Worst fairy-tale to adapt into a Disney animated feature?

[Wonderlicious]

We often have had a few "what fairy-tale should be adapted into a new Disney movie?" threads, but I thought that we should have something different for a change (this was inspired by a topic on another message board)...what fairy-tales (and famous classic stories, for that matter) do you feel should not be made into a Disney film?

There are some that are nice stories in their own right, yet couldn't really be dragged out to feature length. The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Emperor's New Clothes are all examples, as are many Aesop's Fables.

There are also many stories which are so gory (and obviously unintended for children), that to sanitise them would leave them as extremely loose adaptations. Bluebeard (featuring a man who butchers his wives and leaves them for dead in a secret tower) and Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (murder is throughout, and the villains are killed by having hot oil poured over them) are the main culprits, yet there's also Donkeyskin, a fairy-tale by Charles Perrault that is still popular in France, yet probably not so in the UK/USA for obvious reasons. Whilst the idea of an oppressed runaway princess having her riches restored when the Prince of the land she's run away to falls for her may sound nice, I don't know how they'd get around the fact that the Princess ran away because her father had the hots for her.

I also feel that there are some stories which could be really good material, yet might get confused with films from other studios based upon the same works, so execs might not want to pursue them. The Wizard of Oz is the main one here, and I think that Thumbelina, The Nutcracker and Puss in Boots (due to Shrek) could also meet a similar fate.

[Siren]

The Emperor's New Clothes was developed into a movie with massive re-writing from its original premise. The Emperor's New Groove is an adaptation of it. But still the original idea of an arrogant emperor being duped by people he trusted is there.

Fairy tales that shouldn't be done:

Little Red Riding Hood: the wolf eats her grandmother, wears her clothes, then eats Red Riding Hood and then huntsman cuts him open saving both of their lives....oh yeah...no.
Hansel and Gretal....boring
Gingerbread Man...read the actual tale, rather than the nursery rhyme. When he is created, he runs away from everyone till a fox eats him, lol

[JiminyCrick91]

The Emperor's New Clothes was developed into a movie with massive re-writing from its original premise. The Emperor's New Groove is an adaptation of it. But still the original idea of an arrogant emperor being duped by people he trusted is there.

From what I hear TENG was a plot that was based on 'Prince and the Pauper' story with Kuzco and a Kuzco look-a-like and Yzma's subpolt was about blocking out the sun so she whould 'remain' beautiful.

[candydog]

Little Red Riding Hood: the wolf eats her grandmother, wears her clothes, then eats Red Riding Hood and then huntsman cuts him open saving both of their lives....oh yeah...no.

I actually once went to see a play at a local theatre of Little Red Riding Hood. It was a family show and it ran for three hours. It was actually brilliant!! Of course, they added lots more characters and twists to the story, it was years ago, so I don't remember much about it. I do remember that Red Riding Hood was a beautiful girl and a wicked witch wanted to steal her looks. There was also obviously the wolf, who tries to eat her. I remember the witch kidnapping the Grandma and locking her away, and I remember that Red Riding hood also had her "face" stolen (which was shown by wearing a plain white mask). It sounds very farfetched I know, and I can't remember all the details, but it really was very well written and just shows that any story can be developed into a full length play, and I'm sure the same could be done for a movie.

When you think about it, many fairytales could be deemed as "too short", but have already been developed into successful movies.

Many others have completely departed from the original stories to provide a storyline better suited to a family film. Just read the original "Beauty and the Beast".

[toonaspie]

I think Rapunzel sounds like a bad idea for a Disney film but I guess we will just have to wait and see.

[MagicMirror]

One of my favourite fairy tales is 'The Fisherman and his Wife'. I remember that, as a young child, it was the fairy tale that frightened me the most - it doesn't feature any witches or monsters, but the wife's unlimited greed and lust for power was probably my 'introduction', so to speak, to the darker side of human nature.
Disney probably shouldn't adapt the tale, as it would lead to accusations regarding the portrayal of women. Nor does it end 'happily ever after'. But another, perhaps more cynical animation studio could probably make a film or a short of it without too much fuss.

[2099net]

The Singing Ringing Tree. I'm sure a lot of our European readers with memories of Bank Holiday morning TV will know what I mean.

[shudders]

[SpringHeelJack]

The Emperor's New Clothes was developed into a movie with massive re-writing from its original premise. The Emperor's New Groove is an adaptation of it. But still the original idea of an arrogant emperor being duped by people he trusted is there.

From what I hear TENG was a plot that was based on 'Prince and the Pauper' story with Kuzco and a Kuzco look-a-like and Yzma's subpolt was about blocking out the sun so she whould 'remain' beautiful.

JiminyCrick91 is right. The story was intended to a big dramatic retelling of "The Prince and the Pauper" set in South America. How it eventually got a title based on "The Emperor's New Clothes" is anybody's guess, though.

My vote would go to a very queer Brothers Grimm tale known as "The Strange Feast".

The Strange Feast

A blood sausage and a liver sausage had been friends for some time, and the blood sausage invited the liver sausage for a meal at her home. At dinnertime the liver sausage merrily set out for the blood sausage's house. But when she walked through the doorway, she saw all kinds of strange things. There were many steps, and on each one of them she found something different. There were a broom and shovel fighting with each other, a monkey with a big wound on his head, and more such things.

The liver sausage was very frightened and upset by this. Nevertheless, she took heart, entered the room, and was welcomed in a friendly way by the blood sausage. The liver sausage began to inquire about the strange things on the stairs, but the blood sausage pretended not to hear her or made it seem it was not worth talking about, or she said something about the shovel and the broom such as, "That was probably my maid gossiping on the stairs." And she shifted the topic to something else.

Then the blood sausage said she had to leave the room to go into the kitchen and look after the meal. She wanted to check to see that everything was in order and nothing had fallen into the ashes. The liver sausage began walking back and forth in the room and kept wondering about the strange things until someone appeared--I don't know who it was--and said, "Let me warn you, liver sausage, you're in a bloody murderous trap. You'd better get out of here quickly if you value your life!"

The liver sausage did not have to think twice about this. She ran out the door as fast as she could. Nor did she stop until she got out of the house and was in the middle of the street. Then she looked around and saw the blood sausage standing high up in the attic window with a long, long knife that was gleaming as though it had just been sharpened. The blood sausage threaterned her with it and cried out,

"If I had caught you, I would have had you!"

[Prudence]

Babes in the Wood.

[candydog]

Babes in the Wood.

I can only imagine how many fathers will be disappointed when they find what the story is actually about.

[Prudence]

Babes in the Wood.

I can only imagine how many fathers will be disappointed when they find what the story is actually about.

My own father refused to read that story to me as a child.

[Disney Duster]

I agree with candydog! I think that many stories can be changed but still be similary enough to the tale to be considered based, but not loosely based.

Cinderella had lots of stuff added to it, though some people feel it is too obviously padded and not enough actually happens to merit a full-length film, but it's still a cherished classic and popular film, and made/makes lots of moolah.

Beauty and the Beast is a great example, too. I heard somewhere Disney didn't know how to make a movie out of what was essentially "a girl and a monster eat dinner together"! The story was changed a lot and the whole curse premise was much stretched out.

As for those tales that are too gruesome to make into films, I won't take that either! I actually saw a short version of 'Ali-Baba and the Forty Theives", and honestly as long as Disney had subtle ways as well as humorous ways of showing the theives being defeated, it coudl work. For instance, they don't have to die, they could just have hot oil burn their butts and they run off screaming as the kids laugh at their pain! And I'm sure they could just make the Donkeyskin princess' father a stepfather, like the Grimm's Brothers often changed an evil mother to an evil stepmother when they wrote down the tales!

And let's everyone remember: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME?!? Yea, critics complained, but that was either because it wasn't close enough to the original source or it was too "mature" for a Disney film. Maybe Disney would be braver and not care? Roger Ebert liked it...

[Cordy_Biddle]

Faerie Tale Theatre had the right idea by telling each tale in about 50 minutes.

[ksmith]

I had class with a guy in one of my undergrad creative writing courses who wrote a short story about how a field mouse named Thomas was the reason how Little Red Riding Hood got away from from the wolf. I don't remember the entire writing, but Grandma didn't get eaten by the wolf and Thomas anonymously saved the day.

Anyway, a classic like that could be told from the point of view of a character (like Thomas the mouse) that wasn't in the original story. This allows for a longer storyline and for some funny scenes to be thrown in.

That said, I think Tom Thumb could be a likely candidate.

[Super Aurora]

One story I know definetly Disney would never go for is Bluebeard. If you read the story you'll know what he does.