Over the past century, we have witnessed Disney transition from 2D to 3D animation and now into the era of live-action remakes. Although these movies place a modern lens on many past beloved films, they are also the laziest piece of art Disney could create. 

The number one reason that these movies continue to be produced on such a large scale is that they are guaranteed to rack in millions of dollars. Nostalgia is such a powerful force in marketing and Disney is very obviously aware of this. At the time of writing this Disney has constructed 14 live-action remakes since 2010.  Millions of watchers, myself included, pour into the theaters for every single one of these pictures. All these remakes have to do to become a box office success is vaguely resemble a movie that already exists. It’s disheartening to see a complete lack of passion and ingenuity from a company that has previously created, arguably, some of the most influential movies of our time. 

On another note, these films are just simply not up to the same caliber as their previous counterparts. I suppose there is a way to design an appealing live-action remake, but Disney absolutely gutted theirs for seemingly no reason. In the 2017 version of “Beauty and the Beast”, there are a total of  8 original scenes cut out and yet somehow the movie is 55 minutes longer. This clearly disrupts the carefully constructed flow of the original movie and leaves scenes feeling unnecessary and awkward. The creators of these initial stories did everything with a specific reason, there was nothing said, sung, or danced that didn’t contribute something vital to the narrative. The current renditions seem to have completely lost sight of this by picking and choosing which parts of the original they will keep around. 

Some might argue that Disney really is just trying their best to recreate cherished memories with present-day technology, and in their defense, I’m sure it’s very daunting to recreate some of the most remembered moments in movie history. All in all though, if you have to completely eviscerate another movie to make your own, then maybe you shouldn’t be making that movie. I’m nearly positive that Disney has the talent to create art at the same standard of the past, and therefore I see no rationale behind exhausting the same plot.