Disney casts its new live action movies and we have some opinions

Disney continues to make live action versions of their classic movies and their casting choices are interesting to say the least.

Every day it seems we have a new announcement about some live action Disney movie they’re attempting to make. As kids, we fell in love with these movies and honestly, some of them just don’t need to be touched.

While I personally loved Beauty and the Beast, it also had a lot of problems. It is my favorite Disney movie and there were a lot of unnecessary changes. But that’s what happens when you try and make an animated movie into a live action blockbuster. The next two on the docket are The Lion King and Aladdin, and while they are making some great casting choices, they’re also making some terrible ones.

Casting choices

So, of course, we’re looking at one bad (Aladdin) and one good (The Lion King). At the Disney Expo this weekend, the leads for Aladdin were announced and many were excited about the casting of Aladdin (Mena Massoud) and the Genie (Will Smith) but there is a bit of a problem with their Jasmine.

If you’re going to make a movie based (fictionally) around Iraq, maybe cast actors of that ethnicity in the roles. Naomi Scott, who will be playing Jasmine, is talented but not the right ethnicity for the role. At least they cast a woman of color but let us hope that they don’t try to do the idiotic casting of Jafar they were hinting at earlier this year.

The second big casting announcement at the expo was the casting of Hugh Jackman as Scar in The Lion King. Now a lot of people were upset. This entire cast has, so far, been people of color and John Oliver (which, come on, he’s PERFECT as Zazu). But here’s the brilliant thing about casting Scar as a white man, it furthers the message of how twisted Scar is.

The Broadway show did the same thing. Most the actors in the show are people of color. But Scar, he was always a white man. So, to me, this casting is honestly kind of perfect.

Next: Jon Favreau’s Lion King remake adds John Oliver as the voice of Zazu

Are you excited about these Disney remakes? Let us know in the comments below!