Disney has adapted many classic fairytales in such memorable style that the newer versions have almost overtaken the original tales. While Disney has been leaning more toward creating original work lately, there are still plenty of fairytales left for them to choose from if they wish to return to what they have succeeded at for decades.
Pixar’s original fairy-tale Brave is currently sweeping theaters, but Disney’s fresh take on Repunzel (Tangled) got us thinking: What classic fairytales could be next for Disney or Pixar?
There are thousands of tales out there that Disney could choose from, but we have 4 possible contenders and a few ways to Disney-fy them:
The Ugly Duckling
Easily one of the most well-known stories the world over, The Ugly Duckling could be quickly changed to more than just a story about an ugly duckling that turns into a swan. Instead of focusing on the ugly duckling running away from the hecklers he comes across, he could choose to be different and go against the grain. Can’t you hear the Randy Newman song already?
One of the greatest lessons that can be learned from a modern telling of this story is that embracing uniqueness can change the way you live your life. The one major change Disney could make would be to keep the ugly duckling from turning into a swan in the end. In a Disney film, he would stay a duck, but fully embrace his rare coloring that people the world over come to see.
Instead of maintaining the idea that everything that starts ugly becomes beautiful, Disney could broadcast a new message declaring that if you think you’re beautiful, everyone else will too. The world only values what you value in yourself.
The Elves and the Shoemaker
One way to modernize the story could be to show a couple of elf children that need to learn a very modern lesson about helping others. Instead of being happy just to help out the poor man, the elf children whine and complain about having to help every night without getting anything in return.
The elf parents, rather than just explaining this to the children, tell them to stay awake until the next morning and see the result of their work. The children see the happiness of the shoemaker and his wife, and realize what a difference they make. A villain, maybe in the form of a family cat or dog, threatens the children and secretly plots to sneak in the next morning and sabotage the elves’ work before the shoemaker can see or sell the shoes.
The children enlist the help of their (now proud) parents to help them hide the shoes in order to keep the villain from destroying them. The villain eventually finds nothing and decides that the elves must have been frightened away. The elves then uncover the shoes just in time for the shoemaker and his wife to discover them, and when they do, it is with smiles as they rejoice over their good fortune and then give back to those that helped them.
The Magic Paintbrush
He then discovers that the magic paintbrush can bring anything he paints to life as long as he finishes his work. Soon, an evil emperor finds out and wants to lock the little boy away for refusing to paint with his magic paintbrush for him.
In the classic tale, the little boy paints waves and crashes the evil emperor’s barge at the end. While killing the evil emperor is always a viable option, a more fitting end might be for the emperor to see the happiness that the little boy has brought to the kingdom, and remember that there is more to life than gold and riches.
He could tell the boy to share his gift with anyone he wants and demand that his soldiers do everything they can to protect the boy from other evil people that will abuse the boy’s power. In return, the boy draws the emperor a beautiful wife and they all live happily ever after.
The vivid images of the paintings coming to life could be a powerful visual, and, in the capable hands of a studio like Pixar, could be pure magic unfolding on screen.
Goldilocks & the Three Bears
It might be better to give Goldilocks a more interesting backstory since the simplistic storyline might end up being too short for a full feature. She could be re-imagined as a hunter’s daughter that gets lost in the woods and stumbles upon the bears’ cabin while they are out gathering berries for supper. Then, rather than following her through the house as she tries the porridge, chairs, and beds, we cut to the bears finding her in the house.
Since she says she is lost, they let her stay, thinking someone would be along to find her, but when no one comes after a few days the bears start asking questions… only to find out that Goldilocks ran away. In order to get her back home, they decide to trick her into telling them where she is from so they can send Father bear to find her dad. Once Father Bear returns with her father, we learn why she ran. She was trying to find a way to relieve the pressure so her father wouldn’t have to work so hard. The father embraces his little girl, thanks the Bear family and takes his daughter home.
There’s a great story to be found here about not judging a book by its cover and not jumping to rash decisions. Maybe the Father Bear jumps to the conclusion that she’s a burglar and the Mother Bear encourages him to not lose his temper. As a matter of a fact, the whole story sounds like it would be more interesting solely from the bear’s perspective. Who is this girl? What is she doing in our house? Is she eating MY PORRIDGE?!