Everyone has one special Disney animated feature film that reinvigorates the child-like wonder into their lives, remembering precisely where they were watching it for the first time and how it made them feel. Often these become special and formative experiences of growing up, finding parts of ourselves within these worlds. Upon rewatch, it brings them back to a time filled with whimsy and magic – where anything you dream is possible.
Walt Disney took care in crafting these worlds to evoke exactly this. One of the many avenues by which he did this was through stories about princesses. This began with 2D animated spectacles Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) and Cinderella (1950) then subsequently, leading to the Disney Renaissance in which five of the ten critically acclaimed films released in this period involved princesses. Even today, there is still investment being made into these films with Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) being the most recent example. This is a legacy of storytelling that spans almost a century.
The mid-2010s saw a shift in focus for Walt Disney Studios, cowering towards the safety of existing IPs, channeling their energy into producing prequels, sequels, and live-action retellings of the stories audiences know and love, and ultimately hoping they are profitable. In the last ten years, cinema-goers have been presented with seven live-action remakes of the Disney Princess animations – soon to be eight with Marc Webb’s Snow White (2025) releasing in theatres on the 21st of March.
The studio believes this brings viewers to theatres but is this what they want? Can Disney harness the charm from the animated counterpart? Here are the seven live-action Disney Princess remakes ranked based on just that.
7. Mulan (2020)
While trying to balance cultural sensitivity and honoring the source material, Niki Caro unfortunately gutted everything that made the original so revolutionary. The absence of musical numbers and comedic relief Mushu in favor of a more realistic adaptation left this feeling less endearing. Liu Yifei’s portrayal of Hua Mulan often felt rigid along with the majority of the other performances seen. The action sequences were riddled with jarring cuts meshed together with overused slow motion. The only gleam of potential this had was the addition of the women wielding chi with a more powerful plot point but even then, it was not explored nearly enough as hoped.
6. Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Considering that Beauty and the Beast (1991) is the most critically acclaimed Disney Princess film to date, the challenge of reimagining this was evident. While Emma Watson looks and feels the part of Belle, the immersion into this world is broken by the subpar character designs of Dan Stevens’ Beast and his staff-turned-household objects. The addition of the magical transportation book given to Beast from the Enchantress did not add anything pivotal or meaningful to the plot, feeling like a wasted opportunity to introduce more depth to this beloved story.
5. Aladdin (2019)
The difficulty in retelling the story of Aladdin (1992) in live-action format is that the visual storytelling and mysticism of the narrative are only enhanced by the use of animation. The most obvious comparison would be made to any sequence that involves Genie. Not only is it challenging to translate him to CGI form but Robin Williams crafts Genie so enchantingly that it is hard for Will Smith to measure up to these unattainable heights. Naomi Scott as Jasmine was the highlight of this with her newly incorporated song “Speechless” reinforcing the character’s independence and strong will in an empowering way.
4. The Little Mermaid (2023)
One criticism that The Little Mermaid (1989) had was that the love Ariel and Eric developed was not palpable. This is where the live-action remake succeeds with the chemistry between Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King being the best of them all. Each remastered song maintains the same vibrancy with Bailey flooring audiences with her powerhouse vocals in “Part of Your World” proving that the physical likeness of the princess does not need to be matched one-to-one for it to be an authentic portrayal. That being said, “The Scuttlebutt” is one of the worst newly added songs to have come from a remake.
2 & 3. Maleficent (2014) & Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)
One of the elements that makes a remake worthwhile is one that takes a considerate effort to expand upon the original story in a meaningful way. Sleeping Beauty (1959) left its audience wondering where villain Maleficent’s resentment for King Stefan and Queen Leah came from and the live-action adaptation explored this in great detail. Angelina Jolie as the titular role could not have been a more perfect casting choice. From her cold resentment of the royal child thawing into a deep maternal love for Aurora, she and the compelling narrative made these movies shine.
1. Cinderella (2015)
Lily James breathes life into Cinderella, bringing all of the elegance to her character as if it was directly taken out of the animated feature. Under the careful craftsmanship of director Kenneth Branagh, this live-action feature encapsulated the pure magic you feel when watching a Disney film for the first time as a child, even the iconic dress transformation sequence was executed to perfection. From Cate Blanchett’s searing portrayal of Lady Tremaine to Helena Bonham Carter’s intentionally chaotic nature seen as the Fairy Godmother, everything fits together as seamlessly as pieces of a puzzle.
List Courtesy of Nandita Joshi
Feature Image Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures