Morning Peeps!
We caved. We have given into temptation and frittered our money away… hello Disney+ !!
We signed up literally 3 days ago and have watched a series of Duck-tales, Hercules, Some early cartoons and the live action Lady and the Tramp… worth a fiver of anyone’s money! 🙂
So I’m going to offer you a review of that beautiful film… there will be spoilers because I’m assuming you’ve seen the original and some of the best bits are things they’ve changed….you have been warned.
Firstly, baby Lady!!!!! ❤ I don’t think anyone can prepare themselves for that level of cuteness. Also, whoever wrote the first night scene totally has a dog at home…I can vouch for the accuracy.
I have a special place in my heart for Jock the Scottish Terrier in the original, and I wasn’t sure of the live-action one to start with… mostly because of the female voice (love Ashley Jensen- certainly a large part of my daughter’s childhood includes her voice, but wasn’t expecting that)! Also, the first time we see ‘Jock’ and Trusty I didn’t get the same friendship vibe as the original, but it improves and is lovely in the chase scene…. Jacqueline (as they called her) also has a lovely little twist at the end, which I think is better than the original.
The people are totally better… Jim Dear and Darling, Aunt Sarah, the Pet Shop owner….they are all fabulous, with the added bonus of Jock and Trusty’s owners sharing a beautiful moment with their doggies. In fact, we see Jock’s owner several times and I love the crazy woman! Side note: my daughter thought the doctor was the best human character…he was hilarious!
I adored Jim in it, but the shutting Lady out of the baby’s room and then not explaining when they leave….I was mad at Disney for that, but it was made right after they came back.
Darling was fabulous! Amazing singing voice, a bit of sass to the aunt and the dog catcher… somehow Disney carried on their ‘strong female’ trend and took a mid 20th Century film, set in early 20th Century and gave the woman the power role without it seeming miss-placed or overdone…I applaud that Disney; Girl Power!
The relationship between Lady and the Tramp was beautiful, it built more slowly and naturally with a bit of humour. The scenes where they were out together, and eventually get separated, were very well written and fixed a few loopholes in the cartoon. I like the muzzle removal and the nod to the original beaver. Also, when they’re on the hill the river is totally the same shape as the one in the Disney Castle at the start of every feature. Th steamboat was also a nice addition (and probably secures the future of the one at Disneyland).
The Siamese cats weren’t Siamese and so we didn’t get the original song (probably for reasons to do with not offending people with dodgy accents) but the cats we got (Bengal, I think) were brilliant at being spoilt… and not bad singers with their whole new song!
Tony’s restaurant was perfect. Possibly better than the original! The iconic meatball scene was so lovely, had to hold back the tears.
Speaking of tears… I knew from the trailer that I’d be in trouble with the chase scene; it’s hard enough to watch in cartoon form, but with real fur-babies it’s a real choker (even the teenager cried and she’s much tougher than me- but don’t tell her I told you).
What I hadn’t planned for was the pound scene. Oh my life. As an animal lover it was hard to watch, but also the comedy and the ‘he’s a tramp’ song were brilliant (honestly, whoever voiced Peggy and whoever updated the musical arrangement- they deserve raises!) but I was emotionally wrecked.
The sadness of the pound makes subsequent scenes more enjoyable though as the Tramp is not the only one to end up with a home! ❤
As with many other live-action remakes, they did it soooooooooooo well it makes you wonder if you might even like it more than the original. They all give a new twist, iron out some old issues and produce new songs, with a strong female role in all of them.
This one, however, is unique because it’s the first. It is the first one made exclusively for Disney+ release, the first one of Covid lock-down and may be the first live-action some people see. Quite frankly, I’d pay £5.99 just to re-watch this all month.
I did wonder whether they’d put Mulan on Disney+ as the live-action was due to be in cinemas just as we were locked down, but I think they’ll hold onto it for later release- partly because film success is measured by box office sales (especially in the princess franchise) and partly because all their filming stopped so there won’t be new releases for a while….so I guess we’ll have to wait.
There are lots of possibilities with this for Disney’s future. For me it’ll never replace the cinema, but Disney+ is great for those on a budget to access films at home, or for those who can’t get out….which at the moment is all of us. Well done Disney, well done.
Let me know if you see it and what you think.
Stay safe!
Anna x
A Peace of Life 