Over spring break, my older brother took me on a sibling date to go see the new live action "Beauty and the Beast." Let me just tell you, it was amazing. So accurate to the cartoon I grew up watching. Over the past couple of years, Disney has remade quite a few of its famous classics, and there are numerous rumors about which favorite film could be next. Well I am here for it. Bring on all the movies. If the rest are anything like what we have so far, you know where I'll be spending my money.
The first classic that I can think of that was not only remade, but retold, is Maleficent and the story of Sleeping Beauty, otherwise known as Princess Aurora. Starring the glorious Angelina Jolie, this movie opens the minds of an entire culture that grew up viewing Maleficent as an evil, villainous creature with horns and showed a them a whole new side of her, a kind and loving side. I absolutely love the perspective change. There are always two sides to every story, and we finally got to see the other side (also a reason "Wicked" is one of my favorite musicals).
Not even a year later, we received a live action Cinderella, and not one of these modern day rip-offs, but the actual story most of us grew up with. There were mice and evil cats and animals making clothing. There was a fairy godmother and a pumpkin that turned into a carriage. And there was a air of magical glass slippers that happened to fit only one girl kin the entire kingdom. It was the story from my childhood, the one I grew up watching on VHS.
Then we got The Jungle Book. I, like many others, was skeptical about how they were going to work all these talking animals into a live action film, but Disney pulled it off. It was a hit, and it wasn't a princess movie. You could take the entire family to see it, granted there are a few scenes that may be a little scary. Can you guess which ones they are? I even jumped a couple times (granted I am easily startled). And most recently, the gift of Beauty and the Beast was bestowed upon us humble fans. I was super excited about this movie for two reasons. One, it is Beauty and the Beast, a staple of my strong Disney childhood (also owned on VHS by my family, still), and two it is Emma Watson, of whom I have adored since her early days as a smarty-pants, frizzy-haired, nobody Miss Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (someone I related to on a personal level).
Other films that are said to be in the live action re-making are "The Little Mermaid" (a personal favorite of mine). Mulan (Wendy Wu, homecoming warrior, where are you at?) The Lion King, Dumbo, The Sword in the Stone, Aladdin (I'm thinking Avan Jogia?), Cruella the origin story of 101 Dalmatians horrendous villain, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan (more excited about Tinkerbell, if I'm being honest), Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I have a feeling that if all of these rumored films are true, that the theaters are going to be filled with more people over the age of twenty than under the age of ten. I think this is because being an adult can be hard, and this is a way to keep that rosy-cheeked child alive in our hearts.
