Out of all of the Disney classics that they could remake into 3D, Pinocchio might be the most likely. With Disney's resources it's very possible that it'll more successful as a more faithful adaptation to the original story.
A Hippie in the House of Mouse (Jim Henson at Disney, 1980)
- Thread starter Geekhis Khan
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Actually depicting the Circular City of old Bagdad is a pretty great idea. The giant onion domes of OTL's Agrabah always struck me as kind of ridiculous while an entire concentric city with a palace at its heart (perhaps with a lot of water features) would be both unique for a Disney film and more importantly, look amazing with Disney's growing confidence in CG animation.
It doesn't have to be Bagdad, it can still be a fictional city, but the shape and obvious reference would be very welcome to the viewers, I'm sure.
I'm reminded that Stanley Kubrick wanted to make a Pinocchio film. As he put it: "It would very nice if I could make children laugh and feel happy." He was thinking of making it for his grandchildren,
I was thinking about this, and I recalled that Dodi Fayed has a business relationship with Disney through the MGM Film Library rights. I can see a situation where in a meeting to talk distribution he hears about Aladdin and wants to see some of the recording. While there for the recording of Arabian Nights he hears the lyrics and talks to Jim and Howard about them. "But didn't they actually cut off hands back in medieval Baghdad?" He responds "Didn't they not bathe in medieval Europe? Perhaps you should have had Cinderella with an open abscess on her face." "Point made, we can consider something else."
I can see that. A Kubrick/Disney Collaboration! I think my brain broke.
I can also see him criticize Jasmine's outfit, saying "No woman would ever wear something as skimpy and revealing as that." or Aladdin's, mentioning how Arabs aren't shirtless in the desert.
While I don't expect Disney to be fully historically accurate (that's almost impossible), especially for the 90s, a few nudges here and there could make it a more acceptable film for international audiences. I could see Disney get away with stuff like keeping the Sultan, having Fez caps and vests as part of their outfits, and Jafar's character design though.
A Walt Disney film of Pinocchio, directed by Stanley Kubrick, produced by Steven Spielberg and Amblin, with help from the Creatureworks / the Softworks? Is that possible?
If the hypothetical Disney/Kubrick Pinocchio film is leaning closer to the source material's Italian roots I'd suggest Tony Amendola for Gepetto. He's Italian-American and he actually was cast in Gepetto in Once Upon A Time.
Though I'd love it to incorporate Pleasure Island and have the Coachman suffer a comeuppance for his misdeeds.
Though I'd love it to incorporate Pleasure Island and have the Coachman suffer a comeuppance for his misdeeds.
Other than the king including 'Allah forbid...' in one line, I'm pretty sure Alladin is pretty agnostic so you could use some mildly anachronistic apparel for the 'assumed date'.
I do however agree completely that they missed a HUGE opportunity for incredible fabrics and costumes. I think they blew their creative budget on getting Carpet to animate properly (an effect that still holds up today, remarkably).
I can see it happen. Disney's practical effects department is uniquely capable of making a puppet move without strings. I don't expect people to hold it up as some cinematic masterpiece, but would assume a lot of people remembering it 'oh yeah, I really liked that movie. Kubrick directed? Wow, hadn't realized, didn't think he did kids movies. Well done, Stan!'.
Yeah, it was one of the things Kubrick had planned before he died among a few others. He wanted to make it for his grandchildren.
If this film is gonna have Kubrick play against type, can we have someone like R. Lee Ermey narrating? Not in his typical, loud boisterous style of course, but more of a grandfatherly type reading kids a bedtime story.
Historically Accurate Aladdin by Wickfield on DeviantArt
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Historically Accurate Jafar by Wickfield on DeviantArt
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Historically Accurate Jasmine by Wickfield on DeviantArt
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Agrabah Wedding by Wickfield on DeviantArt
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For appropriately Arab dress, those fashions are perfectly fine. However, the tale itself purports to take place in Tang or Song Dynasty China, while the names of its main characters suggest Khwarzim-era Persia, immediately prior to the war with the Mongols. (Aladdin is the name of the last Khwarzim Emperor, and his father in law shares his name with the Khwarzim Emperor who provoked the Mongol invasion of the place,) As setting it in the former might become the root of a diplomatic incident in the wake of Tiananmen Square, I suspect the dress fashions would have to change subtly to match the setting of the latter, if we're going for absolute authenticity.
Ashman was pretty explicit in setting this in a mystical Baghdad, so I don't think Disney is going to revert to the original setting of the story. As long as the landscape, architecture, and character design reflects that time period, then they will be fine.
Somehow, I don't think anybody in the studio will think of Aladdin as Imperial Chinese. We could end up with a bit more Seljuk influence though, depending on how much research they do.
We could take a page out of the D&D handbook, a little bit of 13th century Arabia, a pinch of Persia, a dash of Tang/Song China, and a portion of Ottoman architecture.
He'd be a tad young to make that work at the time. He would only have been in his late Forties. I would choose Abe Vigoda for a live-action Gepetto, as Pacino playing Gertrude, as it were, would have jolted my mid-teenaged self out of the movie.
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