Disney's Live-Action Thread

I've always felt that if it wasn't for the fact it's also built upon death and murder, the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves would make a great fit for Disney. It has all the classic folktale elements the Broadway era loved: a plucky pauper who gains confidence through trials against a prominent central villain, lots of Guile Hero emphasis, a prominent plot sequence in which stakes increase as more dangerous enemies arise, and a feel good ending in which the protag finds their home and fortune.

And in something especially desired in the modern era, that protagonist is a woman. It plays a lot like a Distaff Counterpart of the typical "peasant becomes prince and gets the princess" story, except it's more "slave girl becomes heir to shipping empire and gets the businessman's son," which even nowadays is not a plot that ever gets portrayed with female female characters.

Buuuuut it's also built on lots of death and murder (Morgiana either kills all the thieves directly (sometimes gruesomely) or sets them up to be killed for failing their boss, and even if they sidestep that there's also the fact that Cassim has to be axed for the plot to happen in the first place), which is probably kind of a sticking point nowadays.

There's way less death or non-lethal-but-still-horrible doom in Disney movies now, and protagonists rarely killed in Disney films in the first place.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Feb 13th 2020 at 8:09:57 AM

I remember reading as a kid a Disney book adaptation of Ali Baba. It was mostly faithful to the original story minus censoring the gorier bits.

The sequel will obviously be about Jaffar coming back by making a deal with Hades, in a conflict that will end with Aladdin meeting Hercules, and it'll establish the Disney Live-Action Remake Cinematic Universe.

Edited by Akirakan on Feb 13th 2020 at 11:27:24 AM

Return of Jafar could still happen. It just took longer for Iago to escape.

Uhh. Uhhhhh.

Disney is making a live-action Rapunzel.

Why.

At least it has no title confusion. XD;

Wow that's the youngest one yet.

Live action Brave next

It's not clear whether it's a Tangled remake or an entirely new take on the story, but... yeah, too soon.

Joss Whedon would be the perfect director for a live action Rapunzel.

Um, no thank you, keep him away. :|

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Feb 14th 2020 at 5:52:57 AM

-insert obvious foot focus camera joke here-

But, yeah, no. Keep Joss away.

I kind of consider the original Tangled to be a pretty solid movie. I can't really pick many holes in it except its maybe a bit weak musically and I wish it had a more traditional villain number in there somewhere (Or the villain reprise was a bit longer?). It's FAR better than Frozen ever was.

I don't really see anything you could improve on unless you did a completely different take on the story.

Most of the remade movies are too, and there is the risk of being pretty inferior to the original.

Since when has that stopped Disney?

True, I'm just stating what needs to be said every time. If we stop sharing the sentiments, Disney will think we're all suddenly ok with it.

Plus, with their adaptation of Into the Woods Disney's already given us a live-action Rapunzel. What's the point? (Besides money, obviously.)

I mean, Rapunzel is literally in Into the Woods, but it’s rather misleading to refer to that as a Rapunzel adaptation. It’s a mashup of several popular fairy tales into a common setting and unique plot.

It’s like saying that they should never have made that John Henry short because Tall Tale exists.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Feb 15th 2020 at 1:04:23 AM

I would actually argue that Disney's Tangled is kind of just the Rapunzel section of Into The Woods extended to a full film. Mother Gothel and The Witch are so similar in character it's amazing.

A small joke I thought of earlier, but $10 says the Aladdin Sequel and the Aladdin Spin-Off with that one white guy no one cared about are the same project. LOL

I doubt this Rapunzel film will leave Development Hell. A lot of the remakes get announced and then quietly ignored. Heck, (though it's not technically a remake) I'm pretty sure the Prince Charmless film got shelved.

Maleficent and its sequel are so good. I wish Disney had done Alternate Continuity or Perspective Flip works instead of remakes. I was thinking that a Cinderella film from Drizella's POV would have been interesting. Anastasia and Cinderella get all the attention.

I disagree with Maleficient and it's sequel being good, because I wanted her to be bad to a core and not an Elphaba rip off. Maleficient is best when she is bad and it should be been about how she could have become the evil woman she is today.

I think a version of the Lion King that focused on the hyenas would be an interesting idea, and address some of the critiques raised against the original film. Focus on their desperate situation, how easily Scar was able to sway them to his cause, and maybe give them a happier ending then they actually got.

Same. She's in name only AT BEST. The Mistress of all Hell isn't even evil...

Yeah, Shenzi in The Lion King (2019) was a great upgrade from the original movie.

(x4) I think it's an interesting reinterpretation of the character. I wish Maleficent was more morally ambiguous but I don't mind her portrayal.

I don't mind exploring usually 1 dimensional evil characters in a more nuanced and ambiguous light.

I don't think Maleficent is the one to do that with considering her entire appeal is relishing in how evil she is. Cruella De Ville is a similar character. Evil is Cool is the trope there.