Nothing is more dreadful than hearing that your beloved Disney film and/or franchise is getting a remake or reboot. Since Tim Burton’s 2010 release of Alice through the Looking Glass, we have received an onslaught of remake after remake of Disney classics. While I would say Disney did not invent the wheel as there have been many remakes in the past, no one is as aggressive and as collectively hated as Disney. 

But why the hatred? Isn’t Disney supposed to be the place of childhood happiness? In case you have not been keeping up with the times, remakes and reboots are criticized for their lack of originality and for being giant cash cows that bank on nostalgia for a quick buck. When I say a quick buck, I mean the “making billions of dollars at the box office” kind. It is suggested that it is due to a strong sense of nostalgia for these films that older movie goers hate the idea of the original film being replaced with often horrible movies. Now, some people, (like myself) are willing to watch these remakes. However, most of these films come across as lazy “retellings” rather than remakes which only cements that the originals are far superior. After all, who would want to waste another 30 bucks just to go watch a movie they have already seen? 

I have seen the argument that this era of remakes is meant to bring new audiences into the fold, considering the fact that all of the originals were locked up in the Disney Vault and will not be given another theatrical run. 

However, since last year’s release of Disney Plus, this argument has weakened due to the streaming service containing pretty much all of the movies Disney has done over the years, including their first film, Snow White. 

I could go on and on about the questionable existence of remakes, telling you why I hate them and why I find their attempt at even recapturing childlike wonder to be comical. But today, I want to highlight why certain films are actually good remakes in every sense of the word. Reboots and remakes tend to be used interchangeably, however, they are just one of those words that sound the same but have different meanings — English, am I right? 

A reboot is used for franchises and is all about resetting the chronology that has been established over multiple films or episodes. Whereas remakes are focused on updating and/or improving a single film. With that definition out of the way, my ranking of these films will be based on how they “update and or improve” the story as a whole, not how close they are to the originals as that would make them a “retelling”. I also will not be looking at how good the films are storywise, so do expect a mixed bag of good and bad execution of plot, character and theme. Of course, since this is a top five, I could not possibly rank all of them, but I ask you to share your own lists in the comments and your reasoning!

5. Beauty and the Beast & Aladdin 

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In dead last we have Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. These two are tied because they both, for the most part, keep it very close to the original yet add a new element that really does not change the plot too much. 

Beauty and the Beast is actually one of my favorite remakes on this list as it provided some new backstory for Belle and a beautiful solo song for the Beast, along with a new reimagined cast. However, I must admit the film’s changes were quite minor in comparison to the others on this list. At least it was not a scene-for-scene copy of the original unlike The Lion king. Disney played it safe on this one, but they left room to experiment a little. 

For Aladdin they added a more feminist theme for Jasmine in the song “Silenced.” However, the familiar story follows the original pretty closely. One could argue Will Smith’s Genie gave the movie a fresh hip-hop beat sonically, but it does not change the story’s structure at all. 

4. Mulan

Now I know that there is a lot of political and social baggage carried by this film, but to its credit, it manages to retell the original with a fantastical twist with the inclusion of the female villain who is a witch and….dare I say the inclusion of the phoenix abomination. To be clear, this film has poor acting, themes, plot and probably has the worst Mary Sue main Character I ever seen. 

However, I am hesitant to add it to the list as the movie that was marketed (a realistic/accurate account of the ballad of Mulan) is a far cry from what we actually got. I personally despise this film since I wrote an article predicting that this remake would be the one that would break the mold and actually do something creative for once. Boy, how wrong I was! However, the fantastical elements they added actually changed the story significantly so I’ll give them props for attempting to do something new. 

3. Maleficent 

 Maleficent was one of the first remakes to actually attempt to be bold, and change things a bit! Unlike the rest that still follows the hero, as the title suggests, it focuses on the villain rather than the hero. Now it is not exactly a backstory, even though it goes into her past, it is rather more of a reimagining of the original. The film explores the question: What if Maleficent was good but turned into a villain because someone hurt her? 

One of the good things about the film is that it addresses the main thematic issue of the original which was the lack of consent and sexual abuse. When Sleeping Beauty originally came out, the idea of a prince kissing you on the lips while you sleep probably seemed romantic at the time. However, it does not hold up well today after the rise of the #Metoo and other feminist movements. 

The only problem I have with this film and its sequel is the erasure of Maleficent’s original character. Maleficent is considered the Queen of Evil, the worst villain in Disney’s roster. However, her reimagining takes that away. She is still considered a villain, but now I am left emotionally confused. 

2. Ella Enchanted

 I was very close to making this film take first place, but it will be a very close runner up. Ella Enchanted is obviously a soft remake of Cinderella. I say soft as there have been six other Cinderella remakes — including the 2015 version (which is sadly not added to this list as it is a beautiful live action copy of the original) —  but Ella Enchanted is actually based on the book of the same name written by Gail Carson Levine in 1997 that was inspired by Cinderella. 

Ella Enchanted has the basic elements of Cinderella: orphan girl, evil stepmother/guardian, glass slipper, three nights etc, but it has a lot of fun with the material, making it an original comic classic. For instance, the main character, Ella, is blessed by her fairy godmother with the gift of “obedience” which quickly becomes a curse for poor Ella. To set herself free from the curse, she goes on a journey to find her godmother to reverse it. Along the way she falls in love with the prince and is abused by the prince’s uncle who uses her gift of obedience to kill his nephew. This one seemingly small character trait significantly changes the plot and makes it quite unique among the Cinderella remakes. 

1. Cruella 

Now I must admit that I have not watched the film in its entirety, but I have watched a lot of clips and videos that go in depth examining the movie and why it is sensational. Across the board, people seem to love the film as it focuses on the villain’s backstory as a prequel to the original. Unlike Maleficent, that essentially reinvents the Queen of Evil as some misunderstood antihero of sorts, Cruella actually keeps the villain as evil and conniving. You can even imagine her transforming into that madwoman we know and love from the original 101 Dalmations. Even though the film keeps the essence of her character, we follow Cruella as she grows up, loses her mother, follows her fashion dreams and takes down the true villain of the film. I really love how they added the themes of classism and applied Marx’s theory of the bourgeois and proletariat as the villain of the story is a living embodiment of the bourgeoisie.