Disney Live Action Remakes: From ‘Cinderella’ To ‘Dumbo’

In Disney’s live-action Alice in Wonderland (2010) directed by Tim Burton, Mia Wasikowski brought Alice to life, as Johnny Depp did with the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway the White Queen and Matt Lucas with Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Michael Sheen voiced The White Rabbit, Stephen Fry voiced the Cheshire Cat, Alan Rickman voiced the Blue Caterpillar and Timothy Spall voiced Baynard, while Paul Whitehouse voiced the March Hare.

Lily James brought Cinderella to life in Disney’s live-action version of the animated fairytale. Kenneth Branagh directed the 2015 film, which also starred Cate Blanchette as Cinderella’s stepmother, Richard madden as Prince Charming, Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother, Stellan Skarsgård as Grand Duke and Sophie McShera and Holliday Grainger as Drisella and Anastasia, Cinderella’s stepsisters.

In the Jon Favreau-directed live action The Jungle Book (2016), Neel Sethi starred as Mowgli, with Bill Murray voicing Baloo the bear, Ben Kingsley voicing Bagheera the panther and Idris Elba voicing Shere Khan the formidable tiger. Lupita Nyong’o voiced Raksha the wolf, Scarlett Johansson voiced Kaa the snake, Giancarlo Esposito voiced Akela the wolf and Christopher Walken voiced King Louie the orangutan.

In David Lowery’s 2016 live-action Pete’s Dragon film, Bryce Dallas Howard played Grace, and Robert Redford played Meacham. Okaes Fegley played Pete with Wes Bently playing Jack, Karl Urban playing Gavin, Isiah Whitlock Jr. playing Sheriff Gene Dentler and Marcus Henderson as Woodrow.

Emma Watson brough bookish princess Belle to life in the live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, which also starred Dan Stevens as the Beast. Luke Evans portrayed Gaston with Josh Gad starring as LeFou. Ewan McGregor voiced Lumière with Ian McKellen voicing Cogsworth and Emma Thompson voicing Mrs. Potts. Haydn Gwynne played Clothilde, and Kevin Kline played Maurice. Nathan Mack voiced Chip, and Audra McDonald voiced Madame Garderobe. Stanley Tucci voiced Maestro Cadenza, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw voiced Plumette.

Christopher Robin was Disney’s live-action take on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977). Ewan McGregor stars as the grownup best friend of the honey-loving bear, and Hayley Atwell plays his wife Evelyn Robin. Bronte Carmichael stars as Madeline Robin.

Disney’s The Lion King (2019) came after the 1994 classic, and James Earl Jones even returned to reprise his voice role of Mufasa, Simba’s father. Donald Glover voices older Simba while Beyoncé voices Nala. Seth Rogen voices Pumbaa, and Billy Eichner voices Timone. Chiwetel Ejiofor voiced Scar, and John Oliver voiced Zazu.

Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) told the prequel story of how Mufasa and Scar met and became brothers, with Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter making her voice acting debut. Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. voiced Mufasa and Scar, respectively.

Tim Burton also directed Disney’s live-action Dumbo (2019), which starred Colin Farrell as Holt Farrier, Michael Keaton as V.A. Vandevere, Danny DeVito as Max Medici, Eva Green as Colette Marchant, Alan Arkin as J. Griffin Remington, Nico Parker as Milly Farrier and more.

In Guy Ritchie’s live-action Aladdin (2019), Mena Massoud brought the magic carpet-riding hero to life. Will Smith portrayed the genie, and Naomi Scott played Princess Jasmine. The film also starred Marwan Kenzari as Jafar, Navid Negahban as Sultan, Nasim Pedrad as Dalia, Billy Magnussen as Prince Anders and more.

Tessa Thompson voiced Lady, and Justin Theroux voiced Tramp in Disney’s live-action Lady and the Tramp (2019). Sam Elliott voiced Trusty, Janelle Monae voiced Peg, Benedict Wong voiced Bull and Clancy Brown voiced Isaac.

Disney’s animated Mulan (1998) starred Ming-Na Wen as Mulan with Eddie Murphy reprising his voice role of Mushu. In the 2020 live-action adaptation, Yifei Liu starred as Mulan, Donnie Yen starred as Commander Tung, and Gong Li played Xianniang. Jet Li played the Emperor, and Rosalind Chao played Li. The cast also included Jason Scott Lee as Böri Khan, Honghui as Yoson An, Tzi Ma as Zhou, Pei-Pei Cheng as the matchmaker and Zana Tang as Siu.

The first live-action take on One Hundred and One Dalmations was 1996’s 101 Dalmations starring Glenn Close as Cruella DeVil. Jeff Daniels voiced Roger, and Joely voiced Anita. The cast also included Hugh Laurie, Mark Williams, John Shrapnel, Tim McInnerny, Hugh Fraser and more.

Emma Stone brought Cruelle DeVil to life in a more recent rendition, Cruella (2021). Emma Thompson played The Baroness, Joel Fry played Jasper, Paul Walter Hauser played Horace, John McCrea played Artie, Emily Beecham played Catherine, Mark Strong played John the Valet, Kirby Howell-Baptiste voiced Anita, and Kayvan Novak, Roger. Jamie Demetriou also played Gerald.

In the Robert Zemeckis-directed Pinocchio, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth voiced the wooden puppet who became a real boy. Joseph Gordon-Levitt voiced Jiminy Cricket, and Tom Hanks played Geppetto. Cynthia Erivo played the Blue Fairy, while Angus Wright played Signore Rizzi, and Sheila Atim played Signora Vitelli. The cast also included Luke Evans, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco, Jaquita Ta’le, Jamie Demetriou and Giuseppe Battiste.

David Lowery’s Peter Pan & Wendy starred Alexander Molony as Peter Pan, Ever Anderson as Wendy Darling, Jude Law as Captain Hook, Jim Gaffigan as Smee, Alyssa Wapanatâ as Tiger Lily, Joshua Pickering as John Darling, Jacobi Jupe as Michael Darling, Alan Tudyk as Mr. Darling, Molly Parker as Mrs. Darling and Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell.