Animation – for some, it is a wonder to the world. It has brought humans some magical moments from cartoons we watched as kids to Pixar and DreamWorks movies. Books are often viewed the same, with my favorite being Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Yet, that magic gets taken away when a live action movie adaptation is released. Over the last 20 years, live action adaptations of books and classic animated movies have plagued movie watchers, and here’s the reason why.

Animation is an extension of reality. How the world and the characters move and act, including their design, is very different in this world compared to live action reality. Due to this rule or alteration, live action adaptations of Disney movies such as Lion King, Aladdin and many others do not have the same appeal as their original animated films have. All of this is due to trying to apply a reality that isn’t meant to appeal to a live action viewpoint. It also does not help that certain actors do not fit their characters to the likeness of the original character. It may be the voice or their physical appearance in the real life reality compared to their abstract reality that ruins that iconic character for the movie . The audience that greatly enjoyed that specific character in the original movie not longer has the same sentiment.

Also, Hollywood sees the project as a easy grab at money due to the popularity of the original source and does not try to stay true to the original source of the live action remake. For example, the two Percy Jackson live action movies are terrible in cast, story, and staying true to the pure magic and dedication Rick Riordan puts into the series. Many movie makers think that these movie will bring back the magic the original had but in reality it just leaves a bad taste in the fans mouths whenever that subject is brought up. Instead of trying to hype up that franchise with a live action, let it burn out into the wind of history.

If there is one thing I do not understand it is why Hollywood does not make animated movie/series for books. For example, the new Percy Jackson series on Disney+ has had mixed criticism mainly with the appearances of the actors and how they are portrayed in the show. If they did a animated series of the show, they would not have to look for actors to fit the physical description of the characters; they would only have to focus on finding the proper voice actors for the series. Also, with animation, you can capture that special reality of that world, instead of using a live action reality and having it feel off or unnatural to the audience compared to that in the book.

Just some things to think about…