One thing Disney has always excelled at is there adaptations. In fact more movies than you may even realize are adapted from existing novels and fairy tales (101 Dalmatians for instance, “The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith”). It takes a lot to take a story that has been adapted a million times and do it well enough so people almost forget there was an original source. So what I decided to do was list the ten films that I think adapted the source material the best to the point where they were really close to the source and maybe even elevated it a bit.
This will not include Lion King (I don’t think it was meant to be a spin on Hamlet or Kimba) or Frozen (I’ve heard its connection to Snow Queen is tenuous at best). Princess & The Frog made a lot of changes and Pocohanta was more American History than a novel (besides it gets so much wrong it’s ridiculous). And let’s forget about the lame live ation re-make’s here, FYI the Lion King one was painful.
#10.The Little Mermaid
To be honest this barely makes the lsit, the changes to the Hans Christian Anderson story being so great. It seems the only think Disney kept was Ariel’s motivation, to be human. Just about everything else is changed including the ending where sacrifices her life. Some things from the love story are still there, but not a lot.
#9.The Jungle Book
This one is no surprise I think most people know this was original a Rudyard Kipling book. While it stays close to the book of course the darker tone is gone. The Disney ending is pretty different in fact it had be changed when the original writers kept it close to the original ending of the books.
#8.Hunchback of Notre Dame
While Disney tried to keep the one dark and in the sprit of the Victor Hugo book, the changes made keep it high on this list. Frollo was different in the book and he had some, moments with Esmerelda best not described here. The real change is in the ending where Esmerelda is hanged by Frollo for rejecting him.
#7.Bambi
#6.Pinocchio
The big change here to the story by Carlo Collodi is that there is no Blue Fairy. In the original story, Pinocchio can talk. No reason given! I have said I hate this movie for being so dark, but I gotta give Disney credit for staying close to the source material. And if you think the movie is dark, read the book sometime! Oh and did I mention Pinocchio was utterly unlikable and kills his cricket companion?
#5.Peter Pan
The movie is pretty close to the original story by J.M.Barrie, though Tinkerbell was a meaner person in that version. The movie is kind of amalgam of a several Pan stories, and while they water down the character a touch I think the sprit is there. Besides, the movie gave us the best Captain Hook ever.
#4.Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs
As with most of these the real change is in the tone in the Brothers Grimm story. More magic to replace the gruesome (yes, gruesome) choices made in the original novel. The Wicked Queen had a much harsher date and even Snow White’s recovery at the end was different. My favorite change that Disney made was giving the dwarf’s names. They were nameless in the original story, a fact that I was able to stump some family with once during a round of Trivial Pursuit!!!
#3.Cinderella
The Disney version really stuck close to the source material with this one, maybe because it was Walt Disney’s personal favorite. Though changes were made, especially in the tone. The biggest may have been The Fairy Grandmother. Yeah, that wasn’t a thing in the original story! And the stepsisters met a, well, different fate in the book!
#2.Alice in Wonderland
I think we all new Lewis Carroll wrote this one. The real shame with this one isn’t what they changed, but what they left out. There is so much more crazyiness in the book that this film didn’t get to. Why wasn’t tehre a sequel? But what is in there is very true to the source material. Which is way for mant people, this was and still is the deffinitive version.
#1.Beauty and the Beast
There have been millions of versions of this story. Even a prime time TV drama featuring Linda Hamilton and Ron Pearlman as the Beast (yes, really). The movie version is a great re-telling of Janne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s story, partly because it takes the focus off Bell and more onto the Beast. This makes the story work better because we have to learn who the Beast really is, and how Belle helps him. Some elements are changed of course, like the enchanted castle.
Lots of others I didn’t mention. “Oliver & Co” changed to much from “Oliver Twist”, including the setting. Same problem but worse killed the Robert Louis Stevenson inspired “Treasure Planet”. As for “Aladdin”, I really don’t know someone’s gonna have to fill me in on tht one.
Honorary Mention:
This list became a discussion of the animated movies but there is a live action one I felt HAD to be mentioned. That of course is:
MARY POPPINS
Based on the series of books by P.L.Travers the making of this movie has itself become a movie. The main character was watered down a bit and there is a bit mote whimsy in the movie than in the book. But I would never have looked at one of the books if not for the fantastic movie, so I guess that makes it worth while.
As always this was all opinion so if you disagree or think I missed one feel free to comment and let me know
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