Over the past few years, Disney has been creating live action adaptations of their original motion picture films. With these remakes comes the question that many people ask, especially if your family is big Disney fans like mine; Which is better? The live actions or the originals? In my opinion there is a very simple answer, it depends. It is going to differ from person to person depending on the tastes of the people who have watched both the original and its live action counter part.
I will be discussing my opinions on such matter by using the examples of Disney’s Mulan and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Both of which have the original and live action version.
Before I dive in to the individual movies, let me touch on what I think makes a Disney movie good. First and foremost, what is a Disney movie without its top tier soundtrack?! A Disney movie has to have an amazing soundtrack filled with songs both children and adults will enjoy. Songs such as “A Whole New World”, “Part of Your World”, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, and “When you Wish Upon a Star”. Then, we have the characters. There are so many levels to this one. The main characters have to be personable and someone that children will look to and admire, as well as have good character development where we can watch them grow. We need to have the funny sidekicks and side characters; they make the movie and add the humor that will keep the audience entertained. Plus, these are the characters that provide the most quotable lines! Finally, we have the love story. Now it is Disney so we don’t need an Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey type of story, but I want something good. A good development and chemistry; I want something I can root for. This is a love people of all ages will be watching, so it has to withstand the sands of time. Now this isn’t a necessity and definitely isn’t something that will make or break the movie, but can we talk about how attractive Disney makes their characters? I mean come on, it definitely helps. Have you seen Prince Naveen?! Find me one ugly prince or princess and I may listen to your opinion.
Okay, now let’s dive in. Starting with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
So I’ll just come right out and say it, both AMAZING movies, one of my faves, the live action was better. Now, before you get your panties in a twist, let me explain why.
In the live action version, we are given more background information on the characters that allow us to build a stronger emotional bond with Belle and Beast. In the original the only background we get is that Belle is an only child raised by a windowed father and Beast is an angry prince turned into a Beast for refusing and old woman shelter from a storm. But in the live action, we are taken on a journey to the past where we learn about Belle’s childhood and what happened to her mother. We also learn how Beast turned into the angry prince he was at the beginning of the film. As said by Dan Stevens, who played the role of the Beast, “It’s not just about refusing an old woman shelter in a storm, which is what happens and triggers the curse, but there’s a lot of behavior leading up to that — there’s something not quite right in his heart, and it needs to be put right,” (Lee, Ashley The Hollywood Reporter).
This was a big reason for pushing the live action to the number 1 spot for me, THE NEW SONGS! Three of them to be exact, “How Does a Moment Last Forever”, “Days in the Sun”, and “Evermore”. All I can say is Alan Menken and Time Rice are geniuses. “How Does a Moment Last Forever” is sung by Maurice (Belle’s father) in the movie, which allows up to see into this inventors mind and create stronger emotions towards him. “Days in the Sun” is a song that shows us the Beasts past as well as shows the castle servants, who were turned into appliances from the curse, wanting to become human again. “Evermore”, oh this song. I can’t put into words how much I love this song, and I couldn’t even tell you why. It’s just a masterpiece. This song is performed by Beast after he lets Belle go and it just shows his longing and love for her and it is beautiful.
In the live action film, it shows the affects of the time passing on the servants affected by the curse. Showing the passing time of the characters makes it seem more real. Every time a petal falls off of the rose it shows the castle servants becoming less and less human, to the point where they almost become permanently appliances. This is something we don’t see in the original, sure the threat of it is still there, but it doesn’t seem real because the affects aren’t shown.
The final reason, in my opinion, that makes the live action better than the original is LGBTQ+ representation. We see this between two characters. Lefou and Stanley. Lefou is Gaston’s (the villain) right hand man who is there to do whatever Gaston needs of him, and Stanley is just a villager that is seen throughout the film. This film hints at a gay relationship between these two. As said by Bill Condon (the director), “He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its payoff at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.” (Lee, Ashley The Hollywood Reporter). This is something that is very important, even though it’s subtle, it is a step forward for media and for Disney being inclusive of all.
The original is such a beautiful movie, and did have better elements than the live action. Like the castle servants, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip, and Plumette, they are better in the original. I don’t actually think there is much that changes in them between the original and live action, but in the original their personalities, characteristics are just better to watch and enjoy than in the live action. We also can’t undermine the original animation. It is basically magic for the time period it was created in, and with growing technology this style of animation isn’t really used anymore. It’s practically a beautiful relic.
Now, onto Disney’s Mulan.
To stay true to fashion, I’ll just say it. Possibly my favorite Disney movie ever, both great, original is way better. We aren’t given the same elements in the live action that makes the original so amazing.
I’m going to start off with an important factor to me. The songs. Mulan possibly has one of the best soundtracks of all time. The music is so good and catchy and adds to the movie. “Reflection” is the perfect ballad for Mulan who is questioning herself and her worth, and for the audience who also may be feeling those things. “I’ll Make a Man out of You” is an amazing song that shows the development and growth of the soldiers preparing for war. In the live action, we don’t really see the growth of the soldiers like we do in the original. Mulan’s talent and fighting ability is summed up to her having a lot of Chi, and that’s really it. “A Girl Worth Fighting For” is a song that is performed by the soldiers when they are on their way to battle. It is a humor filled song but also shares the motivation and reasoning behind each soldier’s drive to fight. The live action doesn’t have any of these. It doesn’t have any musical numbers. In my opinion, that is a big loss for the movie.
Speaking of soldiers, NO LI SHANG! This one grinds my gears a bit, for a few reasons. He was such a major part of the original film, he was the general of the troop that the story is based around, he teaches these soldiers to fight, and can I say that was a lot of work, the soldiers came in with no skill whatsoever. He is Mulan’s love interest and has such a character development that it is disappointing that he wasn’t in the live action. Plus, have you seen the man?! He’s gorgeous, and they didn’t want to find a human version of that man so we can have a feast for the eyes? Sad. In the live action, Shang is replaced by another soldier. Chen Honghui, who becomes Mulan’s loves interest. In my opinion I feel like he is not in the movie enough to be considered a love interest and I didn’t feel any chemistry between him and Mulan. It was just kind of dull.
To keep on the train of soldiers and battle, in the original film we have Shen Yu and the Huns. The are the villains of the film and let me tell you, they are bad ass. This group of warriors scaled the Great Wall of China, survived an avalanche, and was able to capture the Emperor. They are practically unstoppable. But we don’t get to see them come to life in the live action. Now I will say, the villains of the live action are also pretty scary to look at, but you don’t get the same intimidation factor that is present with the Huns.
Speaking of villains, the live action film’s main antagonist is a shape shifting witch/sorceress. Come one. The concept alone is pretty cool for a movie, but that’s not Mulan. It changes the story from what the original is. I don’t really have much else to say than it’s just not Mulan.
The final reason that the original is better is a controversial one. Mulan’s guardian dragon Mushu. Mushu was taken out of the live action due to mis-representation of the dragon in Chinese culture. I completely agree with that, there is no reason to undermine and mis-represent a whole culture. However, Mushu added so much to the movie. He was Mulans’s guardian that helped her and guided her through her journey, plus he added humor and comedy to the movie. I believe that there was a way that Mushu’s character could have been added to the live action film. Of course without mis-representing a culture. In the live action Mushu is replaced by a Phoenix that is seen maybe twice in the whole film. The idea of the phoenix could have been kept but the characteristics and role of Mushu could have been incorporated to it.
The live action Mulan is an amazing film with a lot of good elements. If it was advertised as a stand alone movie and not as a Mulan remake, I would have liked it much more. There was just too many important plot and character changes that in my opinion makes is a completely different film than Disney’s original Mulan.
When it come to adaptations such as remakes of movies, no opinion is incorrect. Both sides of the story, like both versions of the movie, has its good elements and its bad elements in terms of comparison. Whether someone likes one version more than the other, or likes both equally all depends on that persons taste and viewpoints. But you are never wrong for how you feel!
References
Fischer, Brittany, “6 Reasons The Beauty And The Beast Live Action Is The Best (& 4 Reasons It’s The Original).” ScreenRant, 3 June 2020, screenrant.com/beauty-and-the-beast-live-action-best-original/.
Lee, Ashley. “’Beauty and the Beast’: 9 Differences Between the Live-Action and Animated Movies – and Why They Matter.” The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Mar. 2017, www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/beauty-beast-differences-between-animated-live-action-movies-why-they-matter-986622.
Szany, Wendy Lee, and Wendy Lee Szany (4 Articles Published) . “Mulan: Biggest Changes from the Animated Film in the Live-Action Version.” Collider, 27 Feb. 2020, collider.com/mulan-changes-live-action-animated-version-disney/.
