There was a trailer released online recently for the new live-action “How To Train Your Dragon.” This trailer showcased the animated DreamWorks classic, that millions of people around the world adore, in a life-like style. The trailer was met with some incredibly harsh criticism, with people claiming that the film is going to ruin the original animation’s legacy.
This isn’t the first time this has happened in the DreamWorks world, and it certainly won‘t be the last.
I’m sure that if you’ve been paying attention to Disney for the past few years, you have probably seen a startling amount of live-action remakes. Disney has taken their most popular animated films like, “Aladdin,” “The Little Mermaid” and “The Lion King,” and transformed them into real life remakes. Most of these films make millions of dollars, so they just keep making more, but money isn’t everything.
Most of Disney’s live-action remakes are widely criticized, with some even refusing to watch them entirely.
The issue with these remakes is that the filmmakers refuse to tell any new story, and even use the exact same script that was written for the original film. If you were to watch the live-action side by side with the original, you would notice that there is minimal change to the story. This is the case with most of Disney’s live-action films.
Straying away from Disney for a moment, according to the director, the upcoming DreamWorks “How to Train Your Dragon” remake, will lack any difference from the original story line.
While this tactic of creating a live-action version of a previously animated film is clearly just a way to make more money off of a familiar storyline, another existing issue must be addressed. Many people don’t consider animation to be cinema. With the trend of releasing live-action remakes of animated films continuously growing larger each year, animators are put in danger.
With each growing generation, children are becoming less and less aware of the films people my age grew up with. I grew up with all the original Disney and DreamWorks animated classics, but with the emergence of this new form of storytelling, there will be less desire to see what inspired it. We’ll stop craving animation until they stop making animated films altogether.
There is an upside to this, though.
Along with the previously mentioned films, Disney also released “Cruella” and “Maleficent,” which are brand new stories based on their preexisting films. Both of these live-action films were wonderfully executed and very well received.
The problem though, is that “Cruella” was released in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and barely made its money back. If it were to be released today, I guarantee that it would have made a lot more, or even set the standard for what a live-action film from a mainly animated studio should be.
I’m not against live-action projects, as long as they have something new to bring to the table. In other words, instead of embracing live-action remakes, let’s start embracing live-action spin offs.
Nicholas Keller is a columnist. Contact him at [email protected].
