Whether I’m watching Rapunzel fulfilling her dream and meeting her ideal man Flynn Rider, or Tiana working as hard as she can to open her restaurant and surprising herself by falling in love with Prince Naveen, I love Disney movies. The singing, the true love, and the overall magical feeling they bring are what make Disney movies amazing. However, some recent Disney movies have brought me a little bit of disappointment. While there are a few live action movies that bring the originals justice or even add on to them and make them better, most live action remakes that Disney has made completely altered the original movie and took away the magical feeling Disney usually brings. 

One remake that completely changed the whole story of the original movie was “Mulan.” In both movies, we see a stubborn, brave young woman go to war disguised as a man in place of her father, and she ends up saving China and the emperor. The similarities just about end there. The differences begin at the very start of the movie when you see young Mulan already active and skilled in martial arts. In the original movie, Mulan had no idea how to fight until she joined the army. She almost got sent home because of how incompetent she was at fighting, and she used logic to complete a challenge and retrieve the arrow at the top of the pole which ultimately saved her from being sent home. In the remake, she was a warrior from the beginning. In the movie it describes her as having too much chi for a woman, which was definitely not the case in the original movie. 

Another difference in the two movies are the antagonists. As you can hear in the well known song “I’ll Make a Man out of You,” the Imperial Chinese army is trying to “defeat the Huns,” led by the villain Shan Yu. In the newer movie, the opposing army is the Rouran army, led by Bori Khan. In addition, there is a new antagonist in the remake—Xianniang, a witch. While she is a strong female character that adds a lot of additional story and heartbreak to the movie, I believe that she completely altered the story and was not necessary to the original plot.

The original movie had songs, a romance with the captain of the Imperial Chinese army, Li Shang, and a quick-witted guardian dragon Mushu, while the live action remake had none of these. I think that the live action “Mulan” was a good movie by itself, but a horrible remake of the original “Mulan.” 

While the live action “Mulan” was a disappointment, there were some remakes that I really enjoyed. One great example of this is “Cinderella.” The two movies are very different, but they were both very good for different reasons. Even though the live action changed things, these changes added to the movie instead of taking away, like what happened with “Mulan.” 

In the live action, we got a lot more backstory about Cinderella than in the original. Her mom played a huge part in the movie even after she died, which was very different from the original but added so much to the movie. In the original, Cinderella’s mother was mentioned only briefly, so in adding that detail to the live action we were able to get to know Cinderella and her past better. 

Another change that I liked in the remake was the Prince. In the original, his real name was never mentioned, we didn’t see much personality from him, and he fell for Cinderella because of her beauty. In the live action, the Prince not only had a name, Kit, but he had more personality and backstory. In addition, Kit met Cinderella before the ball and fell for her because of her kindness. We also get to see more emotion from the Prince as he deals with his father’s illness. Even though this took away from the more lighthearted original, it added more emotion and allowed for more of a connection to the characters. While I still love the original movie because of the nostalgic, magical feeling it brings to the audience, I think that the live action was really well done and was altogether a better movie. 

Another Disney movie that was remade into a live action was “The Little Mermaid.” While the changes made were not as dramatic as those made in “Mulan,” they made the whole feel of the movie change dramatically. In the original movie, Ariel is a curious, strong-minded, innocent young girl. In the live action, she is more independent and strong. While some may see this as a good change, I believe that shifting Ariel’s personality in this way and changing some of the key scenes based on her personality completely altered the entire story.

One example of Ariel’s shift in personality and role in the movie is when she and Prince Eric are fighting Ursula. In the original movie, Ariel is playing the role of a damsel in distress while she tries to survive Ursula’s shots from Triton’s trident while Eric steers the ship into Ursula’s abdomen, killing her. In the live action remake, Ariel is the one to kill the sea witch while Eric dodges the blasts. While I can see why some people liked this change as it added more female power to the movie, I think that Ariel’s original innocent and youthful personality was completely ruined because of it. Altogether, I enjoyed the original “The Little Mermaid” much more than the live action version. 

With these varying live action remakes and more, it is hard to predict how the new “Snow White” live action will compare to the original movie. Is it going to add onto the original with more detail and character development? Or will it completely derail the whole story?