I love the animated original. I think along with Bambi, this was one of Walt Disney's most mature films he ever made. I always seem to admire these more then the classics most people instantly go for.
I love the themes it covers such as major lifestyle changes from a dog's perspective as well as redemption. It was never afraid to contain scary imagery and get all the emotions out of you.
Despite going into every film with as much of an open mind as I possibly can, I just couldn't see the Disney of today to make something as daring.
Sadly, I was proven right with this one. However, I still had enough of a good time to not make it a total waste.
As re-makes do, they do pay homage to the original. Some of them in these were perfectly fine in its execution, some were just pure lazy. So lazy in fact, that they some basically took out the same thing from the original and just plonked it into the re-make, which actually felt out of place with how they were doing everything else.
When I mentioned before that today's Disney would not take risk, they managed to make an incredibly inoffensive film. They made a few changes to appeal to modern audiences even though it felt unrealistic with the time period. Some of that I was fine with, some felt either too forced or on the nose.
But what did make it watchable, was the overall vibe, some well executed scenes that I can see kids liking and one scene towards the end that had me getting similar feelings to how the original did it.
While the performances were never exceptional, they were all satisfactory. I liked the relationship between Tessa Thompson lookalike Kiersey Clemons and Thomas Mann. Speaking of Thompson, I honestly wasn't too bothered by her voicework of Lady. But there was nothing bad about.
Same goes for Justin Theroux as Tramp as well as almost every other cast member.
I liked the casting of Sam Elliott as Trusty despite his characters side plot being totally shunned as well as Benedict Wong as Bull.
The positives are like most Disney films, the production and costume design are great. It was genuinely like being in the set of the old film, but live-action obviously.
Some but all not of the music were pretty good and most of the visual effects felt seamless with the rest of the look of the film.
The negatives I have already mentioned. But to sum them up, making everything light-hearted and inoffensive managed to give it its biggest downfall and the changes felt more like it was just promoting equality rather than telling a story. Also, the dialogue felt a bit safe and uninspiring.
It's easy for me to go and say "it's just not the same". But I will say despite its problems, I still felt it was a passable viewing experience that still had me engaged. It has its expected sweet moments, has a nice vibe about it and it kept its charm up to a point. That being said, I think I'll stick with the original.
Like with all Disney live-action re-makes, I end with the question 'Did this need to be remade?' It's a pretty definitive no. It took a lot out of what made it an underrated classic and turn into a middle of the road forgettable feature that even the studio decided to release it via their streaming service.
That now pretty much make its at one in every three Disney live-action re-makes succeeding in what re-makes are supposed to set out and do in my opinion.
It's now been four films since I felt a good re-make was made. So we're in need of a critically successful one. Next up is Mulan, and that is one that I have been saying for some time, that if done right should hugely benefit from going live-action. Fingers crossed.
Rating: 7/10
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