‘Some Kids, Some Parents Are More Sensitive.’ ‘Bambi’ Screenwriter Promises Major Changes to Disney Classic

It’s almost like Disney can’t help themselves. They have some of the most loved movies ever made, yet they still feel the need to push out live-action remakes continually. Sure, Beauty and the Beast (2017) and The Lion King (2019) were billion-dollar movies for Walt Disney Studios, but lately, the live-action remakes have brought controversy to Disney.

It started with The Little Mermaid (2023). Critics pounced when Disney announced it was casting African-American actress Halle Bailey as Ariel. The online racist trolls sunk The Little Mermaid’s box office return. The movie only brought in $560 million worldwide at the box office, with a budget of over $250 million.

And then there’s Disney’s live-action Snow White, which hasn’t even been released yet. The casting of Rachel Zegler in the title role again brought out the online trolls, but Zegler fought back. Zegler, who is Latina, clapped back at her critics and caught even more scorn online. And then there was the photo of new “dwarfs.” Disney decided to replace the seven dwarfs with seven magical creatures, bringing yells of “Woke Disney” from the online world.

Now comes word that Disney plans a live-action remake of its classic, Bambi (1942). But apparently, this version of the beloved classic will get a modern update.

Screenwriter Lindsey Anderson Beer told Collider:

Not to spoil the plot, but there’s a treatment of the mom dying that I think some kids, some parents these days, are more sensitive about than they were in the past. And I think that’s one of the reasons that they haven’t shown it to their children. I do think there is a way to update Bambi and our take on it was… did give a little bit more of a scope to it. And I just think that to be able to bring it to life for kids these days in a way that maybe they relate to a little bit more would be of service to the original.

The new version of the Disney animation classic would be similar to The Lion King with computer-generated animals rather than the animation. Using CG images, Disney can create the entire environment around the animals, just like in their live-action Jungle Book (2016). 

However, the new adaptation was already receiving scorn from the online community, with many fans wondering if Disney was simply out of ideas. Before the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Disney announced remakes of Moana (2016) and Lilo and Stitch (2002). Both films were put on hold because of the strikes, but with the writer’s strike ending, fans can expect those movies to start up again.

Anderson Beer has since stepped away from the film to work on other projects, but she still says that Disney will take a more sympathetic approach to a parental death, even though it happened to a deer in the original film.

But these changes will give critics of Disney Animation Studios more ammunition and make it harder to fight claims that the company has gone “woke.” It remains to be seen what the reaction to this live-action remake of a fabled classic will be from Disney fans worldwide.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.