Favorite Live Action Fairytale Films

[Farerb]

What are some of your favorite live action fairytale films? Can be from Disney and can be from other studios. Can be non English / American films as well.

I specifically want live action because then this thread will just be about the Disney Animated Classics.

You can also add Cinderella adaptations, but please try to list other fairytales as well.

[UmbrellaFish]

Ooh! I am very interested to hear from others. I have probably seen more non-Disney fairytale adaptations than the average bear, but not half as many as some of the aficionados on this website!

The Wizard of Oz (1939)
La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast) (1946)
Cinderella (1957)
Mary Poppins (1964)
Peau d’âne (Donkeyskin) (1970)
Tři oříšky pro Popelku (Three Wishes for Cinderella) (1973)
Hook (1991)
Cinderella (1997)
Enchanted (2007)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (2011) (this is cheating a bit, it’s a filmed production of the Royal Ballet’s Alice adaptation, but it is my favorite version of the story)
Cinderella (2015)
Aladdin (2019)
The Little Mermaid (2023)
Wicked: Part I (2024)

[Farerb]

The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Red Shoes (1948) - inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes
Mary Poppins (1964)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Ever After (1998)
Enchanted (2007)
Cinderella (2015) - it's a decent live action adaptation of the tale, though it has some flaws.
Wicked (2024)

La Belle et la Bête (1946) - I watched it years ago and I should probably rewatch it sometime.

Donkeyskin (1970) - I liked that Jacques Demy embraced the bizarreness of the tale, but I didn't like the helicopter at the end. It took me out of the movie. I prefer Demy's Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Young Girls of Rochefort.

I haven't seen these films but I'm curious about them:
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) - I know it's not really a fairytale.

Beauty and the Beast (1978) - a Czechoslovak dark adaptation of the tale.

[Disney Duster]

Cool thread! i would probably echo what most people will already say, though. I mean my top favorite live-action movies are Cinderella (2015) (the most "definitive" live-action version of the tale!), The Wizard of Oz (1939) (the best fantasy film ever made!) and The Wiz (1978) (it's so cool and mysterious!).

I am interested in seeing the dark Czech Beauty and the Beast and Donkeyskin (1970). I heard the latter is really popular/good?

No one has mentioned Beauty and the Beast (2014), which I liked for the visuals. Plus it made me cry at the death scene of the prince's former lover. It's still not a good movie, though. The romance is non-existent.

Threee other fairy tale films I like, guiltily, are the Cannon Movie Tales Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Hansel and Gretel. They are not good...and I have some childhood nostalgia for them. But they have some good ideas. One idea I like is the evil Queen dressing up as Romani and Asian peddlers for Snow White. Unfortunately that means she had to do caricatures which people would be offended by. This is part of my guilt. I don't mind seeing people pretend to be other races in impressions, acting. I know they shouldn't have done it. I just....well, I'm guilty of liking something bad, there it is. I am sorry. At least I am admitting, I know it is wrong. Interestingly I also find better done the Queen destroying her mirror and dying from it here, when it was done badly and unoriginally in the Disney remake. Diana Rigg also looked just like she did when she turned old from the mirror smashing in Snow White as when she was in Game of Thrones! I liked the idea of not enough golden plates being why they didn't invite the red fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and also in that film the king and Queen leaving to get clothing from another kingdom, and the song "Dare Me" is good! Hansel and Gretel I thought had some good writing and a bit scary stuff with the witch.

[UmbrellaFish]

Duster, I have owned the 2014 French Beauty and the Beast pretty much since it came out on disc, but I’ve never finished it. I started it once and the beginning just didn’t capture me. I need to watch it sometime, though, since I own it.

I watched Mirror, Mirror this weekend and it was alright. I couldn’t help but compare it to the recent Disney remake. Lily Collins was great, her performance seemed to have heavily borrowed from Disney and Adriana Caselotti’s creation. The costumes were splendid. The humor was weak. I did not think Julia Roberts was very good. The role needed someone with more panache… I’m not sure who I would have cast, but not her. This version wins brownie points for casting little people in the roles of the dwarves, and I loved their “giant” costumes. Very clever! I know Armie Hammer turned out to be a creep, but I had a crush on him ever since I saw him in The Social Network. The movie left me cold when they turned Snow into a fighter and tacked on the apple at the end like an afterthought. I thought Disney’s remake handled the story points much better, but Mirror, Mirror was prettier to look at. Except for the castle— the castle in Mirror, Mirror was a let down!

Should I watch the Charlize Theron movies? Those have never sparked my interest since they look more like action movies than fairy tales, but maybe I’m wrong?

[Disney's Divinity]

I never really thought of Oz as a fairy tale film, but I guess if it counts? Wicked for the same reason. The NeverEnding Story and Labyrinth both feel almost fairytale-esque at times, so maybe I should include those also? Aside from that, I put them in release order (or roundabout) rather than order of preference:

The Wizard of Oz
The Glass Slipper
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
The NeverEnding Story
Labyrinth
Ever After
Hook
The Beautician and the Beast
R&H's Cinderella (1998)
Snow White: Tale of Terror
Teen Witch
A Little Princess (remake, not the original)
Nanny McPhee
Stardust
Pan's Labyrinth
Maleficent (2016)
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Aladdin (2019)
Pinocchio (2021--I think it was '21)
Gretel & Hans
The Little Mermaid (2023)
Wicked
Snow White (2025)

Trying to think of others... I guess there are a lot of films that maybe apply-ish? I'll just add some of those, I'm not sure where the line is. Like...would things like Edward Scissorhands or The Shape of Water count?

[Disney Duster]

I have read your posts, Brelly and Divinity, and really enjoyed them.

Brelly, I would try to finish Beauty and the Beast 2014, and Snow White and the Hunstman I thought was better than Disney's Snow White remake.

Divinity, omg Stardust is so great! I also really enjoyed Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, you just reminded me of that. The Neverending Story is also my favorite horror film after the It films.

[Disney Duster]

I finally saw 1970's Donkeyskin. It was quite a movie to see! I did not like that the princess, who I forget if she even has a name, thought she might marry her father. She is described as intelligent but Christ almighty that is a wrong thing to think. Also, the fairy tale itself was always a bit confusing to me. Why can't the Prince just go after the girl he wants in the cottage? Why does he want a cake from Donkeyskin? If he suspects she is the one who he fell for, why not just pursue her? I think I need to give it a re-watch if no one gives me an answer.

I thought the music was beautiful, though. And it was pretty funny! The helicopter takes you out of the film, but it was because the Lilac Fairy can know and conjure things from the future (like she never ages and knows what a battery is), and it was kinda perfect for the rest of the way the film is. I wonder what the fairy did that made the King dislike her. I think it was that she jilted him before he married the Queen.

Anyway, good movie despite the lacking of the original fairy tale. I wonder if the film could be magically transformed into more of a classic with more sense-making stuff.