By Fiona Finchem, Staff Writer

‘Cinderella’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Aladdin’, ‘The Jungle Book’, ‘Dumbo’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ are titles we all know and love. They are our childhood. I grew up watching these movies and was always amazed by the talking animals, magic, evil and of course happily-ever-afters. All these magical memories from my childhood came rushing back when Disney remade the classics. 

Over the past few years, you have probably heard of or even seen these movies again. This time a different version, with real people and animals: live-action. It’s like our childhood is back again, and I like it. 

The first movie that Disney remade was ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in 2010. This movie made over one billion dollars in the Box Office and Disney fans seemed to have loved it. And because their first live action movie was such a success, it paved the way for many more to come.

Since Alice in Wonderland, Disney has remade eight movies, some of which I think are strange.

The new Dumbo movie was just straight creepy. The elephant wasn’t even close to as cute as the animated one. If I were a young child watching it, I’d be scared. Even ‘The Lion King’ was a little scary. All the animals are cute in the animated movie, even Scar, but in the live action movie, he was terrifying. 

However, some movies, if done right, can add value to the original film. 

Sleeping Beauty was released in 1959. The animation is, of course, outdated, and to me, it seemed like it was ready for an update.

Some people say that the remakes are unoriginal and that Disney isn’t using their imagination. Yet in 2014 when Disney took an old movie and made a new one, they recreated it with a completely new plot and certain uniqueness. 

‘Maleficent’ gave an in-depth story on the villain in Sleeping Beauty. It takes the evil part of Sleeping Beauty and gives it a spin so the audience is rooting for the bad guy. Angelina Jolie, who played the part of Maleficent, nailed it. It was much more dramatic and expressive. 

Another good remake was Aladdin. I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I watched the movie. Before it came out I watched the previews, and when I saw the Genie I didn’t want to see the movie at all. I love Will Smith, but I thought it was really weird.

I’m glad I watched it though. I felt like I could connect more with the characters because they are real people. The actors did a really good job bringing these characters to life. Not to mention — an actual flying carpet.

All in all, I think a lot of the Disney remakes were really good. I’ve always loved Disney, and seeing the originals again is like a flashback to when I was young. I am excited for more live action movies to come out such as ‘Mulan’ in March 2020. Though, I think some movies are better off staying animated. 

Sophomore Fiona Finchem can be reached at 22FINCHEMFI99@daretolearn.org.