Reykjavík Grapevine - ágú. 2020, Blaðsíða 40

L IF E , T R AV EL & EN T ER TA INMEN T IN ICEL A ND
Issue 06 " 2020
August 14th—Sept 10th
www.grapevine.is
LAST WORDS
Disney Minus
Words: Nico Borbely
With the new ‘Mulan’ to hit Disney Plus in lieu
of theatres on September 4th, and a live-ac-
tion ‘Hercules’ recently announced, now’s the
perfect time to reflect on the veritable Pan-
dora’s box of live-action Disney remakes that
have hit the screen in recent years. Though
this phenomenon has its origin in the 1994
blockbuster ‘Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle
Book’ starring Jason Scott Lee, it didn’t start
to really take off to the extent that we see
now until 2015’s ‘Cinderella.’ Remakes have
been churned out at increasingly swift rates,
coming to a head in 2019 with the release
of four such remakes—’Dumbo,’ ‘Aladdin,’
‘The Lion King,’ ‘Lady and the Tramp,’ and
‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,’ a follow-up to
2014’s ‘Maleficent’.
But hot take: stop.
Disney movies are well-known not only for
their beautiful animation, satisfying stories,
and, of course, the childhood memories they
have the power to invoke, but for the ways
in which they combine old stories and new
artistic mediums in innovative and imagina-
tive ways. Which the remakes are not. They
are at best okay, and more commonly con-
trived and unoriginal, deliberately tamper-
ing with the very elements that made the
originals so wonderful. YouTuber and cinema
critic Lindsay Ellis put it quite aptly in her
refreshingly frank and illuminating review
of 2017’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ remake, a
comprehensive example of this trend. The
film, as she emphasises and I agree with, is
offensively useless in its existence in that
filmmakers added seemingly calculated re-
sponses to pedantic, logic-obsessed viewers
smugly pointing out plot holes in the original
(“the whole castle was cursed because of the
actions of a bratty ten-year-old?? ThAt’S nOt
LoGiCaL!!!!”), but also kept elements from the
original. Inevitably this clash damaged much
of the intended morals of the story.
More attention should be given to developing
and releasing new, original content, rather
than constantly, cheaply rebranding old fa-
vorites to try to capitalize on childhood nos-
talgia. Let’s hope that we get to see more such
original content like the upcoming flicks
‘Soul,’ ‘Raya and the Last Dragon,’ ‘Encanto,’
and ‘Luca,’ rather than more of these pretty
messes of nothing.
FROM SÓLHEIMAJÖKULL & M!RDALSJÖKULL BASE CAMPS
Book online or call our sales
office from 9:00am - 4:00pm
ATV Tours, Kayaking
& Glacier Walks
mountainguides.is
info@mountainguides.is
Tel: +354 587 9999
mountainguides.is • info@mountainguides.is • Tel: +354 587 9999
Glacier Walks &
Ice Climbing
FROM SKAFTAFELL, VATNAJÖKULL N.P.
Book online or call our sales office from
9:00am - 4:00pm