Original and unoriginal stories within Disney Movies

[emma15677]

(sorry if this topic has been posted before)

How do you all feel that many Disney movies are not original stories of their own?

For a list and further evalution, go to http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1227624

I'm not saying it's a bad thing. One way I think of it is the way Disney does their own version is so amazing that it almost seems like its their own movie.

I wonder what the success level of Disney would be like today if they hadn't used so many old stories of others. Who knows?

However, I am aware that many other companies who have used unoriginal stores of their own who have had awards given for their movies e.g. Titanic, Lord of the Rings

So what are the really successful Disney movies that are original stories? To name a few:

Fantasia
High School Musical
Air Bud
Lilo & Stitch

For a list of more original and unoriginal stories of disney movies, please go to the weblink.

[SilentMickey]

All the best Disney movies had universal themes and have the ability to connect to multiple audiences. What Disney did with the re-telling of old stories was passing the values and themes on to a new generation. But what makes a movie good to me is how the film makers make me connect with the characters. That for me has been the problem with most of the last few Disney releases. I think that is where Pixar has surpassed Disney in terms of churning out the hits. The themes in the Pixar flicks are old as the hills but the presentation and the wonderful characters and the attention to detail is what makes those movies great just like the old Disney animated movies.

I think Disney worries more about how to market a movie than about how a movie turns out. Dr. Malcom said it best in Jurassic Park when he said "Instead of thinking about whether or not you could, you didn't stop to thing about whether or not you should". I paraphrase but you get what I'm saying right?

[emma15677]

I agree with you about the whole realting to characters thing.

[CoryTheRaven]

I actually think Disney is at its best when it is adapting a previous story, or especially a fairy tale. Of course there have been some pretty bad adaptations - Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pocahontas, Chicken Little, The Black Cauldron - but when you think of Disney's best films, they're always adaptations with only one exception, being The Lion King. While their experimentation with original stories was interesting (I quite like Atlantis, as a matter of fact), they were always less than stellar.

[tomserwin]

Yes Disney uses other stories, but they do a very good job with it. For example, the Jungle Book was an intense, political book that criticized society. In short, it was a heavy book. Disney made a light, playful story out of a deeper, darker book.

I kind of like that side of Diseny.

[Chernabog40]

Although most Disney movies are in fact adaptations of other stories, they do a great job of giving more layers and interest to them. For example, the original Snow White is violent and unpleasant to read. And Beauty and the Beast isn't nearly as much fun without Gaston or Lumiere.

[Executioner]

I have to disagree with the earlier comment of the Hunchback being a bad Disney film. I thought this was an extraordinary film and Disney knew it was a dark piece but played it well. The music is outstanding. The Black Cauldron could have been better with a better budget, but I do like that it had different artistry in it. Here again, The Black Cauldron was made when Eisner came into power and was turning the company around. There still are many fairy tales Disney can make into films.

[ShrunkenNed]

I'd rather see Disney take other stories and make them theirs, such as folktales and fairytales, even certain classic novels, than keep reworking and running their current stories into the ground with cheesy spinoffs and countless sequels.

And I agree with Ex, Hunchback is a phenomenal piece of work, both musically and visually. Just don't compare it to the book.

[Executioner]

Originally Posted by ShrunkenNed

And I agree with Ex, Hunchback is a phenomenal piece of work, both musically and visually. Just don't compare it to the book.

Exactly.... Otherwise you should do the same for The Little Mermaid as well, seeing as the original story is much darker and Ariel dies. Oh yes. LOL

[tomserwin]

Originally Posted by ShrunkenNed

I'd rather see Disney take other stories and make them theirs, such as folktales and fairytales, even certain classic novels, than keep reworking and running their current stories into the ground with cheesy spinoffs and countless sequels.

I would agree if Walt was still alive. He turned a lot of classic literature into good movies, but now-a-days I don't think Disney has what it takes to do what it did when Walt was alive. Now technology is so good that it would actually ruin the movie.

[Executioner]

Technology is not what ruins the movie. Walt changed the technology of movie making and cartooning. People ruin the movie and so does the story. If they don't make the story good enough, it won't matter how good or bad it looks. Walt loved the new advancements in technology. Even in the cinema.

[tomserwin]

What I mean is stuff like Beowulf. That would have been ten times better if it didn't rely so heavily upon technology, especially since the technology wasn't necessary.

[CoryTheRaven]

RE: Hunchback...

Artistically, the movie is beautiful. I don't discredit it on that point. But I can't help comparing it to the book because I love the book... Claude Frollo is one of my favorite characters in literature, and while he looks cool in the film, they reduce him to a terrible one-note villain. And Phobos becomes a terrible one-note hero, and Esmeralda a terrible one-note heroine. And the worst affront of all was a happily-ever-after that was outright antithetical to the novel's theme, which was definitely not happily-ever-after.

It's just one of those situations where I wonder what actually possessed them to do it to begin with. Yes a lot of those fairy tales are violent and scary (a friend once called them horror stories to get kids ready for the real world), but you can tease out elements of them without going against the grain of the story itself. In order to make it a Disney film, they had to contradict the novel.

RE: Black Cauldron...

When I started watching it, it made me think of some kind of family-friendly version of Heavy Metal. And then I stopped watching it when the little dog-thing came on.

But overall, I guess whatever floats your boat... I happen to love Treasure Planet. It's easily one of my all-time favorite films, not just one of my favorite Disney films. It was brilliantly conceived and brilliantly executed. Unfortunately I just don't think it was the kind of thing most people wanted to see.