Live-Action Adaptations

Christiana Smith

Live-action adaptations of films and shows in Hollywood have been made since the mid 20th century. There have been a select few live-action remake films that were amazing and perfectly capture the attention of the audience the same way the animated version did. However, there also have been innumerable live-action films that have destroyed the reputation of very popular animated films due to bad acting and poor writing. Some animated series would have been better of staying animated.

To exemplify, the manga and anime for Death Note are exceptional. The series showcases themes of mystery, thriller, supernatural, and of course comedy. The popularity of the manga and anime for the series grew more and more, over the years and it even received a musical. However, in 2017 Netflix decided to release an atrocious live-action movie based on Death Note’s manga and anime. The live-action film was a poorly written, white-washed adaptation and the terrible acting does not help the film at all. Another example would be Avatar: The Last Airbender. The Avatar movie was yet again another movie that was ruined by poor writing and the white-washing of characters. Almost everything that goes on in the Avatar universe is based on Asian cultures. Yet, in the live-action film, all the characters are played by white actors and the only person who has some noticeable ethnic background plays the villain in the movie. Overall, these movies are living proof that live-action movie adaptations should not happen unless the film is actually going to follow the plotline of the original animated series/movie and keep the characters as the same exact ones in the animation. The Death Note and Avatar: The Last Airbender movies were an absolute disgrace to the franchises and they should be deleted from existence. On the contrary, however, there have been some relatively good live-action remakes. For instance, Cinderella was a good live-action remake, the music and the character costumes were lovely and the movie really displayed the essence of the original Cinderella story. As well as, the live-action version of the Aladdin movie was another good remake, there were not any major changes to the original plotline and it was an especially fun movie that brought so much nostalgia.