The 10 Most Pointless Disney Live-Action Remakes, Ranked (2024)

One of Disney's most recent trends is making live-action remakes of their beloved animated classics. While the trend began in the 1990s, it gained traction in the 2010s. With higher production values and technological advancements, these remakes have proven to be very successful with audiences, with several of them making over a billion dollars.

Of course, financial success isn't everything when it comes to determining a film's success. Among critics and audiences, the remakes are not seen favorably due to their questionable decisions when it comes to updating the stories, and how live-action and CGI can't match the same emotional heart of the originals. With a remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsslated for release next year, it's clear that this trend won't be ending anytime soon.

10 'Maleficent' (2014)

Directed by Robert Stromberg

One of Disney's most ambitious projects, Sleeping Beauty, was a box-office bomb on release that forced the company to switch to a cheaper animation style for decades. Nowadays, it's heralded as one of Disney's best fairy tale films thanks to its vibrant and stylistic animation, beautiful music, and characters. Chief among them is Maleficent, consistently ranked among Disney's best villains, so in a way, it makes sense to make a movie focused on her.

While Angelina Jolie is a perfect fit for the role, Maleficentdoesn't work due to a bloated script and trying to give such an iconic villain the Wicked treatment. There are good themes in the movie, such as female empowerment and found family, but it's undermined by trying to make everyone who isn't Maleficent or Aurora as wicked as possible to justify her as the hero. The worst case is the three good fairies, who go from being competent and charming characters to bumbling, aggravating idiots.

Maleficent

PG

Action

Adventure

Drama

A vengeful fairy is driven to curse an infant princess, only to discover that the child could be the one person who can restore peace to their troubled land.

Release Date

May 30, 2014

Director

Robert Stromberg

Cast

Angelina Jolie , Elle Fanning , Sharlto Copley , Lesley Manville , Imelda Staunton , Juno Temple

Runtime

97 minutes

9 'Alice in Wonderland' (2010)

Directed by Tim Burton

Alice in Wonderland is an interesting case of a movie coming out at the wrong time. While a financial and critical failure on release, it has since been re-evaluated for its surrealist art style, hilarious interpretations of Lewis Carroll's characters, and Kathryn Beaumont'samazing performance as Alice. Thus, it was a curious choice to be the first of Disney's era of live-action remakes, but with Tim Burton at the helm, it promised to at least be visually interesting.

Unfortunately, Burton's style was not the right choice for Alice in Wonderland, and the poorly conceived plot didn't help matters either. The film tries to be a sequel and a re-imagining of the original Disney film while trading the road trip-style plot for one that sees Alice dressed in a suit of armor and fighting a Jabberwock voiced by a woefully underutilized Sir Christopher Lee. All the characters feel off and unfamiliar to their literary or Disney counterparts, particularly Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter, who seems to swap personalities mid-scene like neither writers nor actor know what they want him to be.

Watch on Disney+

8 'Lady and the Tramp' (2019)

Directed by Charlie Bean

Lady and the Tramp is one of Disney's best animal-led movies and one of the company's most beloved romances. It's a tale of two people from different walks of life coming together during a period of change and developing a romance while bonding over new experiences. It's also perhaps Disney's most immersive animal-led movie, thanks in large part to the film being constructed from a dog's-eye level to better convey what the characters see.

The remake is a perfect example of how it has nothing new to offer and is actively hurt by being made in live-action. While it's impressive that they used a combination of real dogs and CGI to bring the characters to life, their facial expressions aren't nearly as varied or captivating as the original film, and many scenes that look fine in animation are silly here, such as the iconic spaghetti dinner. The characters are also completely forgettable and lacking in charm, especially if they're human.

Watch on Disney+

7 'Dumbo' (2019)

Directed by Tim Burton

One of Disney's shortest films, Dumbo is also one of its most triumphant. It tells the story of a little elephant born with big ears who, despite being taunted and teased, forms friendships with fellow outcasts and rises to become a star. Though a bright and colorful film that captures the atmosphere of an early 20th-century circus, it also isn't afraid to go to dark and strange places, which makes the ending all the more uplifting.

The remake, on the other hand, misses the mark immediately when the focus is more on the human family looking after Dumbo, and his animal companions are either turned into non-speaking roles or removed entirely. This makes Dumbo feel like a side character in his own movie, and none of the humans are interesting, which slows the pacing to a crawl. The story also over-complicates itself with a villain meant to parody Walt Disney and P. T. Barnum, and too many 21st-century values that feel like Disney is trying to lecture their audience.

Dumbo (2019)

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

6 'Peter Pan & Wendy' (2023)

Directed by David Lowery

Peter Pan was a film Disney had been trying to make for years and went on to become one of the highlights of their Silver Era. It's a fun action-adventure film with plenty of action, a good message about the importance of growing up, and an unforgettable villain in Captain Hook. There have been many adaptations over the years, but Peter Pan & Wendy has to be one of the most baffling.

This film feels like it is making changes for the sake of making changes, regardless of if they are good or not. The worst of these changes is Wendy, who goes from being a kind and caring child into an arrogant and entitled brat concerned with her well-being over others. Captain Hook is also a letdown, especially since he doesn't match the same level of comedy or intimidation as his animated counterpart.

PG

Fantasy

Adventure

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

April 28, 2023

Director

David Lowery

Cast

Alan Tudyk , Jude Law , Molly Parker , Yara Shahidi , Jim Gaffigan , Ever Anderson

Runtime

106 minutes

5 'Aladdin' (2019)

Directed by Guy Ritchie

The directing duo of John Musker and Ron Clements has produced many iconic Disney films, but none left the same impact on popular culture as Aladdin. Along with telling a solid story about happiness coming from within mixed with action, adventure, and a legendary performance by Robin Williamsas the Genie. He proved to be so popular that the world of voice-acting in animated films would forever be changed.

The 2019 remake has some good moments but is constantly undermined by its need to call back to the original film, especially with the Genie. Will Smith turns out a halfway decent performance when he's allowed to use his natural charisma, but half the time the movie wants him to be Williams, and in that, he fails spectacularly. The villainous Jafar and Iago are also disappointments: Marwan Kenzari and Alan Tudyk lack the legendary comradery of Johnathan Freeman and Gilbert Gottfried, and it doesn't help that Iago is turned into a regular parrot, and Jafar is strangely obsessed with destroying Agrabah's neighboring city.

Aladdin (2019)

See Also

Oscar Nominees in Disney Live-Action Remakes

4 'Beauty and the Beast' (2017)

Directed by Bill Condon

Despite a tricky production that saw the film's prep time slashed in half, Beauty and the Beast went on to become the first animated film nominated for Best Picture, and the only hand-drawn one. Audiences fell in love with the beautiful music, iconic side characters, and the well-paced love story between Belle and Beast. Its remake went on to become the second-highest-grossing of the bunch but did little to justify its existence.

The film's greatest sin is that it tries to fix perceived plotholes and unexplained details from the original movie but doesn't do a good enough job of weaving these into the narrative. For example, the mystery of what happened to Belle's mother is lackluster, doesn't do much to advance her romance with the Beast, and introduces a magic book that creates whole new plotholes. Belle and Beast's romance is also much weaker this time around, not helped by some stiff performances and Dan Stevens' more hostile and dismissive attitude as the Beast.

Beauty and the Beast

PG

Fantasy

Family

Romance

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

March 16, 2017

Director

Bill Condon

Cast

Emma Watson , Dan Stevens , Luke Evans , Josh Gad , Kevin Kline , Hattie Morahan

Runtime

123

3 'Mulan' (2020)

Directed by Niki Caro

1998's Mulan was one of Disney's earliest examples of adapting a non-English or European story. Though it was not looked upon favorably in China, it was beloved in the West for its gorgeous colours and a solid story about courage, self-confidence, and subverting cultural and gender norms. When it was decided to remake the film, Disney attempted to be more faithful to Chinese culture, but in doing so, created a bunch of new problems.

Along with getting details like the style of buildings wrong, the film fails because it's a boring affair. Most of the original's charming moments, such as musical numbers, the romance between Mulan and Li Shan, and the fan favourite comic relief dragon, Mushu, were removed, denying the film a chance to break from its serious tone. Mulan herself is also harder to relate to because the new film has her succeed due to having an abundance of chi energy, rather than struggling to overcome her personal flaws and inspiring her fellow soldiers with her intelligence and quick thinking.

Mulan

Adventure

Action

Family

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 4, 2020

Director

Niki Caro

Runtime

120

2 'Pinocchio' (2022)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Pinocchio is one of the most important movies in Disney's animated canon, and perhaps the best to come from their Golden Age. It's one of Disney's darkest movies, with scary imagery and villains who are never brought to justice, yet also maintains an optimistic tone that proves that miracles can happen with enough hard work and determination. It is also a technical marvel, with some of Disney's most impressive animation, especially concerning water effects.

This makes the remake all the more of a letdown when it toned down the darker aspects, and replaced them with juvenile moments like Pinocchio sniffing dung and annoying seagull companions. The only terrors come from the hideous animation, especially in the anthropomorphic characters, who look more like demons than magical creatures. The film also has a strange stance on morality: Pinocchio uses his growing nose to escape from trouble, which contradicts the original intention that lying is bad, while he is punished for doing the right thing, like going to school.

Pinocchio (2022)

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

Not available

*Availability in US

1 'The Lion King' (2019)

Directed by Jon Favreau

The Lion King is regarded as one of Disney's greatest films and remains the highest-grossing traditional animated film. Initially conceived as a filler movie to tide audiences over until the release of Pocahontas, the team put their all into the production, creating a film with massive scale, strong themes about the importance of responsibility and learning from the past, and unforgettable characters. Its remake made enough money to become the highest-grossing animated film and has a prequel film on the way.

Despite making so much money, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone with positive things to say about this remake. The decision to use photo-realistic animals with limited facial movements is its greatest sin, as this prevents the characters from reaching even a fraction of the original film's character expression and natural charisma. This choice also makes the film less visually interesting, especially during the musical sequences, as the characters are restricted to how an animal can move, killing any chance at creativity.

The Lion King

PG

Fantasy

Adventure

Animation

Family

After the murder of his father, a young lion prince flees his kingdom only to learn the true meaning of responsibility and bravery.

Release Date

July 12, 2019

Director

Jon Favreau

Cast

John Kani , Seth Rogen , Donald Glover , Keegan Michael Key , Chiwetel Ejiofor , James Earl Jones

Runtime

118 minutes

NEXT: The 8 Things You Need to Know About Disney's Live-Action Moana Remake