Disney's Live-Action Thread

I still think they blew an opportunity in not having Glenn Close appear as one of the fake Cruellas being arrested near the end of the film (strangely, one of them actually resembles her).

I completely forgot about, but remembered enjoying, Enchanted. It was this video that made me remember it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWrLimybgYk (it goes into the film's sequel). If you don't know, Enchanted is an (affectionate) parody of various Disney tropes, following the plot of a Disney princess being transported from her animated Disney world to the live-action real world.

If Disney made live-action remakes like this, affectionate parodies which still play the tropes straight enough to be enjoyed like the original, I think that would be an interesting way of interpreting the source material. It would have a large chance of backfiring, but, if done well, could be really enjoyable..

Edited by king15 on Apr 3rd 2024 at 11:17:51 AM

Perhaps they wanted her but she refused for some reason so they hired a lookalike?

Yeah, Close did the Cruella part really well, especially that damn iconic laugh.

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They could make a "generic" King Arthur movie as it's all PD (as Hollywood tries every once in a while), but I would imagine marketing it as a 'Sword in the Stone expanded remake, now featuring Morgause and the Round Table' might be dicier.

Edited by Synchronicity on Apr 4th 2024 at 10:19:52 AM

This probably wouldn't work, but Disney could in theory make a film involving several different Arthur-adjacent properties they owned. Like, The Sword in the Stone, with a Marvel-style Morgan Le Fay and relevant characters from Gargoyles. That would be cool. Also linked to Arthurian mythos is The Last Crusade. It would be cool if they did a sequel/remake of the Sword in the Stone involving the Holy Grail and hinted that it was the same one from the Jones film (maybe leaving a single knight to guard it). To be honest, this post was mainly made to point out that Disney owns several properties linked to the Arthurian mythos, which I think is cool.

It's like how Disney has explored Greco-Roman mythology in Hercules (and through Hercules, Descendants), the MCU (especially Love and Thunder and sort-of Eternals) and The Little Mermaid (loosely), plus a brief scene in Encanto. So there's a Disney Zeus who is a good and wise ruler (Hercules), and one who is a hedonistic bastard (Love and Thunder). Who thought the Thor film would be (relatively) more accurate in that regard? Though I would say mythological Zeus is mostly wise. Mostly.

Edited by king15 on Apr 4th 2024 at 12:22:20 PM

The Sword in the Stone might as well be just be an original King Arthur movie. The things that are memorable about the animated film are the Squirrel Girl, Madam Mim fighting Merlin, and Arthur pulling out the Sword.

And it's really a low-key film that is essentially Merlin teaching Arthur modern science and lectures. People would rather have Arthur going on a quest of sort with a band of knights, even if it means being an unintentional serious take of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Gaston as the taunting Frenchman.

Nobody taunts King Arthur like Gaston!

I will only see a Disney live action remake of The Sword In The Stone if Merlin references Round Table Pizza at some point.

I'll only watch a live-action remake of Sword in the Stone if there's a scene of Merlin's owl laughing in his face.

In that case, Archimedes needs to be voiced by someone known for having a distinct hearty laugh.

I nominate Drew Carey.

About ten or eleven years ago before he passed, I was thinking about how Robin Williams would've been the perfect person to voice MAX in a Flight of the Navigator remake.

Disney would be like "thanks to the magic of computer AI we cane make the robot computer sound exactly like the late Robin Willims!" but even they're not that tasteless,right?

Well I recall hearing they weren't allowed to use his voice for Once Upon A Studio and did it anyway so…

Moving on… As a kid, I really enjoyed Max Keeble's Big Move. Not terrible the last time I saw it like ten years ago.

Can't say it holds up though.

That's not true, based on a People Magazine's recount:

There was a bunch of kneejerk speculation before the short's release, where some folks were misunderstanding The Robin Williams Trust deed. According to the document, it restricted the use of Robin's likeness until 2039.

Didn't Dan Castellanetta get in trouble with Robin's lawyers for his soundalike performance as Genie? Or am I remembering that wrong?

Edited by lbssb on Apr 8th 2024 at 11:39:53 AM

I've never heard of such a thing.

Robin's issue was they used his voice in cross promotion ads like Burger King and other things when asked not to.

You might be thinking of Jim Cummings, regarding his soundalike voice for King Louie in Talespin. But Disney eventually resolved that anyway.

That probably is what I was thinking of, yeah. Or rather, my brain mixed with it to get that.

Never saw Snow Dogs all the way through. Not heard the best things certainly. I'm a little curious though.

If Robin's family signed off, then glad to know.

Recently bought both Dick Tracy 1990 and The Rocketeer on video. Expecting them both as late as next week—hopefully sooner.

Never saw A Far Off Place from 1993. Curious because the third and final Roger Rabbit short aired before it. Of the three shorts, I knew Tummy Trouble for years thanks to the video for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Apr 8th 2024 at 9:32:31 AM

According to one of the Disney animators (I forget who), Warren Beatty wasn't happy about "Roller Coaster Rabbit" playing in front of his "Dick Tracy" film, as he felt it upstaged the movie.

This may or may not be part of why studios began putting shorts in front of their less-tier films, during the 90s.

The short before A Far Off Place for the record was Trail Mix-Up—though I probably already said that. Tummy Trouble as far as I know was the only one included on the video of the film it played before—and again, why I knew Tummy Trouble way before I saw the other two for the first time about only seven years ago. Roller Coaster Rabbit since it went the most savage of the three—to the point that it got a PG—makes sense in front of Dick Tracy 1990 though, especially with both Roger Rabbit and Dick Tracy 1990 being released by Disney through Touchstone.

Looked up the previews on the video for The Rocketeer again recently and I keep forgetting about that Disney pirates movie called Shipwrecked! that starred Gabriel Byrne.

Was rewatching The Parent Trap (1998) this week by the way. It holds up great.

Would love to see a sequel to that instead of a reboot, same as how the upcoming sequel to Freaky Friday 2003 is gonna be a sequel rather than a reboot. Would also love to see as much of the original cast back as possible too, including Erin Mackey who was Lindsay Lohan's double in both roles.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Apr 15th 2024 at 7:38:40 AM

I know we’re using the term “live-action” loosely here, but the trailer and page for Mufasa: The Lion King are up:

What do we think? Could actually be good or will Sonic 3 run all over it?

Its kinda weird they are going with the "Mufasa was a commoner" angle when the Lion King is all about Simba's innate inherited kingliness.

Also like, its a lion pride, wouldn't mufasa have "royal blood" since he presumably has a dad?

Lion King raised a lot of questions about Lion Politics but I have more now.

Didn't the actress that played the mother die some years after the first film?

Also, the original Parent Trap had a sequel too, but almost nobody remembers it (I myself only remember the basic plot, but not much else).