The Deep, Dark Woods, by Tyler Smith
14 Apr
With its wonderful 2015 retelling of Cinderella, Disney kicked off a new phase in their filmmaking that is at once exciting and daunting. By remaking their popular animated features as live-action films with a modern twist, the company must walk a fine line between paying appropriate homage to the classic films while still adding in enough new material (whether it be content, tone, or thematic elements) to justify them being remade. Cinderella did this beautifully, as director Kenneth Branagh tapped into his theatrical sensibilities to create an extravagant, fantastical world that still retained a complex humanity underneath. The simplistic characters we grew up with were allowed to have deeper emotions and desires, making the film seem like a more adult extension of the original, rather than an attempt to cash in on a well-known property. With their new reimagining of their classic The Jungle Book, Disney has crafted a film that is gorgeous and enveloping. Unfortunately, the new, darker story beats that are added are often negated by the obviously-obligatory incorporation of certain elements from the original that have no business being in this film.
