘Ping’ to following the [questionable] advice of her ‘protector’ Mushu. Mulan is voiced by Ming-Na Wen (AKA Melinda May from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and she does a fantastic job in the role, both in terms of handling the humor and giving Mulan her inner strength and likability. Mulan also proves to be quite a badass warrior. In fact, she’s the only Disney princess to, no joke, have a kill count due to the scene in which she defeats the Hun army by causing an avalanche. The only real aspect of her character that has been commonly criticized is the romance that develops between her and her commander, Captain Li Shang. However, this doesn’t bother me that much because it’s never the focus of the film. In fact, it’s only brought up right at the end, for the most part. Sure, that still arguably makes it very tacked-on but the film is still primarily about Mulan going against all sorts of societal and gender norms at the risk of bringing dishonor to her family.

6. ARIEL (THE LITTLE MERMAID)

Ok, I can tell that this one is going to be rather controversial; especially because I ranked Ariel above some of the more recent Disney princesses. While Little Mermaid is widely regarded as a Disney classic and the film that effectively redeemed the company by kick-starting the Disney Renaissance, its title character has been much more polarizing amongst critics and audiences. I went over the reasons why in my 80’s Disney Retrospective but I’ll go over them again here. The main issue that some have with Ariel is that they feel that she doesn’t learn anything from the whole ordeal that she goes through to live in the human world. And, technically speaking, they do kind of have a point there. Because Ariel goes to see Ursula to change her into a human, she basically ends up letting Ursula take her father Triton’s powers without much opposition. And even though Ursula is defeated without Ariel still not ‘learning’ from this whole ordeal, her father allows her to become human anyway. But here’s where Ariel is a better character than most give her credit for. Some claim that she gave up her undersea life just to be with a man that she hardly knew and that’s not entirely the case. Sure, once she laid eyes on him, she basically fell in love with him right then and there but her desire to explore the human world had already been established at that point. So, you could say that Prince Eric was just an added incentive for her. And through it all, she is a likable character voiced excellently by Jodi Benson. So, when it comes to Ariel’s best strengths as a character, it comes down to her curiosity and for having a desire that was different than previous Disney princesses. Sure, she has her flaws and it’s understandable why some aren’t that big on her because of it, but these aren’t as big of a problem as some say they are.

5. TIANA (THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG)

Tiana was Disney’s first African-American princess… and yet she’s a frog for most of the film. Yeah, some people weren’t too pleased about that given how, again, this was Disney’s first African-American princess. Still, Tiana’s a pretty great main character even though she does spend most of the film as a frog. And the main reason why is because she is something that most Disney princesses usually aren’t; a hard worker. As The Princess and the Frog begins, it references the classic Disney song ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’. But then it pulls the rug out from under it by having Tiana’s father tell her that to achieve your dreams, you must work for it. And so, after her father dies (because this is a Disney film, after all), Tiana starts to work towards the collective dream that they had of owning a restaurant. So, at the expense of a social life, she spends much of her time working as a waitress at two different restaurants so that she could earn enough money to open her own restaurant. However, despite managing to earn enough money to rent a potential site, she soon learns that someone else has made a higher bid for it. And if that wasn’t enough, she then gets turned into a frog when she kisses one; a reversal of the typical ‘Princess-Frog’ story. This frog is revealed to be Prince Naveen of Maldonia, who was turned into a frog by the evil Shadow Man as part of a plot to inherit the fortune of the richest man in New Orleans and now the two of them must find a way to become human again. As for the romance that develops between these two, it’s sort of like Beauty and the Beast in that they don’t immediately like each other. In fact, Tiana pretty much hates Naveen at first for getting her turned into a frog; but of course, they do warm up to each other by the end of the film. Thanks to those great character traits as well as a spunky and charismatic performance by her voice actress, Anika Noni Rose, Tiana proves to be one of the best role models in the entire Princess line.

4. JASMINE (ALADDIN)

If I were to list the best ‘romantic pairings’ in Disney films, Aladdin and Princess Jasmine are definitely near the top of the list. The romantic chemistry between them is easily one of the best parts of the film and this is a case where both are generally treated as equals in the plot. The film begins with both trying to get out of their current societal predicaments. Aladdin wishes to be more than just a worthless street rat and Jasmine is annoyed with the fact that she’s being forced into marriage before her next birthday. When she decides to sneak out of the palace, the two of them meet and a connection immediately emerges between them. However, Aladdin is soon dealt with the reality of the situation; that he’s not a prince and therefore has no chance with her. But when he finds the mystical being known as the Genie, it allows him to pose as a prince so that he can be with her. Now with all of this said, there does come a point where Jasmine becomes a damsel in distress for Aladdin to save. But that’s only during the finale. In the rest of the film, she’s a spunky heroine who can even stand up to the likes of Jafar because she’s a no-nonsense gal. And even after Aladdin does manage to ‘become’ a Prince, it takes him a bit before he’s able to properly woo her. So, in short, while she may not necessarily be the most pro-active Disney princess of the bunch, Jasmine is still a very likable female lead and has always been one of my favorites in what is one of my favorite Disney films.

3. BELLE (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)

As I said before, prior to 1991, pretty much all of Disney’s princess characters received extremely polarizing responses from critics. They had their fans but they also had their naysayers. Belle from Beauty and the Beast was pretty much the first major member of the Disney Princess line to attract universal acclaim. And while all throughout this list I’ve been going over why some of the earlier princesses are better than most give them credit for, I do agree that Belle is a terrific lead who would set the standard for all future Disney princesses to come. As the film begins, it’s established that she is a smart and independent young woman who is a mystery to the rest of the people in her town because of her non-conforming ways. Eventually she comes across the Beast and while initially terrified of him, the two come to better understand each other and they eventually fall in love. And unlike other Disney couples that come together quite sporadically, the film does take time to develop a relationship between the two. But of course, it all comes together beautifully in the end. Now, for the record, that doesn’t mean that Belle hasn’t faced some criticism from certain audiences. Some have argued that Belle displays a case of Stockholm syndrome, a condition in which prisoners (because part of the plot has her voluntarily taking her father Maurice’s place as the Beast’s prisoner) begin to sympathize with their captors. Personally, I never look too deep into that kind of stuff and at the end of the day, all her other traits stand out much more. And that is why Belle is easily one of the best Disney princesses to date.

2. ANNA AND ELSA (FROZEN)

Ok I’m kind of cheating here because, technically, Anna and Elsa aren’t members of the Disney Princess line. Why? Well I remember reading a report saying that they were intended to be inducted into the line sometime in 2014 but then nothing happened. It wasn’t until recently when I found out why this is the case and it’s actually a pretty legit reason. Seeing how Frozen has become one of Disney’s most popular franchises, there’s really no need for the two to be included in another franchise at this point. Still, I wanted to include them in this list because not only are they ‘Disney royalty’ (heck, technically Elsa outranks all the Disney princesses because she is a queen) but they truly are a great pair of characters. This was the first time that a Disney animated film truly focused in on a pair of sisters as their main protagonists… though with that said, as I’m sure many will point out, it’s technically not the first time that a Disney film has done this. 2002’s Lilo and Stitch also focused around a pair of sisters, Lilo and Nani, namely through them struggling to keep their family together after their parents died in a car crash. However, the thing is… that wasn’t the main plot of the film. Instead, it was about Stitch trying to adapt to life on Earth. Thus, I consider Frozen to be Disney’s first true ‘sister story’ and it ends up giving the film so much heart. It’s about how Anna and Elsa try to reconnect after spending so many years apart. That’s because their parents kept Elsa locked away from the world due to her icy powers, with Anna being completely unaware of them because when she was younger and did know about Elsa’s powers, her memory of them was wiped after Elsa accidentally injured her.

While Elsa is certainly the more popular of the two sisters, if I had to choose a favorite it’d have to be Anna. Because technically Anna is the main character of this story. She’s the one who goes off to find her sister after Elsa flees the Kingdom of Arendelle and ends up causing an eternal winter. She’s a determined, free-spirited, and optimistic young woman who won’t give up on her sister no matter what and that’s what makes her such a terrific lead. And at the same time, she has her own personal flaws that make her a relatable protagonist. These primarily stem from all the time that she’s spent locked up in the castle along with her sister. She’s often quite naïve at times, mainly represented by how quickly she falls in love with Prince Hans of the Southern Isles and then immediately deciding to marry him despite having just met him that day. Which, for the record, I find hilariously ironic because Anna’s voice actress, Kristen Bell, starred in a film, 2010’s When in Rome, in which this exact same situation occurred. And yet in that film, Bell was the ‘Elsa’ in that scenario, warning her sister about going too fast with her current relationship. And obviously, this backfires on her by the end of the film when Hans reveals his true colors. But in the end, her optimism, endearing social awkwardness, and the unabashed love that she has for her sister truly make her a lovable protagonist and Kristen Bell does a phenomenal job in giving Anna that warmth and likability.

But while I consider Anna to be my favorite of the two leads, that doesn’t mean that I don’t like Elsa as well. She’s just as important to the film as Anna is, but in a different way. In the early stages of the film’s production, she originally started out the same way that her character is portrayed in the original fairy tale that the film is loosely based on, ‘The Snow Queen’ by Hans Christian Andersen. At first, she was the main villain. But ultimately I think many of us can agree that it was for the best that they decided to change that and instead have her be a sympathetic, misunderstood protagonist struggling to control her icy powers. And part of that change, of course, came from the decision to have Anna and Elsa be sisters. Right from the get-go, the film establishes the struggle that Elsa faces due to her icy powers. Sure, it’s never explained how she got her powers but it’s made clear that they could become a problem and result in her becoming feared by the people of Arendelle. And so, Elsa is locked away from society until her Coronation Day and even then, they do end up getting unleashed, forcing her to flee. However, at that point, she finally embraces who she is, which of course is represented perfectly by the film’s iconic number ‘Let it Go’. It’s quite easy to see why Anna and Elsa have become such prolific role models for many people. They’re arguably some of Disney’s most relatable protagonists to date. Anna may be a Princess but she’s not exactly a prim and proper one like some of the other Disney princesses. And while, obviously, no one has icy powers like Elsa (that we know of…), her characterization as a young woman who’s scared at first to embrace who she is before it all culminates in her liberation, is very much capable of inspiring others who share a similar struggle. Is it any wonder why ‘Let it Go’ became the anthem that it is?

1. CINDERELLA (CINDERELLA)

Oh, boy I can hear the feminists now… did I seriously just pick Cinderella as my favorite Disney princess? Yes, yes I did and in this case, I’m counting her both in regards to the original animated film, in which she was voiced by Ilene Woods, as well as the 2015 live-action remake where she was played by Lily James. As I’ve noted many times before, the main issue that some have with Cinderella is that they argue that she’s just a passive character who does nothing until her Prince comes to save her. But as I’ve also been saying time and time again, there’s more to her than that. After all, we’re talking about a young woman who for years has been the subject of abuse from her Evil Stepmother and Stepsisters. And yet through it all, no matter what they put her through, she always maintains an optimistic outlook on life. To me that is what makes her such a great character and like I said, this is well reflected in both versions of Disney’s Cinderella. On that note, let’s go over the character as was portrayed by Lily James in the remake. I do not consider this Cinderella to be a ‘passive’ protagonist. This film does a much better job at establishing the relationship between her and the Prince, as they first meet ‘as equals’ because she doesn’t yet know that he’s actually the Prince. By comparison, the romance between the two in the original was basically a ‘shotgun wedding’. And through it all, she’s still the same Cinderella that we know and love from the original, strengthened even more by the fact that the film opens with her mother giving her the crucial life advice to “have courage and be kind” And ultimately I feel that this is one of the best life lessons that kids can learn from. Sure, Cinderella may not exactly be as pro-active as characters like Anna and Elsa, Tiana, or Mulan but her inner strength is what makes her one of the most iconic members of the Disney princess line.

And those are my rankings of the current members of the Disney Princess line. Obviously, I know that the way I which I specifically ranked these characters could pose some controversy so if you do sound off in the comments in regards to how you’d rank them, please be civil about it. Disney Month will continue next Tuesday with a ‘Double Feature’ of Top 5 lists as I rank my Top 5 favorite Disney ‘Protagonists’ and ‘Sidekicks’.

Disney Retrospective: The 50's

Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s ongoing series of Disney Retrospectives, in which I look back upon the many, many animated films that have been produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. And today, we’ve actually come to the final part of this series as we’ll be covering the final collection of Disney animated films that I’ve yet to address; the Disney films that came out during the 50’s. Last time around I covered Disney’s first 11 features, which of course started with 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was then followed by the likes of Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi. But then came World War II, which resulted in not only some of the studio’s staff members being drafted but also certain overseas markets being cut off. As a result, most of the Disney animated features during the 40’s were low-budget ‘package films’, a series of animated shorts that were not usually connected narratively. This included projects like Saludos Amigos, Fun and Fancy Free, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad just to name a few. It wouldn’t be until the 50’s when the studio returned to doing full-length feature films. And I must say, out of all of the decades that make up Disney Animation’s long history, the 50’s might arguably be the studio’s most iconic period. Obviously nowadays the decade that most Disney fans are probably familiar with is the 90’s AKA ‘the Disney Renaissance’. But as far as the 50’s is concerned, while there were only five films that were released during this time, pretty much all of them are considered to be some of the studio’s most classic films. So with that said, it’s time to look back upon the decade where the young woman put on the glass slipper, the girl fell down the rabbit hole, and the boy who never grew up explored the world of Never Land. These are the Disney Animated films of the 50’s.

CINDERELLA (1950)

You might recall that I was a really, really big fan of Kenneth Branagh’s live-action reimagining of this film that was released last year. One of the reasons why I was really looking forward to it was because Disney’s original take on the story of Cinderella was actually one of my favorite Disney films growing up. And even though nowadays I sort of lean towards the live-action version for its improvements over the original film, namely a more developed relationship between Cinderella and Prince Charming, that doesn’t mean that I don’t still appreciate the great things that came from this Disney classic. It’s got some really nice animation, especially in regards to the creation of grand and gigantic rooms. It’s got a great collection of songs from Cinderella’s sweet melody ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes’ to the Fairy Godmother’s bubbly tune ‘Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo’. As noted before, Cinderella is generally viewed as one of the more passive Disney princesses, with some claiming that she does nothing the whole film and then gets rescued by Prince Charming at the end of it. But as I’ve also noted before, I believe that there’s more to her character than that. She deserves a lot of credit for managing to endure all of the crap that her stepmother and stepsisters put her through while still maintaining an optimistic outlook on life. That is why she’s one of the best Disney princesses in my opinion. And of course this film has plenty of great side characters as well from the aforementioned Fairy Godmother to Cinderella’s wicked stepmother Lady Tremaine to Cinderella’s friendly mouse friends, especially Jaq and Gus. So in short, I guess you can say that this is one of my all-time favorite Disney films; one that now has an excellent live-action version to serve as a companion piece, not as a replacement!

Rating: 5/5!

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1951)

Also commonly known as the film that many love to joke about in regards to them claiming that Walt and his team were totally on drugs when they made it, Alice in Wonderland is exactly what you’d expect from a film adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic story of a young girl’s adventures in the wacky world of Wonderland. It’s a world that is full of crazy characters in nonsensical situations and as a result, this film boasts some of the studio’s absolute best animation. Simply put, the animators perfectly captured the surreal imagery of the story as the animation is the perfect combination of vibrant colors and zany visuals. As for the plot, while I’ve never read Carroll’s original book, it seems as if the film follows the same general non-linear plot of the book in that it’s mostly just Alice getting into various situations and meeting a wide variety of goofy characters. Speaking of characters, Alice herself is a likable lead, voiced excellently by Kathryn Beaumont who would go on to voice another main character in the next Disney film. And of course the film also has plenty of memorable side characters, from the mischievous, always-grinning Cheshire Cat to the foul-tempered Queen of Hearts, who always orders “Off with their Heads!” whenever someone gets on her bad side. Alice in Wonderland is generally considered to be one of Disney’s finest animated classics and I can totally see why. All in all, it’s a very charming and light-hearted adventure through the strange world of Wonderland complete with a fun cast of characters and the studio’s usual excellent animation.

Rating: 4/5

PETER PAN (1953)

In 1953, Walt Disney Animation brought J.M. Barrie’s iconic play/novel Peter Pan to life in what is generally considered to be the most famous adaptation to date of ‘the boy who would never grow up’. This was the final Disney animated film that was primarily supervised by Disney’s original core team of animators AKA ‘The Nine Old Men’. It was also notably the last film that Disney released as part of their distribution deal with RKO Pictures. Since then, the studio has released all of their films under their own distributor, Buena Vista. In that regard, this is certainly a great one to end on when it comes to the Disney/RKO partnership. That’s because Peter Pan is easily one of Disney’s best films. It really does have it all. All of the main characters are great, from Peter Pan to Wendy (voiced by Kathryn Beaumont in her second major Disney Animation film role) to Tinker Bell and so on and so forth. The villains are absolutely terrific. The notorious Captain Hook and his main lackey Mr. Smee are two of Disney’s most hilarious villains. They work off each other so well as the two bumbling buffoons that they are. Just look at the scenes in which Hook tries to avoid being eaten by a hungry crocodile. The soundtrack is excellent as well. The main theme ‘You Can Fly’ is simply iconic but ‘Following the Leader’ is a pretty darn fun song as well. Sure, in hindsight the film gets a lot of flak nowadays for its arguably fairly racist/stereotypical portrayal of Never Land’s Indians and it’s completely understandable if some people are offended by this. But aside from that, it’s pretty easy to see why Peter Pan is commonly regarded as one of the most famous films in the Disney canon. It’s just a really fun adventure that is guaranteed to capture the imaginations of young and old.

Rating: 5/5!

LADY AND THE TRAMP (1955)

Sandwiched in between two of the most famous Disney animated films of all-time is 1955’s Lady and the Tramp, which is actually based off of a story titled Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog that was written by Ward Greene and published in Cosmopolitan magazine. The film focuses on the romance that develops between Lady, the beloved cocker spaniel of an upper-class family, and Tramp, a stray mutt. The romance that forms between the two of them is pretty nice, highlighted by the iconic ‘Bella Notte’ sequence in which they share a romantic candlelit spaghetti dinner while being serenaded by the owner of the Italian restaurant that provided them the food. Simply put, this is one of the most iconic ‘love story’ moments in the history of film. But the rest of the film is quite solid as well. One of the most interesting elements of the story is the fact that the majority of the film is seen from the perspective of the dogs. Lady refers to her owners as ‘Jim Dear’ and ‘Darling’ because that’s what they frequently call each other from her point of view. And when they have a baby, Lady doesn’t initially realize it at first when she finds that they start to become rather distant and we also see how the baby’s arrival ultimately affects her relationship with her owners. Granted, I wouldn’t really call this one of Disney’s absolute ‘best’ films. The story is rather simple and it is sort of like Alice in Wonderland in that it’s mostly just a random collection of moments involving the main characters. Still, with a likable lead duo, a solidly developed romance, and the usual nice Disney animation, Lady and the Tramp is still a pretty darn classic entry in the Disney canon.

Rating: 4/5

SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959)

From an artistic perspective, Sleeping Beauty is definitely one of the most beautifully animated films that Disney has ever made. It was the second film that they’d ever shot in widescreen, after Lady and the Tramp, and the results really are fantastic. The grand landscapes that come from the format are excellent and have an excellent painting-like quality to them. The film also has some excellent music, which was adopted from Tchaikovsky’s 1890 ballet of the same name. ‘Once Upon a Dream’ is definitely a classic Disney love song. But when it comes to the writing, admittedly it’s rather flawed in some parts, namely the main characters. Princess Aurora is unfortunately one of the weaker Disney princesses, though that’s mostly just due to the fact that she spends a good chunk of the film asleep. Her prince, Phillip, is also a bit underwritten at times; in fact, once he goes off to rescue Aurora he never says anything for the remainder of the film. But despite a rather underdeveloped pair of leads, the film does have a great cast of side characters. The three fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather are an excellent trio who work off each other well when it comes to the three of them trying to raise Aurora in secret without the help of their magic. And of course, there’s the main villain, Maleficent. Sure her motivations are rather weak, as she does what she does only because she wasn’t invited to the party celebrating the birth of Aurora, but her elegance and magical abilities easily make her one of Disney’s greatest villains. In short, Sleeping Beauty may not be perfect but it’s still a very enjoyable entry in the Disney canon. While it doesn’t really do much for its two main protagonists, the main villain, side characters, music, and animation do make up for that for the most part. Ultimately, though, Sleeping Beauty was actually an underperformer at the box office upon initial release, effectively resulting in Disney moving away from adapting fairy tales until The Little Mermaid three whole decades later.

Rating: 4/5

And with that, Rhode Island Movie Corner’s ‘Disney Retrospective’ series officially comes to a close. As always, be sure to sound off in the comments below in regards to your own thoughts on the films discussed here today and be sure to also check out the previous Disney Retrospectives that I’ve done in the links below. However, this is not the end of my discussion of Disney Animation for now. You may have noticed in a few of the previous ‘Disney Retrospectives’ that I mentioned that I have something BIG planned for next month. Well, since we’ve reached the end of these Retrospectives, I figured that it’s time to finally reveal my big plan… so be sure to check back tomorrow for the big announcement of what is coming to Rhode Island Movie Corner this November.

Disney Retrospective: The 90's

Disney Retrospective: The 2000's to Present

Disney Retrospective: The 60's and 70's

Disney Retrospective: The 80's

Disney Retrospective: The 30's and 40's