Disney: Where Did They Abandon The Magic?

Everyone has their own opinion on live-action Disney movies. Some fans love the real to life version of their favorite stories. Some hate the fact that Disney just keeps tarnishing the legacy of the original animated films. What is it about these remakes that people can’t seem to have the same love for?

While a large handful of live-action Disney movies have done well, others aren’t living up to the hype and left me wondering why. It wasn’t until I watched Pete’s Dragon on Disney+ that it struck me. The magic is gone, and no that’s not a metaphor. What makes the animated alternatives so much better was the sense of wonder and magic that just isn’t standing out as it should in the live-action movies. Even with attempts to make them seem a more modern version of the same story, it’s not the same.

While it’s not animated to live-action, the changes were enough to take notice. In the original Pete’s Dragon Pete was an orphaned boy running from foster care. He was escaping a “family” who was mistreating him. Pete meets Elliot in the original film and that’s where the magic comes into play. Not only does he meet a magic dragon who shows him there’s still a sense of wonder in the world, but he also leads him to a town where he runs into a welcoming family where he learns the value of family.

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In the more modern version, the story was changed. While I can understand updating the look of a dragon to be less threatening to children since when in the history of make-believe does a dragon have fur? It’s always had similar characteristics to a reptile, and reptiles don’t have fur. We went from an animated/cartoonish character to an almost stuffed animal look in CGI.

But that’s not the most off-putting part, it was the complete change of the story in general. In the original Pete’s Dragon, we don’t know what happened to his parents. He just ends up in the foster system and runs away. In the live-action movie with the new Disney approach, they die in a car accident. While it could play into the story, they chose this weird route where he just goes off and lives in the woods. From there, his story is told closer to that of Tarzan than Pete’s Dragon.

Something so small from the original movies changes the way the film comes across. While the story ultimately ends up the same, it’s how they got there that completely changed how the movie is perceived. The audience gets the payoff when Pete finds a new family, but the “magic” of the movie is lost in translation. We don’t see the struggles he’s had to run away from. We don’t see the musical numbers that bring energy and excitement to the town. The more modern live-action movie has the same sentiment as the 1977 original but none of the fun.

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Creative freedom is what separates great directors from the pack. Anyone who is working on a project should be allowed to tell a story in a fashion that completes their work as a whole. However, it’s not that we’re just adults. Disney has changed their approach to modern storytelling. Bring back the magic of Disney