Snow White

Released in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Disney’s first feature-length animated film and quickly became a classic. Based on a German fairy tale, the movie tells the story of Snow White, an innocent young princess forced to hide from her wicked stepmother, the Queen, who is obsessed with being the “fairest of them all”. Fleeing from the Queen, Snow White stumbles upon a cottage and befriends the seven dwarfs who reside there.

In the 2025 live-action remake, titled Snow White, Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot star as Snow White and the Evil Queen, respectively. Director Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man and (500) Days of Summer) had the challenge of retaining iconic visual and plot elements from the original while updating the story for modern sensibilities.

The movie features some of the classic songs from the animated version and new songs by songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (The Greatest Showman, La La Land, Dear Evan Hansen). Reviews generally praised Zegler’s performance, though the use of CGI to depict the dwarfs attracted some criticism.

Mulan

Disney’s 1998 animated film Mulan introduced wider audiences to the eponymous Chinese folk heroine, who lived during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and was first mentioned in the folk song The Ballad of Mulan.

In the live-action remake, the Emperor (Jet Li) decrees that one man from each family must serve in the Imperial Army to defend against northern Rouran invaders. Hua Mulan (Liu Yifei) takes the place of her elderly father, Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma), disguising herself as a man to join the army. Mulan eventually faces the formidable Rouran leader Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee) and his compatriot, the witch Xianniang (Gong Li).

New Zealand director Niki Caro (Whale Rider, The Zookeeper’s Wife) emphasises action in this version by turning Mulan into a martial arts movie heroine. More tonally serious than the animated movie, Mulan does away with much of its forebear’s levity. It drops the comical dragon Mushu, voiced by Eddie Murphy in the 1998 movie, and cuts all the songs. Despite being more grounded, it still contains fantastical and revisionist elements, including a new shape-shifting witch character.

The Lion King

The circle of life is drawn anew: 25 years after the animated movie The Lion King was released, the much-celebrated classic received a photorealistic CGI remake in 2019.

The 1994 Lion King animated movie was in production at Disney at the same time as Pocahontas, and the consensus at the studio was that Pocahontas was the more prestigious project. As it turns out, The Lion King has far eclipsed Pocahontas in its impact, becoming one of the studio’s best-loved films. It follows the cub Simba, the child of lions Mufasa and Sarabi, who escapes from the Pride Lands after his conniving uncle Scar orchestrates a series of events that leads to Mufasa’s death.

The 2019 live-action version directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book) is not technically ‘live action’ but ‘photorealistic CGI’, using advanced visual effects technology to create lifelike characters and environments. It retains the iconic songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, including “Hakuna Matata” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, but also adds new musical contributions by Beyoncé. While some moviegoers found the photorealistic characters lacking expression, The Lion King (2019) was a box office smash, earning US$1.66 billion and spawning a part-prequel-part-sequel, Mufasa: The Lion King.

Beauty and the Beast

A tale as old as time is told once more. Belle (Emma Watson), an avid reader, lives in a provincial French town with her inventor father, Maurice (Kevin Kline). Belle catches the eye of the boorish Gaston (Luke Evans), but she rebuffs his advances. Maurice loses his way and is captured by a frightening Beast (Dan Stevens), once a handsome prince who was cursed by an enchantress. Belle volunteers to take her father’s place. She must fall in love with the Beast to break his curse, but when Gaston learns of the Beast, he will stop at nothing to kill the Beast and take Belle for himself.

Beauty and the Beast is Disney’s first live-action remake of an animated film from the Disney renaissance era (roughly 1989 to 1999) — all earlier live-action remakes drew on older animated movies.

Director Bill Condon had experience working on both musicals (Chicago and Dreamgirls) and fantasy romance (both parts of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn), fusing those genre elements in Beauty and the Beast. He also stays largely faithful to the animated version while giving the movie a few modern flourishes. The original songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman are supplemented by new songs by Menken and Tim Rice.

Dumbo

Jumbo, the adorable elephant, takes flight with new friends in tow. At the circus run by Max Medici (Danny DeVito), where trick rider Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) works, an elephant gives birth to a baby with preternaturally large ears. Jumbo Jr., nicknamed Dumbo, is forcibly separated from his mother. Holt’s children, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins), discover Dumbo can fly. Avaricious entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) learns of the flying elephant, buying out Max’s circus. Vandevere has Dumbo perform alongside trapeze artist Colette Marchant (Eva Green) at Dreamland, his amusement park. When the circus performers discover Vandevere is mistreating Dumbo, Holt and his kids hatch a plan to free Dumbo and reunite him with his mother.

Directed by Tim Burton, who is known for his eccentric sensibilities, this live-action remake expands the original Dumbo’s 64-minute runtime to 112 minutes. Dumbo also features a reunion between Danny DeVito and Michael Keaton, who last appeared together in Burton’s Batman Returns. The movie’s performances drew praise, but the critical consensus is that its somewhat overstuffed story undercuts the original film’s potent emotion. Burton has since spoken negatively of his experience making the film, and he took a five-year break from directing features to work on the TV series Wednesday before returning with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

For more animated movies and live-action remakes, navigate to our Disney collection.