Becuase the amount of Live Action remake threads are getting cluttery, I made this thread so people could discuss all of them in one neat place. For ease of catching up, I'll post all the Live action Disney movies we have and the movies that will be coming soon.
In Production:
- Beauty and the Beast thread
- Winnie the Pooh thread
- Dumbo thread
- Mulan thread
- Pinocchio thread
- Night on Bald Mountain from "Fantasia"
- Maleficent sequel
- Prince Charming thread
- Aladdin prequel: Genies
- Sword in the Stone thread
Released:
edited 15th Jul '17 2:12:16 PM by VeryMelon
Disney's marketing is geniously handled. They only show those shot that don't spoil the movie or only what is the most marketable. They go through the time and effort and money to even film and render whole separate shots just for the trailer to throw us off (like the Hulk running alongside everyone at the end of the trailer to Infinity War, whereas in the movie the Hulk never appears in the climax), and even record whole new dialogue. Thor's missing eye and his eyepatch never ever in the trailers.
Honestly, a quarter of the clips in endgame were deliberately misleading, featuring scenes which either weren't in the movie, were slightly change or put in a completely different context.
Honestly, how Disney marketed Endgame needs to be the kind of standard for trailers everywhere.
You know, as an adaptation of the Sleeping Beauty story I was very much not impressed with Maleficent, but the general world building and showing her Start of Darkness was really not half bad. If this movie is more willing to go straight Villain Protagonist instead of A Lighter Shade of Grey it might work better.
I still hate the first movie and will always hate it. There is, no lie, no movie out there I hate more than it. And there is nothing "good" in it, imho.
It looks so... anemic. And Will Smith doesn’t get to put any original spin on Robin Williams’s gags.
I reiterate that this film should’ve been directed and choreographed by Gurinder Chadha.
Edited by Tuckerscreator on May 14th 2019 at 12:18:55 PM
Its amazing how real-life manages to make everything look comparatively unimpressive.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."Hmm...
Well, when it comes to straight singing Will Smith clearly isn't doing too well, but the parts where he breaks out of the song are better.
Choreography and ciematography, though, that's pretty good. They put the scene in a relatively small area (see below), but the actual way the parade moves is very vibrant, colorful and full of motion, with the highly distinct dancers (I wonder if this movie's going to up for a Costuming Oscar) and the progressively changing stages. I love the Offscreen Teleportation cut with the ostriches, which plays up what so far I've been loving about the live action genie the more we see of him - despite how it initially seemed, they're largely using camera tricks and cuts to give the ethereal, off-the-wall effect with CGI in only select moments, which is exactly what they should be doing.
The only problem I have with it visually is that it's very clearly shot on a set. Which... well... most movies are shot on sets, but it shouldn't be obvious. They make the best of that set (the cuts to the interior areas are very cool), but it's still too noticeable (hence the bit above about the small area, which they try to make look bigger).
Edited by KnownUnknown on May 14th 2019 at 12:37:38 PM
"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.I don't know. It looks really... bored. And lacking in energy. Nothing feels particuarly exciting. Like... I don't want to draw comparisons to the original TOO much since of course it has the advantage of animation but... like, there's a reason Genie is running around and PULLING people into the scene and interacting with them. Or like how Aladdin is Smiling and confident in the presentation rather than... cringing like I was.
Also, why change it to 'Friday Salaam' from 'Sunday Salaam'?
Oh... Oh boy.
A quick google search gives me the impression that it's because Friday is an important prayer day for Muslims, whereas Sunday isn't. "Sunday Salaam" was probably a result of the lyricist being Christian.
Like how "blue corn moon" in Pocahontas is complete gibberish, because Stephen Schwartz heard an actual Native American talk about the "green corn moon" and thought it needed to sound more poetic. It's one of those little things that should be avoided when making stories about other cultures.
I don't get that impression at all (the energy in choreography is looking to be one of this film's strong points so far, imo), but your mileage may vary, as they say.
Edited by KnownUnknown on May 14th 2019 at 1:57:13 AM
"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.Honestly, live action adaptations have no chance to be as energetic as animated ones.
Edited by Swanpride on May 14th 2019 at 1:54:03 AM
I generally find "it's not as energetic as animation, ergo it's not energetic at all" to be somewhat problematic in the first place.
Edited by KnownUnknown on May 14th 2019 at 1:58:29 AM
"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.The energy is certainly nowhere near the original, but is a little more lively than Beauty and the Beast and comes close to replicating at least a Broadway production (much bigger space, hundreds of extras dancing with intricate choreography, distinctive costumes). It should be said that Robin Williams had a decent voice but it was more the performance that carried the singing, you'd think Will Smith could manage to come close but it feels more like he is dancing in a music video. Like already mentioned, some quick cuts do evoke the original where Smith seems to teleport and generate props (the swords) on a whim.
I'm actually really surprised they had Will Smith sing this.
I was expecting them to have him deliver it like Robin did and mostly talk in a somewhat melodious way and do his own hype man thing through it, because that's Will Smith's specialty. Plus from what little we hear of it, that's the way they did Friend Like Me.
Edited by KnownUnknown on May 14th 2019 at 2:08:16 AM
"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.That wasn't even my argument. Jfc.
Ok, let's start. The tempo FEELS slower. I don't know if it actually is because A) trailer editing and B) its 2 am. The original has a natural bombast to it while this feels... like they dropped it down a bit? And I don't know why. I'm listening to both and the Live Action feels a lot lower.
The movement also feels slow and boring. Genie's choreography is... cross leg, slowly bow, extent arms to side? Or waving his hands to a crowd during "Try your best to stay calm" like one would do to telling school children to "simmer down". Or the really bored small gesture of brushing off his shoulders? These movements are too slow and small to feel BIG and GRAND like the song is supposed to be.
"Try your best to stay calm" is meant to be a loud and factitious line. He's not ACTUALLY telling them to calm down or be calm, he wants them parading through the streets with him! He wants them to go goddamn crazy over Prince Ali. It's sarcastic.
To compare, the musical WHICH IS LIVE ACTION so don't even, has the same blocking of the Genie just being center stage the entire number and not doing very much. But the actor's voice and singing naturally demands attention and exudes energy. He also interacts with his cast members and joins in their dances as he goes, such as banging the drums during 'Bang the drums' and dancing with the courtesans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRQMvlQA-Ac
Of the footage shown, I think the camera panning through the peacock dancers was the best part that felt the most like the bombast they should be going for. But... there are shots that feel too wide so the dancing seems off. They keep cutting to the princess reacting and her friend getting into it instead of... letting us get into it? There's a reason the original only cut to Jasmine twice and it's purely to show 'She's watching' and 'She's not interested' respectively.
As for 'Friday Salaam' vs. 'Sunday Salaam'... Yeah, I get it because it doesn't make sense culturally, but the line was never intended to reference the actual holy days. The line is trying to play off of 'Sunday Best'. So we have a conflict between what reads better but culturally makes no sense vs what culturally is accurate but doesn't actually convey anything. I would have stuck with clearer meaning, if just maybe cingy lyric since you can actually understand what they're intending to say.
Aladdin is a cultural hodgepodge anyway. I mean, that movie was more inspired by Las Vegas than actual Arabia. It is not meant to be taken seriously.
Yeah, speaking as a dancer, the choreo feels super anemic. The camera work also seems to be mostly-static and dominated by boringly-composed medium-distance shots that don't really focus on any movement in particular.
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)I'll keep saying it now that I've noticed: Guy Ritchie's usual brand of editing and cinematography might have been a boon for this sort of high energy choreography, but nothing I've seen of this film really takes advantage of it.
Maybe they're going for a more 'staged' feel, but in the process they just sort of lost any kind of energy or oomph. There's dancing and singing, but I don't get anything from it. It feels small when it should feel big.
Edited by edvedd on May 14th 2019 at 8:53:45 AM
Visit my Tumblr! I may say things. The Bureau Project(x3) No wonder so many on the You Tube clip were saying "play it at 1.25x speed".
The cold never bothered me anywayIt conveys things to Muslims in the audience, and I'm not sure whether we can talk to whether it's incomprehensible to people who are only aware of the term "Sunday Best," because we are all - of course - instinctively aware of what the line is referring to due to familiarity with the source.
Continuing cultural inaccuracy because it's convenient is a bad habit that Hollywood needs to get out of, period.
What's more, the song doesn't really lose anything by making the change, so it's not imo something worth really worrying about.
Edited by KnownUnknown on May 14th 2019 at 3:45:39 AM
"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.
Huh, let me try that...
Oh... jeeze. It really is tempo dropped.
I mean, personally, I would have just tried to change the lyric out for something else entirely if it needs to be changed at all. Avoid the fight between culture vs. readable lines, just find a new one.
Edited by InkDagger on May 14th 2019 at 4:36:34 AM
The Broadway musical was less than 20 million in budget and that Genie didn't rely on autotune to give people that gusto. There's a bit of difference. (Also, 1920s big band really is the style that best works with the Aladdin songs)
The cold never bothered me anywayI know it isn't fair to say that a cartoon will be more energetic than a film, but I think that's the problem.
A song like Prince Ali was written in a way that takes advantage of the medium of animation. Genie is so fast and so bombastic that he can actually demonstrate the things he's singing about and the imagery doesn't look weird. He can make Al as strong as ten regular men and you actually get to see it. He can make him look buff.
I also miss the way Genie would go around to different demographics (like women and kids) and hype up Ali in unique ways to them. None of it looks weird because the animation lets Genie move that fast. I mean, maybe that stuff happens in the full song I dunno.
The translation to live action inherantly takes something away from the source material. Because it was designed for a different medium altogether. I hope I'm making sense.
Kaze ni Nare!
I think Endgame was the first movie they made in a while where they didn't release tons of clips ahead of time. It was both refreshing and added to the hype, because it was clear there was a lot they didn't want us cottoning on to yet.
"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.