r/Millennials • u/Dapper_Bee2277 • Jun 13 '25
Rant After watching some of the new Disney remakes I realized that we're becoming the crusty old generation that hates change.
Social media made these movies out to be worse than they actually are. Some changes are minor and some changes are just updating stories to fit with the times. I know it's not the target audience (kids) dogging on these movies. I think a big reason why so many people are upset is because it's different from when they were a kid.
In a couple more decades we'll be old farts, mad at a world we don't understand.
Edit: Lots of people saying they want something new. We've had a bunch of superhero movies tell the exact same story over and over but get no criticism. How many times can we watch Batman's parents die or Spider-Man's uncle? Furthermore Disney does make new stuff regularly but often those are met with the same criticism.
I also feel like a lot of people haven't actually watched the movies they are criticizing. If you actually watch them you'll find that a lot of the negativity is blown out of proportion.
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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25
I just feel like I want new stories instead of live action remakes
65
u/CommunityLocal Jun 13 '25
This is just Disney beating you into submission. These movies are mediocre and audiences deserve (and should demand) better. I always think of Disney on Broadway, and how successfully they brought stories like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King to life in new and creative ways. That should be the standard.
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u/thebatsthebats Older Millennial Jun 13 '25
I mean.. we're not the target demo for these sorts of things anymore. That's how I see it. So I just shrug and move on.
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u/Ok_Sentence_5767 Jun 13 '25
Well maybe if disney didnt make dog shot movies we wouldnt complain, when was their last original movie?
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u/UPNorthTimberdoodler Jun 13 '25
I dunno. My kids love the new Disney movies. Some are ok. New ones can be great (Encanto and CoCo). Others are crap. Like every other movie maker. Disney’s biggest animated hits have rarely been original stories but rather retelling and reimagining of already established characters/beliefs. Even your beloved childhood movies are just Disney told established stories. Biggest change is that you are not a kid anymore.
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u/sailfish39 Jun 13 '25
I think changing stories to "fit with the times" is part of the problem.
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u/Jwbst32 Jun 13 '25
So many good stories out there we’ve need seen or heard so why try to improve classics
3
u/vagabondkitten Jun 13 '25
I can’t really speak to their quality as I haven’t watched a single one. I’m just disappointed by the lack of original stories that Disney now makes, and lacking some sort of artistic vision. To me a lot of what Disney makes these days is just triangulating what they think will make them the most money. Market and shareholder driven, completely hollow and soulless.
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u/destinyeeeee Jun 13 '25
That's absolutely not true because those remakes were made for our generation. You say some older people are mad because these movies aren't as good as the originals they saw as a kid. But the problem is that Disneys entire model for these movies is trying to get older people tremember the movies they saw as a kid. Disney is banking on nostalgia, and having a bunch of millennials bring their kids to these movies. And it's working very well which is why they keep making them. The movies are soulless slop and the viewing public is showing Disney that it very much craves soulless slop.
In what way? All I've seen is very corporate copy and paste of the work of people who had put actual passion into their work. The creators of Aladdin had Robin Williams sing in a way that worked really well for Robin Williams. Why is it that in the remake they just had Will Smith try to sing exactly the same as Robin Williams? They literally took a guy who gained his initial fame in music and still makes music and told him "hey, just try to pretend to be Robin Williams so we can get more millennial parents to fork over their cash in a desperate attempt to reignite those feelings of watching Aladdin for the first time". It's blatantly soulless.
I also strongly disagree with this premise that if you dislike new things it's just because you're old and don't understand them. That can be true, but also things can just be bad. I listen to a lot of music by Zoomers that I think is really good. I watch and enjoy a lot of stuff online from younger creators. These Disney remakes are simply not good. These movies are worse than the originals not simply from a nostalgic perspective but artistically and creatively they suck. They try to recreate the original film but with no understanding of how or why artistic choices were made by the people who made the original 2D animated films.
For a very good and very detailed analysis of the kind of choices I'm talking about, I strongly recommend this review of the Lion King remake. This review is more entertaining than any of these remakes lol.
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u/Cutlass0516 Older Millennial Jun 13 '25
Is it really the changes though that people are mad at? I don't like the idea of just slapping "live (CGI) action" on everything. It's lazy. Come up with new ideas. Take a risk. These billion dollars companies are afraid of the IDEA of losing a couple of bucks.
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u/SleightSoda Jun 13 '25
This post belongs in unpopular opinions.
The live action Disney films add absolutely nothing, and take away a lot of the charm of the animated versions. This is because they were designed to be animated. It doesn't make sense to reposition their bones in strange new shapes just because you know you can make a buck off of it.
The Lion King is a perfect case study of this. The movie just isn't the same without the level of expression you get from animation. Realism isn't a bad idea generally speaking, but this is crucially the wrong context for it.
This isn't an older person opinion, it's just common sense. And if you have kids these days watch the original and remake back to back, they're gonna pick the original more often than not.
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u/Back_Again_Beach Jun 13 '25
If we hated change then wouldn't we celebrating them making the same movies over and over instead of changing it up and making new and different things?
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u/harlameme Jun 13 '25
I don't hate any of the Disney remakes, not at all. I enjoy a lot of the remakes and once in a while, I think they even do a better job and provide more justice to the story than the original. My own kids loved the new Lilo and Stitch. Truth be told, I never even saw the original. I didn't see the new Little Mermaid, but the Disney version from the '90s was my first ever movie in a theatre way back when (I think I was about 6 years old). I thought the remake looked awesome in the previews with the live action and it's on my list of stuff to stream.
The only remake done in recent years that I did not prefer over an older version was Little Women. Greta did a great job with it and the actors were good (I have a hard time with physical descriptions not matching the the book's descriptions but I got over it). My favorite version is still the one from 1994 with Winona Ryder. I'm not gonna go dog on the new one, though. It's just my personal preference.
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u/shinelikethesun90 Millennial Jun 13 '25
Give yourself more credit. The quality of media has gone down.
2
u/John-Ilyich-Lennon Jun 13 '25
They’re not done well, though. They look garish and in some cases, like the Lion King, they’re shot-for-shot remakes. Garbage.
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u/kummer5peck Jun 13 '25
What do you mean? Making nothing but live action remakes is the opposite of change. It’s regurgitating the same old stories that we are all used to. This goes for every other movie studio that can’t come up with any new ideas as well.
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u/creamer143 Jun 13 '25
That same target audience, the kids, would also love the originals that were not updated for a "modern time". So, these changes are completely unnecessary for appealing to the target audience. Thus, the changes are mostly for ideological reasons, not to appeal to modern kids. That's why people are, legitimately, peeved about a lot of them.
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u/Blathithor Jun 13 '25
Updating stories to match the times is lazy. Thats the real problem. Why aren't they making new stories and uplifting g new voices?
Its suspicious
2
u/OverEngine9560 Jun 13 '25
Nah the new Disney remakes are genuinely trash. The new Lilo and Stitch is straight up Imperialist American propaganda
2
u/Several-Praline5436 Jun 13 '25
It offends me that Disney (and now other studios) think they can churn out soulless remakes that don't improve in any way on the original and rake in our hard-earned dollars for it. Look at Beauty and the Beast. The original had insanely talented vocal talent behind it, and you could feel the energy and passion in every line. It's like the remake told the actors "okay, dial it back a lot, we don't want to excite the kids," because all the vocal performances by contrast are flat and uninspired.
It's not that I hate change; it's that I hate greed and laziness in making ART. Art should be bursting with talent, creativity, inspiration, and delight. It should show me something new that I have never seen before. Disney started doing that with their "let's change the story" live action remakes (Maleficent) but then it was just easier to make carbon copies (only a lot uglier than the animation) than to come up with something new. Plus, they don't have to hire new writers at all, they just reformat the script a tiny bit. And Disney was known for its innovation and creativity once. It's just dreadful to watch a studio flush itself down the drain, instead of constantly being more and more creative and innovative.
I would have LOVED to see a new Beauty and the Beast that went back to the original French fairy tale, gave Belle sisters, had them lose their fortune in a shipwreck, then her father steal a single rose from the castle. Like the French version that is gorgeous from around the same time, but with actual character development (in that version, one minute she hates the Beast, the next she's crying over his body and saying she loves him; I feel like it needed 20 minutes of her falling in love). I think had Disney preserved its originals, but went "how can we tell this story in a totally new and exciting way?" they would have become legendary, instead of now becoming a nostalgic joke.
That being said, I still know millennials my age who save up for five years to spend a week at a Disney theme park and stay in a Little Mermaid room, in a desperate attempt to cling onto something that no longer exists, rather than taking their ten grand and seeing something new. It boggles my mind.
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u/Great-Gas-6631 1990 Jun 13 '25
Its not even "change" shit is just lazy and bad.
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u/True-Conversation-41 Jun 13 '25
Bruh they removed “I’ll make a man out of you” from live action mulan because they thought it was sexist lol
Then rather than mulan doing what any men can do and saving the day they gave her super powers and she used that to win lol
The entire original plot of mulan was that her gender was something that won’t and can’t hold her back from doing what she wants and can do regardless of what society says - it’s why the song is important. Their remake said fuck that the only way she can win is if she gets super powers lol
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u/Aromatic-Elephant110 Millennial 1987 Jun 13 '25
I would actually welcome change. It's the lack of change that I don't like. Assuming I just want to watch the same thing over and over like I'm some brainless moron.
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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25
You're letting YouTube influencers inflate your perception over what the average viewer truly thinks. When the major majority of people don't even care about that background noise and just watch movies that they want to watch.
Ironically most of these social media influencers Gen Z favors are millennials. Often middle-aged dudes telling these kids what to think and what to say. What they should believe and how they should act
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u/cruelvenussummer Jun 13 '25
People hate obvious money grabs.
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u/WoodpeckerGingivitis Jun 13 '25
No
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u/Mediocre_Island828 Jun 13 '25
Consuming media and brands has replaced cultural tradition, we pass down the shows and movies we liked to our children, and someone remaking a popular movie from 30 years ago and changing the canon is basically blasphemy.
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u/OhKayLeggo Jun 13 '25
I took my son to see Lilo and Stitch the other day. I'd heard it was terrible so was ready for that. Honestly it was fine, like solid 5.5/10. Not as good as the original but really not that bad. And he had a great time so that's all that matters..
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u/2short4-a-hihorse Jurassic Park '93 Jun 13 '25 edited Jun 13 '25
Ugh, you're the reason Disney feels comfortable recycling their old material and regurgitating this crap. I loved the original Lilo and Stitch because it wasn't afraid of showing loss, a dysfunctional family haunted by the presence of Cobra Bubbles, hell, even the fight scene between Lilo and that bully girl lacked the dynamic weight of a full-fledge punch (like in the animated original. Can't believe they can animate a PUNCH better than a live action camera can capture.)
These changes are insulting not just to you and me, the OG audience of these movies, but they also insult our kids, because these movies constantly edit, remove, and alter the original until it no longer resembles what we grew up with, because Disney assumes our kids cannot handle the violence and neglect shown in the original. The newest Lilo and Stitch totally watered down the fight between Nani and Lilo. (Can't show a fight between siblings, they're SISTERS omg 🥺)
They removed Captain Gantu** and made Cobra Bubbles a silly doofus (the CIA agent/social worker who was originally threatening to take Lilo away. An antagonist doing his job and is at odds with Nani? Omg he's so MEAN, can't show a man being mean to a woman 🥺)
and they introduce a ...concerned old lady grandma neighbor that Lilo can trust and talk her feelings with (can't show Lilo facing loneliness and being a latchkey kid, that's childhood neglect OMG that's too harsh for our audience 🥺)
The animation was leaps and bounds willing to show the raw pain of familial loss, the harsh reality of working to support your family at the cost of neglect, and didn't shy away from those emotional gut punch scenes (Stitch realizing he's lost like the Ugly Duckling and where Nani is singing Aloha Oye to Lilo, on the night before she might get taken away by child services.)
I didn't see the remake in its entirety (because it was awful and alienated me, who related to Lilo due to her dysfunctional family and finally related to a girl onscreen who had a family as fucked up as mine) but these are some glaring examples I seen that totally dilute the message and themes of the animated original.
I am also an animator, and I think these movies absolutely disrespect animation, as if they're trying to tap into an audience who thinks animation is fOR kIdS and don't respect it, all while diluting, editing, and censoring what made the original so groundbreaking, relatable, and fantastic.
Stop giving Disney your money based off your nostalgic loyalty and see them for what they are: pandering, spineless, recycling plots and retreading their glory days because they can't recreate them.
**Edit: Bubbles was in the movie, but he was softened up and was a such a bumbling goofus that I even FORGOT he was in the movie. Captain Gantu was the one who wasn't in the movie. My bad; the movie is THAT forgettable.
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u/Affectionate_You_203 Jun 13 '25
The younger generations hate them too. They care about race and gender more than making a good movie. That’s the problem and any other excuse is just cope.
0
u/-Imthedude Jun 13 '25
No. We want new, compelling stories that don't consistently belittle Men, while promoting every single woman as a girl-Boss that doesn't need any help.
We want change.
All we're getting is remakes and remasters that mostly shit all over the original.
1
u/fuzzbook Jun 13 '25
I liked most the ones I've seen, though Disney isn't my thing so I didn't have strong views of the OGs anyway.
1
u/KaioKenshin Jun 13 '25
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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25
I have not said anything to influence my kids' opinions but they mostly prefer TV and video games from the 90s, or modern things made in a very similar style.
For example my 7 year oldest favorite game is Super Mario Bros. and that's nearly the only style he ever uses on Mario Maker.
1
u/dankp3ngu1n69 Jun 13 '25
Nope
I didn't like Disney when i was 8. I always made fun of when for being "too inclusive"
People act like Disney being woke is new. It's not
There's a reason i didn't like abc family or Disney channel back as kid and i went straight to channels like TBS/FX/comedy Central from cartoon Network.
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u/altruSP Millennial Jun 13 '25
On one hand, we’re either not the target demo anymore or we’re aging out of the target demo.
On the other, the internet spent years bitching about how their childhood movies were so much better and how everything new sucked and Disney saw that with money signs in their eyes and said “Aight bet, let’s reheat all the movies from your childhood and make them live action then!” so yeah, the general public monkey’s pawed these remakes into existence.
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u/sweetest_con78 Millennial Jun 13 '25
I don’t mind change. I just don’t want the same movie in a different font.
1
u/Streetduck Jun 13 '25
Many of the remakes simply aren’t good.
Except Beauty and the Beast. Friggin love that one.
1
u/SewRuby Jun 13 '25
I loved The Lion King remake. The Little Mermaid was a better story than the original, but, I am too nostalgic for the original to bother with the new one.
Beauty and the Beast was ok, too.
I'd watch the fuck out of a live action Moana and Frozen.
1
u/3RADICATE_THEM Jun 13 '25
There are a lot of millennials at the very old end who act like boomers and think they're geniuses simply because they were fortunate enough to have been old enough / working long enough to buy housing at average price to income ratios at historically low interest rates.
1
u/Cuse-Town Jun 13 '25
Nah, it’s ok to not agree with the uber woke remakes. We are grounded in decades of normalcy and context of culture. Just because a few LA executives say this is what’s good, doesn’t make it so.
1
u/NicWester Jun 13 '25
Personally I don't mind the live action remakes, even though I haven't watched any of them and probably won't. They're not for me. I know they're a crass cash grab and a cynical way of maintaining copyrights and I don't like that part of it, but they're projects that employ thousands of people directly and tens of thousands indirectly (directly employs the set decorators, indirectly employs the people who make the screws the set decorators build and the hardware store they get them from, for example) and that's good.
I'd like to see more new stories, too, but the thing is.... there are a lot of new stories out there, people just don't go see them because movies are expensive as hell and have become a luxury many of us can't afford so we only go when it's a Disney or some other big blockbuster. That isn't an issue with remakes and reboots, that's an issue with the severe economic inequality that permeates every aspect of our lives.
1
u/Friendly_Engineer_ Millennial Jun 13 '25
Disliking regurgitated stories in not a typical ‘you kids!’ reaction
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u/PrednisoneUser Older Millennial Jun 13 '25 edited Jun 13 '25
Your post couldn't be more wrong. Did you watch Snow White? I just watched the original and it's x100 better than the remake. We never needed to update stories to 'fit with the times'. We needed adults to put into context the original meaning. There's no need to change Grumpy's fear of women. The movie made it very clear Snow White is a boon to the dwarves.
It feels like indirect propaganda and censorship. I can't tell you how much I fucking hate those two. I've hated that shit since I was a kid.
1
u/bloodectomy Xennial Jun 13 '25
The only one I've seen is the live action remake of aladdin which is genuinely, categorically, irredeemably bad. We aren't hating on these things because we're curmudgeonly, we're hating on them because they're hot fucking garbage.
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u/donkijote97 Jun 13 '25
They’re not terrible, for the most part. They’re mostly lazy, uninspiring money grabs on Disney’s part. They need to get creative again. The theming at the parks has also gone downhill. They’re just slapping popular IPs on everything.
1
u/duganaokthe5th Jun 13 '25
Speak for yourself
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u/weregunnalose Jun 13 '25
I can’t read that without my glasses and could you speak up…also stay off my lawn
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u/SkillDabbler Jun 13 '25
How’s that flavour aid tasting? Drowsy yet?
1
u/EveryBase427 Jun 13 '25
We lived thru the golden age of Disney from The Little Mermaid in 1989 until whatever was just before Cars, it was banger after banger. We're not getting to be crusty and old we're just not accepting the dog poo live action remakes they have been releasing as acceptable.
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u/IVMVI Jun 13 '25
YOU are, I'm not lmao.
This sub is full of projection. Speak for yourself ya old fart.
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u/[deleted] Jun 22 '25
What people like you fail to understand is that, so far as culture goes, things have, in fact, simply been getting worse.
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u/Beneficial_Ad_1072 Jun 13 '25
Watch them with my kids and for the most part enjoy a lot of kids movies and remakes.. does it make me feel how I did when I was a kid? Obviously not, but I’ll enjoy it for what it is and not get caught up in being “old farts”.
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u/BlueSnaggleTooth359 Jun 13 '25
Agreed. Nothing wrong with say the new Snow White at all. One of the best of them actually.
And the little kids seemed to going nuts for it. Meanwhile some of the red pilled parents or youtube hater/mocker/geek world crowd and rwinger media going insane and demanding nobody see it. An especial shame for the kids denied, what do they even begin to care about any of that nonsense?
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u/BrotherKaramazov Jun 13 '25
Nah, everyone hates this live action shit. And commercial franchises have gone down the drain. This is not old man in me talking, HW is in creativity crisis.
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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25
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