The Disney corporation has produced some of the most profitable movies ever. Having recently acquired the rights to Star Wars and Marvel, Disney now holds the rights to the highest grossing movie of all time, “Avengers: Endgame”. However, in recent years, Disney’s movies have been met with mixed reviews, as many of these new films are just live-action versions of cartoons from the late 20th century.

Since 2015, new versions of classic Disney fairytales and fantasies have been revamped and released again to younger generations. Movies like “Cinderella”, “The Jungle Book”, “Beauty and the Beast” and others have been made with Computer Generated Images (CGI), which gives them a more realistic look.

As a way to promote these reboots, Disney chose to cast famous actors to play the roles of some of their most iconic characters. For example, Will Smith was the new Genie in the “Aladdin” remake and Beyonce played Nala in the remake of “The Lion King”. These changes to casting have prompted some people, like freshman Avery Evans, to question Disney’s decision to remake older movies.

Evans thinks Disney made a bad decision in rebooting the movies, saying that they lacked a certain spirit that the cartoons had.

“With animation, you can really create that fantastical world,” Evans said. “With live action, you have to CGI it all, and sometimes that doesn’t look very great. It’s just harder to get that fantasy-magical feel with live action.”

The entire reboot of “The Lion King” relied on CGI, which may have been the reason why the movie did not receive as much praise from critics as its predecessor. Despite lower critical acclaim, it was still the second-highest grossing film of 2019.

Freshman Bo Bednar had positive things to say about the remakes, despite low approval from critics. Bednar said she liked the new, realistic feel that she feels the remakes provide.

“I thought the way they were able to animate things that don’t exist in our world and make them look like they were real was cool,” Bednar said. “In general, I don’t think they were as good as the original animated ones because I think [cartoons] is what Disney is better at.”

According to Bednar, many people see poor reviews at the box office and decide not to see the movie, which leads to lower profits and a box office failure. However, amateur movie critic Jenifer Dowel believes people are willing to look past the reviews to make their own assessments of the remakes.

Dowel said she did not rush to make her judgements on the rebooted Disney films. She believes that in order for Disney to keep evolving and growing with the times, they have to be willing to take new risks in their productions, even if that means resorting to recreating older stories. Dowel also thinks that the movies are a way to introduce the newest generation to classic animations.

“When I was younger, we had the cartoon versions and now that I’m a little bit older, I still like the cartoons, but I think [Disney] is gearing more towards [older] generations,” Dowel said. “But it’s still a classic. I kinda like it a little bit better than the cartoons.”

Evans suggested that the remakes are primarily created for profit. She said that having already created storylines makes it simple for Disney to put the stories into a more realistic setting as a way to show people something different. That plan may not have gone as expected, though, as most of the remakes did not entertain audiences as the cartoon versions did.

“I think they disrespect animation as a medium,” Evans said. “I think they are unnecessary and they’re just money grabs.”

One of Disney’s upcoming reboots, “Mulan”, set to release in 2020, has already received backlash for talk of missing various characters and songs, according to Evans. A sequel for “The Little Mermaid” is planned, but no official comments have been made.

Disney’s reboots have seen significant corporate success. One reboot, “The Lion King”, grossed over $1 million. Evans believes it is thoroughly unlikely for Disney to stop remaking older cartoons as long as they make money.