There has been much controversy over the idea of Disney live action movies. People either see these as wonderfully made adaptations of the classics, or unoriginal ideas that are unnecessary. Each live action movie that has come out has had different opinions.
Some of the first Disney live action movies to come out were Alice through the Looking Glass, Maleficent, Cinderella, and the Jungle Book. These were just the start to many more coming out. The live action Cinderella received an 83 percent on rotten tomatoes and earned 542 million dollars in theaters. This movie definitely set up a good reputation for the Disney live action movies. After this, thirteen more movies were released.
A huge one was Beauty and the Beast. This one starred Emma Watson as Belle. A lot of people had different opinions on this movie. Some said she portrayed Belle wonderfully, while others thought she got the role because of celebrity status, and that her voice sounded extremely auto tuned. This movie received 1.3 billion dollars in theaters and received lots of attention.
A lot of the well known Disney live action movies came out in theaters but some of the less famous ones came out directly on Disney Plus. Some of these include. Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, Cruella, Mulan, Pinocchio, and Peter Pan and Wendy. Many Disney fans were confused as to why they were making live action adaptations of movies that were not widely famous as other classics instead of coming up with new movies.
Another significant live action movie was Aladdin. This movie earned one billion dollars in theaters, and was the ninth grossing movie in 2019. It had actors like Will Smith, playing the Genie, and Naiomi Scott playing Princess Jasmine. Will Smith did a fantastic job and brought so much humor to the role. Naiomi Scott brought heart and passion to the role of Jasmine. All in all, the movie was adventurous and heartwarming.
One live action that was in the works for a long time was The Little Mermaid. This movie took a long time to come out because they had to use extensive CGI in the film for underwater scenes. There was a huge spark of controversy for this movie because the actress that played Ariel, did not look like the original. People did not like the fact that Ariel was not going to look how she looked in the movie, and she was not going to be as amazing as the original. Defying all odds, Halle Bailey did an outstanding job at portraying Ariel and had such a beautiful unique voice that moved many people.
Although there have been numerous successful live action movies, fans are getting tired of them because they want new fresh ideas. Disney even announced that a live action Moana was in the works. This movie hasn’t even been out for ten years, and is already getting a live action. A live action Lilo and Stitch, will be getting released on Disney Plus as well. This is just another example of how many unnecessary live actions are being made.
Even though there has been much controversy on these movies, Disney will always try to bring magic back to these classic movies. Each live action movie is unique in its own way and brings even more of a deeper meaning to these classic movies we all know and love.