Best Changes Disney Animated Did To Old Stories Used?

[CMWaters]

During the course of Disney's timeline with their various animated works, there has been some notes or criticisms about how they would change the classic stories around (sometimes not taking into account how many times said stories had been modified over the centuries anyway). Even ignoring when these movies became major successes and probably changed a lot of public perceptions of how these stories went in the first place,, sometimes in the long run they are just better than the original general story. When do you think stuff like that happened.

After watching a few Phelous videos on "Beauty and the Beast" adaptations, I'd say the Disney one helped to streamline things (remove the extra siblings for the titular beauty...and for that matter give her a name besides "Beauty" like many have done before, make the father not seem like a moocher and thief, more time building the relationship of the title characters) to make it overall a better told story than the other versions.

Might also mention the Snow Queen thing leading to Frozen, but that more turned a villain into a brief anti-hero type character I'd say.

[Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast]

Little Mermaid, though imagine if they kept Ariel dying as the ending.

[chrom]

May 21, 2023 18:16:53 GMT -5 Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast said:

Little Mermaid, though imagine if they kept Ariel dying as the ending.

The Disney Renaissance Era would have never taken off if they made it like the original, there would be too many upset children and parents.

[tirtefaa]

I mean, out the gate with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, by adding specific themes to each Dwarf, you helped really sell the public on the uniqueness of each character. As a little kid, that was the draw of the movie for me and others. Had you told the story without that flair, it would have probably still be a decent hit, but not had the impact that it otherwise did.

[BlackoutCreature]

I was always glad that Disney cut out the murder/suicide and cannibalism that was in the original novel that A Goofy Movie was based on.

[chrom]

May 21, 2023 19:28:38 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

I was always glad that Disney cut out the murder/suicide and cannibalism that was in the original novel that A Goofy Movie was based on.

Say what?

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

May 21, 2023 19:32:26 GMT -5 chrom said:

May 21, 2023 19:28:38 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

I was always glad that Disney cut out the murder/suicide and cannibalism that was in the original novel that A Goofy Movie was based on.

Say what?

The original title for "Eye To Eye" was, "I want to eat your eyeballs.)

[FinalGwen]

Idk if removing the sisters from BATB was streamlining the plot so much as avoiding the comparisons to Cinderella. But when it comes to that film, Gaston is a fantastic villain, and certainly a stronger foil for the Beast than Avenant from the 1946 version.

[James Fabiano]

Fox and the Hound. Instead of a totally grim, totally bleak adult novel, it was a more family friendly, yet bittersweet story with likable characters.

[Deleted]

From a creative and financial perspective, it would have to be giving the Seven Dwarfs unique, defined personalities.

[Mr PONYMANIA Mr Jenzie]

read the pentamerone
and watch tale of tales

LET'S SEE THE REAL STUFF DISNEY!!!

[horsemen4ever]

Two examples of changes I think have opposite effects. The changes they made in Snow White made it more of a Sleeping Beauty ripoff. The changes they made in Beauty and the Beauty by removing the sisters, made it less similar to Cinderella.

[tirtefaa]

May 21, 2023 20:17:47 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

Fox and the Hound. Instead of a totally grim, totally bleak adult novel, it was a more family friendly, yet bittersweet story with likable characters.

It was...but even as a kid, I thought that not having Chief die allowed for Copper to be over-resentful for what ended up being a non-lethal accident.

[ayumidah]

My mother didn't realize and let me read the OG fairytales once when I was younger. I was glad that there was a version of the stories out there that generally ended happier, lol.

I like that Hunchback of Notre Dame gave basically everyone who deserved one a happy ending, while keeping Frollo's fate mostly the same.

[IgnahtaSempria]

Honestly, most of the changes made to 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' worked out much better than a straight adaptation (granted, you absolutely cannot do a kid-friendly adaptation of 'Hunchback' without changing stuff). Giving Quasimodo the gargoyles to interact with so he gets some better characterization, making Frollo less sympathetic and more of a flat out villain, aging up Esmeralda and making Phoebus a more noble character rather than a lecherous adulterer, and of course, not having Esmeralda and Quasimodo die at the end of the movie.

[OGBoardPoster2005]

May 21, 2023 18:19:10 GMT -5 chrom said:

May 21, 2023 18:16:53 GMT -5 Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast said:

Little Mermaid, though imagine if they kept Ariel dying as the ending.

The Disney Renaissance Era would have never taken off if they made it like the original, there would be too many upset children and parents.

The 1980s Karens would kill it before it even reaches test audience level

[BlackoutCreature]

I remember growing up in the 80's they would every so often preempt the regular afternoon cartoons and replace them with random movies. The Last Unicorn was the most common, but every so often they'd air this weird old Little Mermaid anime from the 70's that ended with the Mermaid committing suicide. It was honestly quite disturbing to a four year old BlackoutCreature.

[schma]

May 21, 2023 17:56:33 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

During the course of Disney's timeline with their various animated works, there has been some notes or criticisms about how they would change the classic stories around (sometimes not taking into account how many times said stories had been modified over the centuries anyway). Even ignoring when these movies became major successes and probably changed a lot of public perceptions of how these stories went in the first place,, sometimes in the long run they are just better than the original general story. When do you think stuff like that happened.

After watching a few Phelous videos on "Beauty and the Beast" adaptations, I'd say the Disney one helped to streamline things (remove the extra siblings for the titular beauty...and for that matter give her a name besides "Beauty" like many have done before, make the father not seem like a moocher and thief, more time building the relationship of the title characters) to make it overall a better told story than the other versions.

Might also mention the Snow Queen thing leading to Frozen, but that more turned a villain into a brief anti-hero type character I'd say.

To be fair, Belle is French for Beautiful, so they pretty much named her Beauty.

[mrtuesday]

May 22, 2023 7:05:50 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

I remember growing up in the 80's they would every so often preempt the regular afternoon cartoons and replace them with random movies. The Last Unicorn was the most common, but every so often they'd air this weird old Little Mermaid anime from the 70's that ended with the Mermaid committing suicide. It was honestly quite disturbing to a four year old BlackoutCreature.

The 1975 one from Toei. It it the original story's ending.

[Tiger Millionaire]

Tinkerbell dying would have been a real downer.