I love old stories. I really, really love folklore and classic fairytales, and I have loved them for a long time. I was one of those kids who found joy in researching different country’s versions of Cinderella and learning the depths of Irish mythology. But I came into all of these stories with an interesting perspective, having also grown up in the famous Disney Renaissance. I still love Disney too! I had a collection of VHS tapes and every Disney Princess doll I could get my hands on. So, it subsequently floored me to experience these stories in their original form (both fairytales and novels alike), since they were often so dramatically… Disney-fied, for lack of a better term. There are plenty of Buzzfeed articles that go on about the “shocking” quality of the original fairy tales for Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, but these articles also heavily imply that these stories were Disney’s first. The company often takes stories and leaves a very lasting impression with their take. There is a much larger discussion to be had about the imprint Disney leaves on adapted stories, for worse or better.
Most of the time though, it is for the better. Their old fairy tale films are iconic, and recent movies like Treasure Planet, The Princess and The Frog, or even Frozen (because Frozen is a good movie, even if we are tired of seeing it) have taken classic stories and given them a new angle. Sometimes though, that new angle doesn’t work out as well as Disney intends. In fact, they go as far as to miss the point of the original story entirely. The following five films are prime examples of the wrong way to Disney-fy a story.
(Note: I’m focusing exclusively on novels and stories Disney has retold, so Pocahontas isn’t included despite how little it attempts to be historically accurate. I am also excluding The Hunchback of Notre Dame since its later stage variation by Disney does follow the novel more closely. You get a pass this time, writers).
The Black Cauldron
This film actually comes from the Dark Ages of Disney, and I honestly think it meant well, so I only include it on the weakness of the final product.
Based on Lloyd Alexander’s high fantasy series, The Chronicles of Prydain, there was a pretty stellar team of animators and writers behind it, including Tim Burton. It was made to revive the Disney brand with something a little different and more mature.
Unfortunately, cuts happened. A lot of cuts. Early screenings of the film were considered to violent and frightening for Disney's target family audience, and then-chairmen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, had almost 12 minutes of animation and plot removed. The story quickly failed to resemble anything of the original novel, deep characterization is lost, and the resulting film is still considered one of Disney's largest flops. I actually don't hate this movie, even having read the books and enjoyed them. Indeed, it is a well-made film at heart, though its actual content and story were a bit too dark for Disney's tastes.
The Sword in The Stone
Unlike The Black Cauldron, I feel the older I get, the less I can defend The Sword in The Stone. Based on T.H. White's The Once and Future King, which tells the story of Merlin and a young King Arthur adventuring and learning together. I think this movie started an odd era of Disney where they were attempting to be very... current and light.
This was actually the last film to have any of Walt Disney's involvement, so the characters are actually more memorable and iconic than they need be. There is a charisma and energy to it that still holds to this day. The movie borrows from the bare bones of the original story though, often opting for a fluff-filled tone that hops from point to point without a real anchorage. Many of the characters go underdeveloped and Arthur's lessons have less weight in the film as well. Perhaps the most tragic part though is that Disney's imagery is still felt to this day, and is the first thing to come up in a Google search of the book, or the characters of Arthurian legend.
Peter Pan
J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan is the tale a magical boy who befriends several London children and takes them on a journey, second star to the right and into Neverland. There are pirates, mermaids, Indians, and adventure at every turn!
And Disney's 1956 retelling only resembles it in characters and title.
I really didn't mind this film until I saw the play (and later read the novel) as a kid, and then I grew to despise it. Mostly because the message of the movie completely negates the ideas in the story, where originally, Wendy and Peter clash as the story proceeds Wendy Darling must decide to grow up, and what growing up really means. This concept gets badly muddled with the Disney version, along with many of the characters (Peter, in particular, is so awfully annoying in the movie). I'm still not sure why these changes were made, but the novel and play are much deeper than this film implies.
The Little Mermaid
I'm going to get hate for this. I feel it now.
The Little Mermaid is, technically, a good movie. Its animation is groundbreaking and beautiful, and it started a much nicer era for Disney films. It is memorable and amazing.
I still do not like it, nor how it handles its source material.
The original Hans Christian Anderson fairytale is a story of sacrifice and humility. A mermaid trades her voice to be with a human she has become smitten with, and she has three days to make him love her back. For Disney's version, its biggest failing is the ending: the original puts the mermaid in a position where she must kill her prince (and his new bride) to avoid death. She opts to spare his life instead, giving her own to the sea.
While I understand why this may be too sad for Disney (they completely cut The Little Matchstick Girl sequence from Fantasia 2000 for similar reasons), a happy ending in The Little Mermaid almost defeats the lesson the story tries to teach. Instead of Ariel making a notable sacrifice in spite of her wants, she is rewarded for nothing and learns nothing. Much like Peter Pan, this muddled message makes the story appear more self-serving than they likely intended.
Alice in Wonderland
This was my least favorite Disney movie as a child. My least. And I still hate it.
Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been adapted countless times, both to screen and stage, since its release. Not counting Tim Burton version though, Disney has co-op'd its imagery, as its original adaption is the most recognized and popular. This is forever curious, since the film has so little to do with the book.
While Alice in Wonderland is a vivid and lush movie about the titular character's adventures in Wonderland, it plays more like a sequence of nonsense scenes and musical numbers. This by itself isn't so bad, but the movie actually becomes an odd amalgam of Carroll's stories, poems, and ideas. It also completely chops and removes sections of the book, making it lose its sociopolitical commentary that actually supported its ideas. In a way, I find Disney to blame for the idea that this story doesn't make any sense- because Disney's adaption makes no sense at all.
Do you have a least favorite Disney retelling? Do you think the above-mentioned movies are good after all?
