Often when we grow up, we look back at our parents’ lives and think that we can do things better than they did. Sometimes we are right, but not always. New technologies lead to different ways of telling stories. My parents listened to radio. I had TV. My sons had video games (hooked up to a TV). My grandson has all kinds of things I’ll never grasp on a handheld device. What is better and most imaginative? It’s a matter of perspective, I think.
But when a big media company grows up, it may think its technology outshines what has come before it. The Walt Disney Studios are currently working on a number of live action remakes of earlier animated features. They have already done Beauty and the Beast¸ Jungle Book (really more computer animation than live action), Dumbo, Aladdin, and currently the Lion King (also computer animation). In the pipeline in various stages of development or discussion are live action remakes of Mulan (coming next March), The Little Mermaid (currently getting a lot of buzz from casting Halle Bailey as Ariel, causing some racist backlash), Winnie the Pooh, Pinocchio, The Sword in the Stone, and a number of spinoffs from Disney cartoons, such as a Tinkerbell film.
My question is whether or not this is a good thing. The cynic in me might say, Disney just wants the money that comes with a ready-made audience. But actually, I think that that is not enough of an answer. I think that the extent of this live action remake trend reminds me of those generational difference I note above. It’s like my thinking TV is better than radio, or my grandson thinking his tablet is better than my TV.
I don’t think I’m just being a grumpy old guy. I liked the live action Dumbo better than most reviewers. I think Mulan could be an intriguing remake that works especially well in live action. And I expect Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alan Menken will make some wonderful songs to enhance The Little Mermaid. But overall, I think Disney is making a mistake in making all these remakes. The underlying premise to these remakes is that live action (or in the cases of Jungle Book and The Lion King, computer animation) is intrinsically better than the animation of the originals. I find it only slightly ironic that the studio that bears Walt Disney’s name, no longer makes any of the kind of animation that Walt Disney was the master of. The new versions of animated classics essentially diminish the originals. They say by their very existence that those older versions are not good enough for today’s world. I dissent.
Animation—both computer and hand-drawn—makes for an excellent medium for storytelling. Many of the original Disney classics were based on fairytales or other stories that were especially conducive to the use of animation: Snow White, Cinderella, Pinocchio, Peter Pan. Each of these could easily have been made as live action films at the time, but the choice was made to do it with animation. And I believe that was the best choice. These stories and the magic they weave for the audience is enhanced by being told through animation.
Of course the studio continues to tell stories with animation under both the Disney and Pixar names. These are almost always well received and of great quality. (Although I personally mourn their decision to rely entirely on computer animation. I still love to see traditional animation as we get from Studio Ghibli and Cartoon Saloon.) This format is still an important tool in the studio’s storytelling. But just as I’d hate to see Disney’s classic Old Yeller made into an animated feature, I wish that they would respect the animated gems of past generations enough to let them be the wonders that they are.
It’s no surprise that Disney holds a monopoly when it comes to films about fairy tales and princesses. Not only are the films all-time classics, but the princesses themselves cross generation to generation, with the help of the parks of course. Over the last few years, Disney has made a 180 degree turn in the stories they tell about their princesses. Early on, these young beautiful princesses needed a prince to save them and define them, but now in our ever-changing culture, that is no more, and that’s a good thing. There was a prince near to Tiana, but she was a strong and independent character that didn’t need him. Merida taught young girls to be brave. Anna showed us the power of love and fearlessness when the odds were not in our favor, and taught us to be there for your family even when everyone is against them. Moana follows this same path and, quite frankly, goes beyond it as well.
A few years ago, Frozen fever took over and it still goes strong today. As good as the film was, I feel Moana is leaps and bounds better. Maybe it’s because I find the Broadway style to the Island music more entertaining, but also, I felt that the story was much more powerful and heartfelt. Moana is a strong-willed character that tries with all her might to do what she thinks is right, and that’s be the chief her father is teaching her to be, but she can’t ignore the pull inside of her to go out into the ocean and explore. She teaches us that we should embrace the path that we are called to and not the one everyone says we should live, even if it goes against what the popular position is. Her courage and resolve blended with her heart and compassion jumps out on the screen and is really felt as she interacts with Maui.
Maui is strong, immortal, arrogant, funny and yet sad and lost. Maui just wants to be loved but has no idea how that works. He tries and tries and tries and it’s never enough. The world is dying because Maui just wanted to be loved and did something that he shouldn’t have done. We’ve met many people like Maui. Good people that are lost because at some point when they were young they were abandoned. It’s only when they reach a low point that we can learn who they really are. Moana was on an adventure to save the world and find her identity, but during that adventure Maui ended up finding the same. With all of his great charisma, we are able to see a vulnerability in the character that allows us draw close and emotionally connect with him and fall in love with him. It was a well-developed character that was perfectly cast with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
