I've not done one of these in a while so let's just get a biggie out of the way. Remakes and reboots are always a bit of a divisive topic amongst film fans, although the general consensus amongst many is that they are usually pretty bad. That isn't to say that there are no good remakes around (Dawn of the Dead, the Departed, the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo etc...), but in total the bad ones really do outweigh the good.
However, there is one company that seems to be shamelessly recycling the same films over and over again and that is Disney. The Walt Disney company already has a bit of a track record for not being the most original of film studios with most of their major successes being based off of previously written fairytales, folklore and fables (Cinderella, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty etc....). But Disney didn't stop there... no no no no no. They decided to adapt theme park rides into films as well with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (now entering it's 5TH FUCKING FILM) and the much less successful Haunted Mansion film with Eddie Murphy (remember that one.... yeah, me neither). That said, Disney did it again this year with Tomorrowland (not gonna use the UK title because it's ridiculous). Tomorrowland was a surprisingly enjoyable sic-fi family adventure reminiscent of mid 80's sic-fi flicks like Flight of the Navigator, or even Short Circuit. The film had a contagious sense of wonder about it, which certainly added to the viewing experience, and allowed the audience to ignore the possible love story between George Clooney and a young girl (but lets just gloss over that shall we).
Disney is largely lacking in original material, with some of their biggest hits of the last few years being either adaptations, remakes or sequels. Frozen (the Snow Queen adaptation (loosely)), Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty remake (ish)), Tangled (Rapunzel)... I give up. Original material can't be that hard to come by... can it? But I suppose discussing the originality of Hollywood is cause for an entirely new article so we'll definitely leave that one there and pick up at it again later.
Disney, as had just been mentioned via Maleficent, seems to be in the process of remaking their old roster of films (classics and renaissance films) into live action movies for a "new generation". Some of these films that they are remaking are absolute classics and some of the studios best. For example, it was announced a little while ago that both Mulan and Aladdin would be remade by Disney as live action films..... WHY!!! These are both films that a) aren't even that old and b) are two of Disney's best. If I had kids, and wanted them to experience these disney films, I wouldn't take them to see a live action Mulan film (of which Cine Asia had already released one anyway but not for kids) I would be a normal human being and let them watch the cartoon. Same goes for Aladdin, especially with the loss of Robin Williams, the film would be a complete disaster, just look at the Return of Jafar for proof.
I may be part of my own problem though, as I do hate the fact that some of my childhood favourites are being recycled and realised by human actors instead of animators, I still end up seeing these films, and there is no denying that as much as I hate to say it Jon Favreau's the Jungle Book (due early 2016), does look rather impressive and boasts a cast full of a-list actors. However, this does not change the fact that the entire process seems greedy and unnecessary (like releasing a live action Winnie the Pooh, who the fuck asked for that).
Oh well.... It's not as if anyone's going to pay much attention to this, but nevertheless that seems to be my rant about this particular subject over... I just believe that it would be best for Disney to find some original, or at least new material to create or adapt. For example, look at some contemporary children's stories and go from there (I'm not saying that disney should release the Very Hungry Caterpillar Movie, but look at studios like Laika and Dreamworks, releasing Coraline and How to Train Your dragon respectively, both highly regarded family films adapted from contemporary sources).
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