The Top 5 Live Action Disney Remakes

Ash Walker • 25 Mar 2025 Features

Remakes, eh? A tale as old as time.

Love them or hate them, Disney keeps on churning out big budget remakes of its animated classics.

With the Mouse House’s latest effort - Snow White - soon to be hitting cinemas, we decided to look back at what’s come before, and pick out the live action remakes that are actually worth watching…

5. Aladdin (2019)

Credit: Disney's Aladdin Official Trailer (Walt Disney Studios Canada, YouTube)

Disney’s original 1993 movie is a stone cold classic: filled with earworm songs (‘Friend Like Me’, ‘A Whole New World’), eye-popping animation and timeless performances, Aladdin is rightfully regarded as one of the best things the studio has ever put out.

All of which means that this live action version has a lot to live up to.

And it does a decent job. Director Guy Ritchie brings a lot of energy to the action scenes, the production design is typically lavish and the cast of (relative) unknowns are all supremely likeable.

But let’s address the big blue elephant in the room - Will Smith’s take on the Genie just doesn’t come close to the original. To be fair, he’s not bad. His Genie is lively and fun and oozing that trademark Will Smith charm.

There’s just no beating Robin Williams.

4. Lady & The Tramp (2019)

Credit: Lady and the Tramp | Official Trailer #2 (Disney, YouTube)

Definitely one of the most underseen and underrated of Disney’s recent live action efforts - probably because it was dumped straight to Disney+ in the streamer’s early days - this is a cute, charming version of the 1955 animated original.

The story is as simple as ever - Lady (Tessa Thompson) is a pampered pooch who ends up on the streets, taken under the wing of rascally mutt Tramp (Justin Theroux). Before long the two are making puppy-dog eyes at each other over a plate of spaghetti.

There’s a serviceable human cast and some great production design in its period setting, but really this is all about the dogs. Its huge cast of very good boys (and girls) were all rescued from animal shelters, and they all put in some great performances.

The CGI talking mouths aren’t too distracting, either.

3. Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Credit: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST | NEW Trailer (Disney UK, YouTube)

It doesn’t get much more prestigious than Beauty and the Beast. The 1991 original was the first animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, and is still universally adored almost 35 years later.

It’s a tall order, then, to adapt one of the greatest animated movies of all time, but director Bill Condon does an admirable job. Once again the visuals are spectacular, but this time it’s the cast that’s truly impressive.

Condon pulls together a cracking ensemble, featuring everyone from Stanley Tucci to Ian McKellan and Emma Thompson. Some of the choices are a bit odd (Ewan McGregor as Lumiere? Really?), but most are spot on (Luke Evans as Gaston, Josh Gad as LeFou).

It’s only really the central pairing of Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as Beast that falls a little flat. They do a decent enough job, but nothing to rival the old versions.

There are other nitpicks too - the Beast could be a lot more… beastly, and magical talking objects are a lot less charming when rendered photorealistically - but overall this is a beautiful, epic retelling of the best Disney animated classic.

2. The Little Mermaid (2023)

Credit: The Little Mermaid | Official Trailer (Disney, YouTube)

This recent offering takes fewer liberties with its source material than some of Disney’s other, less successful adaptations - looking at you, Dumbo - delivering instead a fairly straightforward translation of the 1989 animated classic into live action. And it’s all the better for it.

The biggest change is that it devotes a good chunk of its extended runtime to the romance between Ariel (Halle Bailey) and Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), which is actually an improvement over the original. What barely registered previously is now a relationship you’ll actually find yourself rooting for.

And speaking of Bailey, she makes a huge impression as the titular fish-girl - especially given that she has to be silent for half the movie.She absolutely smashes the singing too; her rendition of ‘Part of Your World’ is basically perfect.

The film looks beautiful too (some slightly wonky underwater CGI aside). Director Rob Marshall knows a thing or two about musical numbers, and all the big songs are orchestrated perfectly, shot with bundles of energy and colour.

Plus, unlike The Lion King, Mermaid’s photorealistic animals manage to retain some of their character - especially long-suffering crab sidekick Sebastian, played here wonderfully by Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs.

Surprisingly great, and definitely worth a watch. After all, isn’t it always better, down where it’s wetter?

1. The Jungle Book (2016)

Credit: THE JUNGLE BOOK | Trailer 2 (Disney UK, YouTube)

Hands down the best live action Disney remake so far. In fact, it’s so good that nothing has really come close - even director Jon Favreau’s own second swing, The Lion King (2019), which is visually stunning but kind of flat.

This takes the fun, meandering story of the 1967 Disney original (itself based on Rudyard Kipling’s classic novel), and amps up the action and adventure, pitting young Mowgli (Neel Sethi) against some truly scary foes.

And that voice cast! An absolutely stacked list of veteran actors take on the film’s animal ensemble, including Idris Elba as villainous tiger Shere Khan, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera and Scarlett Johansson as Kaa - not to mention the most perfect bit of casting in Bill Murray as layabout brown bear Baloo.

Oh, and Christopher Walken plays King Louie. Absolute cinema.

Honourable Mentions

Disney have remade a lot of their animated classics at this point - not always successfully - but there are a few others that are worth your time, even if they didn’t quite make our Top 5. Check them out if you need more Disney magic in your life.

• Cinderella (2015) - Lavish retelling that doesn’t reinvent the wheel.
• The Lion King (2019) - Visually stunning (if a little lifeless), with great music and voice performances, but doesn’t have the energy of the original.
• Mulan (2020) - Ducks the more fantastical bits (and the musical numbers) for a straightlaced war epic.
• Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) - Same problems as the first film, with songs nowhere near as memorable. Still decent though.

All of the films mentioned here are available to stream right now on Disney+.