Disney has started rebooting some of their favorite animated films as live-action movies with real people and computer-generated imagery(CGI).
Many children were raised with Disney animated films. Films such as “Cinderella”, “Mulan”, and “Beauty and the Beast” were a large part of many PV students youth. These films taught important life lessons to children, and the characters were role models for many students throughout their youth.
The popular film “Monsters Inc.” was an important film in teaching children about the power of positivity and laughter. At the beginning of the movie, monsters earned energy for their world by scaring children. However, by the end, they find out that laughter creates more energy, discouraging bullying and encouraging laughter.
As a lifelong Disney fan, Senior Alton Barber was raised on these movies. “Not only are they just fun movies for people to watch, but there is something special about having my family together and creating lasting traditions,” he said. Barber believes that these films have been one of the most impactful parts of his childhood.
Although Disney’s animated films have been successful, Disney decided to reboot many of the popular stories as new, live-action movies. They are casting well-known actors to play the characters from the movies, with choreographed stunts and recreations of popular songs.
With the increased technology of today, Disney is also able to create stunning CGI to recreate the fictional characters. For instance, the trailer for the live action “Lion King” movie has been released, showing very realistic renditions of all the animals in the original movie.
Yet, not everyone is a fan of the reboots. Barber believes the beauty of the animated films lies in the animation.
“Characters like “Dumbo” and “Aladdin” are endearing and very close to my heart as a Disney fan. Even as a person who enjoys the Disney brand, that doesn’t mean my soul wishes to fill my life with “Aladdin” and “Dumbo”,” Barber explains. He believes that live-action films are not a necessity to watch.
Barber still supports the Disney brand though, as he doesn’t want Disney’s stories to die. Many of the characters are unrecognizable to children today. Rebooting past movies allows the continuation of stories like “Jungle Book”, “Pocahontas”, and more.
“From a business aspect for Disney, I think that the live action movies may be an important re-introduction to children out of the original animated films era,” said Barber.
PV graduate Vashi Chintalapalli is studying film at the University of Iowa and spoke about his thoughts on the live action movies. “The purpose behind the remakes isn’t to create content tiered to past audiences,” Chintalapalli explained. “Reboots are done to maintain our cultured storylines that are timely in fashions of future generations.”
Another debated topic is the difference in style of an animated film and live-action movie. Chintalapalli said, “Live-action cinema tends to be more in tune with reality — creating abstract personas that ‘could’ exist within our own medium. Animation could pull off a similar effect, but it tends to be more focused on taking viewers away from our natural world.”
Regardless of the perspective, Disney has already released a few live-action movies like “Dumbo” and “Jungle Book”. “Aladdin” is coming to theaters on May 24th, 2019 and “Lion King” is set to release on July 19th, 2019.
