Last year, coming off her Oscar-winning “Women Talking,” writer/director Sarah Polley decided to sell her creative soul to the devil by hopping onboard Disney’s live-action “Bambi” remake.
However, according to a report from TheWrap, Polley will no longer be directing “Bambi.” No further details were provided, and it’s currently unclear if the project will continue to move forward following the departure of Disney President Sean Bailey.
It had come to the point where Disney had convinced the likes of Jon Favreau, Kenneth Branagh, Guy Ritchie, Tim Burton and Robert Zemeckis to helm these fraudulent remakes of their classics. Polley probably realized the big paycheck wasn’t worth the headache. Good for her.
The 1942 classic “Bambi” is one of the most beautiful animated movies ever made. Screenwriter, Lindsey Anderson Beer, had also left the project last year, but told Collider that this new version would be adapted for our times by not including the death of Bambi’s mother. Beer was convinced that the harrowing scene where the mother is shot and killed would no longer be accepted in a children's film today.
There is absolutely no conceivable way that these live-action remakes can artistically surpass the original animated classics. Why? Because Disney wouldn't take the risk of messing with the original formula — audiences want what they already know, that's the sad truth.
Disney have caught on to this like capitalist vultures. Not a single original thought conceived, they have to stick with what people already know, what people are comfortable with, what doesn't provoke new thought. It's all really a big fat brainwash, if you ask me.
Regardless, Disney won’t stop, can’t stop. They have “Snow White” (‘25), “Lilo & Stitch” (‘24) and “Mufasa” (‘24) ready to go. Also in development are live-action remakes of “Moana”, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, “The Aristocats”, “Hercules”, “The Sword in the Stone” and “Robin Hood”.