Disney's made a fortune off of remaking famous beloved stories with their own twist.
But did they tear the soul from these classic characters to do it?
If you want the short answer - no, of course not. Characters as well-known as the ones above can't really die - they grow and change with the times just as others like Batman do every few years. But if you want to be REALLY sure, I read the original stories that each of these famous films were based on. And boy, did Disney take some creative liberties. Here's some of the biggest differences between the original stories and their Disney counterparts.
Mowgli isn't the main character - he's only in three out of the seven chapters.
Mary Poppins is way sassier, and she isn't nearly as sweet as Julie Andrews.
Robin Hood isn't a fox (obviously), but his final chapter is also incredibly heartbreaking in the book.
Disney's Treasure Island is in space, and it loses some of the more gruesome scenes from its source material.
Winnie the Pooh is an absolute delight in both versions. I can't pretend otherwise.
The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling
I was a little disappointed that the book wasn’t all about Mowgli – there are stories that are entirely self-contained and independent of each other, with an overarching theme of order in the wild. With that in mind, the stories were interesting and I liked the “Laws of the Jungle” that Kipling had in place. Learning how the jungle works was very cool. I would have liked to see Mowgli grow up, though. When last you see him, Kipling even writes that Mowgli’s transformation into a man and the story of him eventually falling in love is “a story for another time”. I think reading this book alongside Tarzan of the Apes reveals some interesting parallels, and I even thought to myself that it would be interesting to see how the two would interact or contrast with each other.
Mary Poppins – P. L. Travers
Mary Poppins is way sassier in the books than she is in the movies.
Yes, I said movies. The original Disney’s Mary Poppins film is the one everyone knows and loves, but we can’t ignore Mary Poppins Returns which came out a few years ago. Whatever you think of this newer film, Emily Blunt gives a committed performance and shows us more sass and smugness than Julie Andrews did. The real Mary Poppins goes even further. In the book, she’s constantly scolding the children or telling them what to do. She never explains anything, despite the pleading of the children. I enjoyed this book despite the fact that my expectations weren’t met. She wasn’t as sweet or loving as I remember her, but she was plenty of fun all the same.
This book reads like a collection of bedtime stories in much the same way that Winnie The Pooh or Peter Rabbit did. With the exception of the first and last chapter, you could read the chapters out of order and still have the same experience. Each chapter is independently telling its own story of a particular experience the children have with Mary Poppins. My favourite is the chapter concerning John and Barbara, Jane and Michael’s infant younger siblings. This particular story really had a feeling of magic to it above all the others, in my opinion.
Some of the stories I found a bit odd, both in the imagery used and in the message or moral being communicated underneath. It was unclear to me at times what meaning there was at all in some of the stories (although perhaps that was the point), and other times I questioned Mrs. Travers’ creative decisions. Her use of snakes, in one chapter, was mildly unsettling to me. Perhaps she meant to turn our culture’s revulsion towards snakes on its head, or perhaps it was something else. But either way, I was happy to get out of that particular story as soon as I could.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle
I don’t remember much about this book except the ending, which was a real shocker. It was a surprisingly sad ending. Robin Hood is one of those characters where you don’t ever think of them as having an ending to their story. Darth Vader is a character who has a beginning, middle, and decisive end to his story. Batman is different – even though several stories have been told about him dying, there’s no real “end” of Batman in the mind of the common public, I think. He’s just always Batman. Robin Hood is like that. He’s just always adventuring in Sherwood Forest in your head. So to read a decisive – and sad – ending to Robin Hood was surprising. You’d expect the story of Robin Hood to end with something like “And he had many more adventures – too many to tell in the pages of this book”.
What made it doubly upsetting was that it seemed like there was about to be a big comeback moment for Robin Hood. He’d been out of business for a little while, and then has this moment where he’s walking through Sherwood Forest – his old home – and he’s reminiscing on the good old days. When he says “let’s get the band back together”, you’re excited. But then he goes and dies – and it’s not even a glorious death. It’s honestly just sad. I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes old-school stories about adventure and danger, but not to anyone who dislikes depressing endings.
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
Pirates! Treasure! Far off places! This book is a ton of fun so I’d thoroughly recommend it. It’s been a while since I’ve read this one so I don’t remember a lot of the smaller details, but I can’t remember a single thing I didn’t like about it.
I think my Aunt Cathy got this for me, although I’ve had this copy since I was still living at Riverwood so I can’t say for sure.
Winnie The Pooh – A .A. Milne
It’s hard not to fall in love with Winnie right off the bat. He’s an utterly lovable character in every sense. Every story within these pages is just pure delight. Milne captures the essence of childhood adventure and the simplicity of life when you’re young. When I picked this book up I wondered if it would be any less relevant in today’s day and age. The answer is a resounding “no” – this book is every bit as charming and fun as I have no doubt it was when it was first released.
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