What Disney can do to make the ‘Robin Hood’ remake great

Disney is known for their animated classics and are now becoming more known for the live-action remakes that still make a ton of money at the box-office. The company is deciding now to put more of their remakes on the Disney+ if they feel that it may not strike the same box-office riches as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, or The Lion King.

The company has been tapped to produce a new remake for their 1973 classic Robin Hood which will see audiences return to Nottingham with their favorite cunning fox and sidekick bear.

A lot of people have given these remakes flack, but if the filmmakers are hard pressed upon getting cozy with the critics, here are a few things they can do to this remake to make it truly fantastic.

Focus on the Drama

The 1973 film was largely considered a comedy with the animals gallivanting back and forth between chase and hilarious gag. However, the reason that 2016’s The Jungle Book was such a critical darling was because the filmmakers did away with most of the silly and campy moments of the 1967 movie and played the part of a more dramatic live-action remake.

It would make for a more interesting and darker turn into the fox that is Robin Hood in the film. Fans could really sink their teeth into a less comedic portrayal of the characters that could be something new that Disney stans were not expecting.

Give the Animals Personality

One thing that I have noticed that Disney fans complain about when it comes to the live-action remakes is that they are soulless. I understand that some CGI animals look too realistic to relate to audiences. 2019’s The Lion King was criticized for its lack of facial expressions its characters were trying to convey.

In 2022, Robert Zemeckis released the remake for Pinnochio which featured Honest John the Fox and Gideon the Cat and the two had just as much personality if not more than the 1940 iteration. Audiences could see the emotions on their faces and relate to them better and the only way the Robin Hood remake will be good is as if the characters are stylized and made to look like animals but more anthropomorphic so as to relate better to audiences.

You wouldn’ find a fox staring blankly at a screen amusing. Would you?

Add more Historical Context

Maybe the best thing that the remake could do is to add more historical background in the film and make it more accurate even if it will have CGI animals. What’s left out of the 1973 film is more background on both King John and his brother Richard. Audiences are left to hang out to dry not knowing anything really about them other than they were brothers and Richard fought in the Crusades.

Other than that, it’s a very surface-level dusting of who these characters are and what their motivations truly are. If the filmmakers possibly focused more on the Magna Carta and the nature behind it, it may make for a more historically accurate iteration.