Photo: Everett; Pixar; Disney
Let’s take it back to the beginning… and beyond!
Betweenlive-action adaptationslikeMulan(2020) and animated reimaginings likeTangled(2011), Disney has been putting fresh spins on their classic fairytales for decades. They also go back to the well of beloved stories for equally-popular sequels (including the threeToy Storymoviesthat have been created since the 1995 original).
Lightyear(2022).Pixar
Theannouncement of the filmgenerated excitement among fans, as well as some confusion about the story it will tell. To clarify,Lightyearportrays the origin story the character Buzz was based on, not the one of the actual toy in the film.
As director Angus MacLane explained toEntertainment Weekly, “Set in the world ofToy Story' is kind of weird. Another way to get at it, it’s a straightforward sci-fi action film about the Buzz Lightyear character,” he said. “In theToy Storyuniverse, it would be like a movie that maybe Andy would have seen, that would have made him want a Buzz Lightyear figure.”
This isn’t the first time Disney has told the origin story of a beloved movie character. Keeping scrolling for other movies, likeLightyear, that take you back to the beginnings of your favorite fictional characters!
Toy Story 4.
Cruella
StarringEmma Stoneand Emma Thompson, the 2021 film follows the life of Cruella de Vil prior to the events that occur in Disney’s101 Dalmatians(in which viewers were first introduced to the villain).
The movieis a true origin story because it doesn’t retell the story of the101 Dalmatians; rather, it’s set several decades ahead of the animated film (and its live-action remake, starring Glenn Close). It follows Stone’s Estella through her early years, from her formative Dalmatian-hating incident to the twists and turns that lead her to become the villain we all know.
Laurie Sparham/Disney
Where to watch:Disney+
Maleficent
Disney’s 2014 alternative telling ofSleeping Beautyexplores the origin story of its primary villain Maleficent – a much different take on the 1959 animated classic.Maleficentis a live-action movie that focuses on the charismatic sorceress, as opposed to the animated titular character, Princess Aurora.
Angelina Jolie.Everett
After the success of the film,Jolie reprised her rolein the sequelMaleficent: Mistress of Evil, which picks up several years after the 2014 original left off. (Fun fact:Jolie’s daughter Vivienne, then 4, had a brief role as a young Princess Aurora, because she was the only child actor not scared of Jolie in costume!)
Finding Dory
The film then fast forwards a year after the original film, and follows the fish on her quest to find her parents after she remembers that they lived at the Jewel of Morro Bay, California. Through quick flashbacks of past memories, Dory and her friends embark on a journey that brings her to the Marine Life Institute – where she discovers she was born.
Monsters University
Pixar
UnlikeFinding Dory,Monsters Universityis a prequel, which sets the stage for the 2001 movie,Monsters Inc.and tells the origin story of its main characters: James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal).
In the movie, best friends Mike and James (better known as Sulley) first meet at Monsters University, although the audience comes to learn that they didn’t always start out as friends. Ever since Mike was a kid, he had always dreamed of becoming a Scarer (the reason for his enrollment into the university). A rivalry is formed when he meets Sulley, a natural-born Scarer, but both get kicked out of the program after failing their initial exams. Determined to get back to Scaring, the two learn to work together, eventually becoming the best friends that we know and love.
Frozen II
Evan Rachel Wood inFrozen 2.Disney
source: people.com
