With the recent release of the trailer for Aladdin, we got our first look at Will Smith as the Genie. Unfortunately, it left a lot of fans scratching their heads, to say the least. The Internet backlash was immediate, and for good reason, too: the CGI is horrifying. The Genie looks like a terrible fan-edit, and it’s still hard to believe that the atrocity was made with the full funding of Disney behind it.
Disney has been recently pushing live-action remakes of its more popular movies and so far they have been incredibly successful. With more and more movies being released, however, they run the risk of ending up with more CGI nightmares like the Genie.
Disney needs to be very careful with who they decide to give the CGI makeover to because while some of them may work extremely well, there are also some that could lead to the ridicule the Genie has been receiving. Here are some of the characters that Disney should avoid remaking and some that will actually work.
Terrible: Ursula
There’s a lot to capture when it comes to Ursula. The Little Mermaid managed to create one of the most compelling villains by blending the perfect amounts of menacing, humorous, and strangely endearing.
The character has become iconic, and her look is a large part of that. To try and capture it with CGI would create a monster that is horrifying to even think about. The tentacles, skin color, and white hair underwater all present massive challenges. It’s difficult to see this creation being anything but a car crash.
Good: The Fox And The Hound
The Fox and The Hound is one of Disney’s most heart-wrenching movies, and seeing the pair look even more lifelike would add to the sadness.
The property deserves a comeback, and it would be easy to pull off the animals in CGI. It would be a great way to make everyone ‘ugly cry’ in theaters again.
Terrible: Stitch
One of the greatest parts about Lilo and Stitch is the transition from Stitch being a monster to being an adorable friend. The CGI version would almost certainly capture the monster part and nothing else.
While it’s easy to see how they could create a creepy alien menace with CGI, the ability to have Stitch also present his cute side is an almost impossible challenge. Imagining a Stitch made with computer graphics saying “Ohana means family” is enough to haunt your dreams.
Good: Kuzco
The beautiful part of capturing Kuzco as a llama in CGI is that even if it looks a little bit creepy, that’s kind of the point. The Emperor’s New Groove is one of Disney’s funniest movies, and picturing a CGI llama with Kuzco’s voice behind it is already funny.
Terrible: Hades
Hades from Hercules suffers from the same problem as Stitch, it would be hard to portray him as anything but frightening. The flames rising when he gets angry would look incredible in CGI, but he might go a bit too far for a movie aimed at children. There is so much more to the character than just being the God of Death, and it would be almost impossible to appreciate his dry wit and sarcasm while staring at the fangs, sunken eyes, and flaming head of the character. A CGI version would be much more suited for a horror movie.
Good: Aristocats
If there’s one area where CGI has been shown to work, it’s with animals. The recent adaption of The Jungle Book proved just how well the technology is able to handle recreating animals, and the trailer for The Lion King looks extremely promising.
PREVIOUSLY: Aladdin Fan Art Swaps Will Smith for Robin Williams as Live-Action Genie
Aristocats is a lesser-known Disney property that would be perfect to bring back. Having less of a fan base means that there’s less risk, and it’s also a great way to introduce younger audiences to the lovable cats.
Terrible: Mushu
Unlike the other characters on the list, we know that Mushu actually will be appearing in a live-action remake. Mulan is scheduled to come out soon, and it has been reported that Mushu will be appearing. It is very difficult to see how they are going to be able to pull this one off, even from just a technical aspect.
Mushu is a very small, very slender dragon that does a lot of hiding and blending in places. The actual release will show whether or not Disney can pull it off, but my money is on Mushu having a much smaller role or it being a complete disaster.
Good: Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a timeless tale that Disney masterfully reimagined using animals. The proof that this would work is again with the remake of The Jungle Book. Interestingly, the animation for Little John in Robin Hood was directly copied from Baloo, and there’s no reason why they couldn’t do it again.
Terrible: John Silver
Treasure Planet, Disney’s adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, is one of Disney’s most under-appreciated movies. They tried something incredibly bold, and it could only be pulled off in animation. Trying to do a complete live-action remake would be a serious challenge, with all of the alien characters and flying ships. A particular challenge would be the character of John Silver, a cyborg alien pirate. It’s tough to imagine even where to begin trying to use CGI to reinvent the villain.
Good: Terk
While there have been countless versions of Tarzan to hit the big screen, Disney’s fun take on the character will always stand out.
One reason why Disney’s version works so well was the ability to give all of the animals real personalities. Planet of the Apes has shown that gorillas can be captured extremely well using CGI and it would be nice to see a fun Tarzan on screen again.
