Disney's Live-Action Revival

Over the past few years Disney has been caught up in a wave of remaking some of there classic properties with a "but now it's live-action" twist and, as it turns out, there is big money to be made there. While all of these are "live-action" (or at the very least live-action mixed with photo realistic animal characters like 2016's The Jungle Book), and not animation remakes, the approach to retelling the story and the quality of the films has varied. Some of the movies are simply a straight remake with an extra song or minor details thrown in, while others try to put a spin on the story you grew up with. 

Like I already stated Disney is riding this trend with no signs of stopping. Just looking at next year, there are three of these films coming out! Aladdin, Dumbo, and The Lion King are all due for release in 2019, with other remakes in various stages of production to come out over the next few years.

So, what's come out so far, and how do these films stack up? Disney did make the occasional attempt at adapting their animated classics to live-action in the 90's with 1994's The Jungle Book and 1996's 101 Dalmatians, but I'm just going to focus on this current wave of films starting in 2010. I'll also keep updating this list as these movies come out.

The Good:

The Jungle Book (2016)

Christopher Robin (2018)

Maleficent (2014)

The Watchable:

Cinderella (2015) 
Aladdin (2019) 

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Skip:

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

There was also a remake of Pete's Dragon in 2016 but the original was already a live-action/animation hybrid, so I didn't count it. There was also a Nicholas Cage movie called the Sorcerer's Apprentice in 2010 which was a fantasy-action flick that I think was just using the Fantasia segment of the same name to sell tickets... I believe there's a bit in there with the brooms and buckets of water, but I don't remember. I found both of those film pretty underwhelming, in case you were curious. Also, I haven't seen Dumbo (2019) yet.