slackerinabox
Lifer
- Mar 15, 2003
- 12,668
- 103
- 106
Michael Mann's version of "The Last of the Mohicans" was pretty different from the previous works, but it was vastly superior. I really don't care about the casting of the mermaid. I just hope she sings well because Howard Ashman (lyrics) and Alan Menken (music) deserve it.
That said, I really don't like the whole idea of these live-action remakes. So far they've all been clearly inferior to the animated masterpieces -- so there's really no reason for these to exist. According to past interviews with Ashman and Menken, "The Little Mermaid" opened their eyes to the potential of musical productions done in animation, so they doubled down on animated features and basically stopped doing stuff for the stage (was the "Little Shop of Horrors" musical their last?). The hits that followed show they were on the right track:
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
...then Ashman died (AIDS, I think), and the world lost a genius.![]()
Agreed - lion king in particular is one hell of a head scratcher - the live action remake is a freaking CGI cartoon, so why bother?