In the last 15 years, live-action remakes of animated movies have become popular. Disney has made 16 remakes of classic movies since they released the live-action “Alice in Wonderland,” in 2010. This list of remakes includes old Disney classics such as “The Little Mermaid,” “The Jungle Book,” “Aladdin,” “Cinderella,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King” and Disney is soon releasing “Lilo and Stitch” to theaters on May 23. But these fantasy movies are just fantasy. And while talking rabbits and aliens from space are great for cartoons, there are no talking rabbits Disney can hire to act in a live-action movie. That is where CGI comes in handy. CGI, or Computer-Generated Imagery, is used to create backgrounds, scenes and even characters that are not natural to this world but are vital to make the movie.
Yet, when a movie uses almost entirely CGI can, is the movie still be considered live-action? Disney’s “The Lion King” and new movie “Mufasa” are made entirely through computers, but are made to look like real animals in the wild. Since the entire movie was made on a computer, the movie is basically a different type of animation. This makes it no longer a live-action film, but another cartoon, since a live-action movie is defined by a movie with live actors. “The Lion King” has no live actors shown in the movie, so the movie is just another animated version of the original.
Disney’s live-action remake of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” which is now just “Snow White,” came out earlier this year. The movie was a controversial topic before it even reached theaters because of the changed plotline and the fact that the seven dwarfs are made entirely by CGI. Instead of casting actors with Dwarfism, Disney created the characters from a computer. Dwarfism is a medical condition, generally defined as an adult height of 4 feet 10 inches or less, according to Mayo Clinic. The dwarves looked fake compared to the humans in the movie, and many found them to be creepy. Some Disney movies have used CGI to elevate characters, such as Maleficent from “Maleficent” or Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.” However, “Snow White” has made human-looking characters entirely through CGI. Beyond that, Disney Studios paid reporters to give “Snow White” good reviews. Yet this backfired as the movie did not earn praise itself.
In the upcoming “Lilo and Stitch” movie, the main character, Sitch, and secondary characters Pleakley and Jumba Jookiba, along with other alien characters, are going to be made entirely by CGI technology. While some people are happy for this iconic movie to be remade, others fear it will ruin the characters. These movies do not need to be remade and the beloved characters and plot should be left alone.
While it is not clear why Walt Disney Studios feel the need to recreate beloved classics, it may be because of copyright, or a way to make even more money off of characters’ fanbases. Instead of pouring money into remakes, companies should focus on making new, original movies and plotlines for people to enjoy.
