An upper-middle-class American cocker spaniel named Lady and a street-smart, stray schnauzer called Tramp embark on many adventures.
Disney has finally released its streaming platform, Disney+, and with a new platform comes the need for new content to attract paying customers (because we all know it's only about the money). Enter the latest of Disney's live-action remakes, one that has skipped the theatrical release completely--effectively making it a TV movie--Lady and the Tramp.
In a sense, you have to question whether Disney learned anything from the critical hatred that The Lion King's live-action remake received because it did nothing but completely remake the same story with a different style of animation that ended up having a lower emotional connection because of its angle of realism. The Jungle Book at least expanded upon the story and lore in a way that made the film fresh and new. Lady and the Tramp has gone ahead and made little tweaks to the details, but this is the exact same story as the original animated film from 1955 (has it really been that long?!).
Little details change, like the ethnicity of the human couple, and introducing an interracial couple into an early 1900s period film is intriguing and would create an additional deep philosophical layer around classism, racism, and segregation, but alas that is not why an interracial couple was used. Judging by its complete lack of effect on the story whatsoever, it appears to have been a purely cosmetic "diversity hire" (it's a more appealing option than thinking Disney is purposefully trying to overwrite the history of racism and pretend that it never happened). But I digress.
While the story doesn't really change in any significant way, the use of animation has been significantly pulled back. This is done more due to budgetary constraints, but it does create a point of difference between it and The Lion King. Lady and the Tramp use real dogs for shooting the film and then utilises CGI in post-production to make it look like they are talking. The best thing about the production of this film is knowing that the studio trained shelter dogs for the actors in this film, and then ensured the dogs got forever homes after filming wrapped. That is the aspect that makes me feel good about the remake. That is really it. The CGI has such a low budget that these talking dogs look incredibly distracting, and there is a clear difference that is very noticeable between the "real" and the "altered" elements of the film.
As with the original, there are a few musical numbers thrown in, and they are well done. It does still look weird at times watching these realistic dogs with unnatural mouths, but the actual audio is great, and far more pleasing than that other remake that I've mentioned far too many times already.
The cinematography is adequate, the colour grading is warm, and the tone is consistent. The vehicles, set designs, and costumes are convincing for a period piece, but it does come across quite sterilised and too clean for the 1900s.
Lady and the Tramp still has the issue where the emotion is not properly conveyed in these realistic animals. Attempts were made to bring a more animated look to the mouth and eyes, but the success is hit-or-miss. Despite another complete ripoff of the original story (which will mean the original writers will get no royalties for the use of the story), there is still some charm. It's nothing exceptional, but it is pleasant.
So yes, Disney was right to make this a straight-to-streaming film, but is that the type of content to bring in more customers? That's debatable.
So yes, Disney was right to make this a straight-to-streaming film, but is that the type of content to bring in more customers? That's debatable.