Why do live-action films always look so dull?

OVER the weekend, Walt Disney Studios posted a teaser trailer for the live-action movie “Snow White,” starring Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. The film will be in theaters on March 21, 2025.

They also released the first teaser for “Lilo & Stitch,” which is set to come out in 2025.

I can’t say that I’m not excited to see these beloved films from my childhood come back to the big screen, but while watching these trailers, I couldn’t help but think… why does every live-action film seem so drab?

My suspicions were confirmed when, after scrolling through X (formerly Twitter), I stumbled across a thread comparing the two films.

On the left side, you’d see a photo of the original “Snow White” film in 1937, and on the right, stills from the latest trailer for the 2025 live-action one. In each comparison, it felt as if all color and life had been sucked out of the right side. 

The same can be said of the teaser trailer for Stitch: sure, CGI-ed Stitch is cute, but there’s just something about him—perhaps the way you don’t see any life in his eyes—that doesn’t hit as much as the original Stitch does. 

This isn’t to say that the movies don’t look good. Surprisingly, the trailer for Snow White shows a lot more color and cartoonishness compared to other live-action remakes, as seen with the faces in the trees and the CGI-ed dwarves, but again, they don’t really live up to the original.

We’ve seen this trend time and time again, particularly with the “Lion King” remake back in 2019, wherein many said that they just felt like they were watching a documentary from National Geographic.

That is my gripe, currently, with all these live-action remakes, particularly of our favorite animated films: for some reason, film executives feel the need to make things look as realistic as possible, sacrificing the whimsical vibe that made us all fall in love with these films in the first place.

If it ain’t broke…

Nicholas Barber, a Features correspondent at BBC, reported that when clips of the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” were first shown, fans were dismayed due to the “dark and dingy” lighting of the scene shown.

They quoted a user on X who asked: “Where’s the light? Where’s the color? This looks so dull.”

They further explained that, in the past, films were often shot with big, bold colors and camp aesthetics. Directors have since started to use darker, grittier tones in their films.

Meanwhile, newer Disney films go for a more naturalistic look, to show that they’re taking a more serious and mature approach despite the childlike nature of their source material.

However, as seen in reviews from film critics and viewers, this new take on the films isn’t to the liking of most people.

According to a video essay by Caleb Janssens on the matter: “The live-action films have a habit of removing the magic and wonder from their films and replaces them with lackluster and dull visuals.”

In the comments section of his video, a person writes: “There are definitely ways of creating realism without compromising on color, and Disney just doesn’t get that.”

There’s no soul anymore – no personality. It feels like we’re watching a copy of something we all know and love, a piece of media that we grew up with; of course, we’re going to want it to live up to our expectations.

Take, for example, the live-action film “Peter Pan” in 2003: there were less colorful scenes, yes, but the film kept the essence of childlike wonder that could be found in the original Disney film – though it can be noted that this film was made by Universal Pictures.

People liked it because it still felt magical. More than that, it was original, despite being a remake.

It is possible to remake these films in a way that people will like them – in a way that still honors the original. But that’s only if these studios actually try.

At the end of the day, Disney is a business like any other—they do what they think is gonna make them the most money, even if that means spewing out remake after remake in the name of nostalgia.

All that fans are asking for is to keep the magic that we know these films – or at least their source material – are full of. Or better yet, maybe just make a new movie instead of latching onto ones that fans already know and love.

As they say: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.