By Chloe Hsieh

Everyone knows the timeless Disney animation movies: “Snow White,” “The Little Mermaid” (1989), “Beauty and the Beast” (1991) and “The Lion King” (1994), just to name a few. It’s hard to find someone who didn’t grow up watching at least one of these widely-loved films.

After all, Disney gained its worldwide name-recognition from these carefully, whimsical animated kids’ movies. Filled with painstakingly frame-by-frame hand-drawn animation, these works are brought to life, becoming a staple family watch in households all over the world.

But now, in the era of realistic computer graphics and 3D animation, hand-drawn animated work is becoming less and less prevalent in American-made movies with the last traditional 2D animation film being “Winnie the Pooh” in 2011. Yet clearly, Disney is trying to recreate the glory of these older animated storylines that their brand was built upon. 

Live-action remakes have become a trend in recent Disney releases, with the live adaptations of “Aladdin” (2019), “Mulan” (2020), and “The Little Mermaid” (2023) and more all coming out in the past decade— not to mention a live-action “Moana” to release this summer.

But all of these remakes, coupled with Disney’s coinciding trend of making sequels, are leaving many viewers feeling dissatisfied.

“The Disney remakes just feel lazy,” junior Joydex Soldevilla said. “They’re not necessary at all. The CGI look of the live-action movies don’t sell the same fantastical world that the original ones do. The actors and the CGI don’t really blend.”

Soldevilla isn’t alone: many opinions online voice the same complaints. It is rare for a remake to top 70 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, some shockingly low like “Snow White” (2025) with 39 percent and “Pinnochio” (2022) with 27 percent. One common issue people have with the remakes is that they just feel like a one-to-one, shallow retelling.

Take the 2019 remake of “The Lion King.” Though the movie showcased the advances in CGI technology to create realistic depictions of animals, many people felt that the movie ended up being a bland recreation that followed the original’s story too closely to be interesting.

When remaking an older story, not only is the big-name film facing the typical expectations of the production value of a big studio, but it also has to live up to the expectations of fans of the original animated movie.

This can be especially seen in remakes like the live-action “Lilo and Stitch” (2025). In the original film, Nani and Lilo remain together as sisters, evading the threat of state care, and officially adopt Stitch at the end of the movie, stressing the film’s main theme of “family means nobody gets left behind.” However, in the live-action, director Dean Fleischer Camp decided to add his own interpretation of the movie’s ending. Instead, he has Nani (Sydney Agudong) leave for college in California while Lilo (Maia Kealoha) is adopted by a neighbor. Many fans of the original felt that the remake betrayed the core theme of family, showing Nani prioritizing her career over her sister.

It introduces a dilemma for the directors of Disney remakes. On one hand, a complete copy without new interpretation feels pointless and repetitive. On the other, changes have to face the scrutiny of those who grew up loving the original.

But if so much of the public is unhappy with the live-action remakes, then why is Disney still making them?

The answer is simple: because they perform so well.

Even “Lilo and Stitch,” which received widespread controversy over its altered ending, had a box office opening of $146 million domestically, grossing a total of a little over $1 billion worldwide, with a budget of only $100 million.

“Moana 2” (2024), a relatively successful animated film (yet still a sequel) had a rough gross total of the same $1 billion but had a budget $50 million larger. So we can see why Disney is so keen to pump out more remakes. 

Although teen to adult fans who’ve seen the original can compare the two films, Disney ultimately makes movies targeted for children and their families. Adults who saw the originals are likely to bring their children to see a remade version as well. After all, the new generation could be experiencing these whimsical storylines for the first time. These live-action remakes might just become their staple childhood rewatches instead.