Disney has been the standard for film and animation by continually telling stories that evolve and deeply impact audiences of all ages, exploring a multitude of themes and even serious, real-life issues. Whether it’s Snow White or Moana, Disney sets out to do the impossible: a female lead persevering and evolving in a magical and animated way. As the princesses’ characters have evolved, so have the delivery media of 2D animation and live-action retellings of classics.
Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, also known as Walt’s princesses, helped the studio become the blueprint for storytelling through magical 2D animation and story development. The second generation of princesses, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan, and Pocahontas, mimicked the Broadway musical format that gave each princess their own voice. With the popularity of 3D animation came yet a new generation of princesses who were even more versatile: Elsa, Anna, Moana, and Tiana were the princesses who decided their own fate, regardless of royal title. From 3D animation, the next step for the silver screen was to turn to live-action, which would bring more vibrant stories and costumes to classic princess stories. Here’s a look at the evolution of Disney princess movies.
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Walt’s Princesses: The Foundation of Animated Disney Royalty
RKO Radio Pictures
The original princess, Snow White, was introduced to audiences in 1937 in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. According to The Walt Disney Family Museum, the film required 32 different animators to accomplish moving characters in front of watercolor-painted and hand-drawn backdrops, the unique Disney animation signature at the time. Disney’s next princess films, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, follow this animation style created by the infamous Disney animation team.
Known as Disney’s Nine Old Men, Les Clark, Marc Davis, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Eric Larson, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Frank Thomas were the animators known for Walt Disney’s favorite piece of animation, which Rotoscopes says, is Cinderella’s dress transformation by the fairy godmother. Yet for Sleeping Beauty, only Davis and Kahl reunited, along with Eyvind Earle. These three men hand painted the backgrounds and designed Aurora, Prince Philip, and Maleficent based on a combination of Renaissance art and Henri Matisse’s work.
The Show Must Go On: Courageous Female Leads
Walt Disney Pictures
After a 40-year hiatus from the princess feature films, Disney was in need of a big revival — or, in this case, a little one. In 1989, the studio released The Little Mermaid, a return to their signature animation and Broadway format. This time around, practically the entire cast was made up of Broadway-trained actors. By having a versatile cast like this, each character acted like a semicolon; Sebastian could be a character of his own, but he could also support other characters in the story.
With The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Mulan having fully developed characters, each princess was rebellious, outspoken, and full of wanderlust. Ariel rebelled against her father’s wishes to explore the human world. Belle advocated on behalf of her father being completely sane, no matter how quirky the villagers found her. Jasmine explored the city outside the palace walls, something her father forbade. Pocahontas’ journey was more internal, with her days spent deciphering the spinning compass in her dream. Finally, Mulan rebelled against Chinese law forbidding women from fighting. The second generation of princesses were courageous and defied their predecessors.
Queen, Chief, CEO: The Royal Line Writing Their Own Stories
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Movies released from both Pixar and Disney Studios began centering around the average person, animals, or toys; it was only natural to re-enter the princess storyline with classic tales: 2009’s The Princess and the Frog and 2010’s Tangled. In The Princess and the Frog, Tiana wasn’t a princess, but she was a CEO. She scrimped and saved to buy her dream building where she would serve her family’s recipes in hopes that it would become the most popular spot in New Orleans. She wasn’t going to let society dictate her life; she would write her own story. Rapunzel, the first 3D-animated princess, was the first princess to have magical powers.
In Frozen, Anna and Elsa were a combination of Tiana’s autobiographical constitution and Rapunzel’s biological magic. The first royal sisters who are both crowned as queen. Elsa is the first Disney queen to have magical powers that she uses for good, and she is also the first Disney royal to leave her responsibilities behind. Anna, while non-magical, chooses love and royal responsibility after saving her sister and her kingdom twice. Moana, like Tiana, is not a princess in the traditional sense, but the daughter of the Chief. While tasked with saving her people, she discovers that the villain is actually in need of rescuing. These princesses, whether actual princesses or not, represented the versatility of the average person becoming like royalty or vice versa, allowing animators, storytellers, and audiences alike to adopt a broader vision for future films.
Live-Action: How the Original Stories Were Honored
Disney
As the Disney princess stories evolved, it was important to return to the original drawing boards of classics like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Yet this time, the story couldn’t mimic the original animated films. Each story needed to have a different approach. In the end, live-action princess movie musicals would be the medium to retell the story of Cinderella. Conversely, they would take a different approach for Aurora: instead of retelling Sleeping Beauty, they would tell the story of Maleficent, giving the revered villain a redemption arc across two films.
With Lily James poised to play the lead in Cinderella, directed by Kenneth Branagh, the classic retelling was sure to be a hit. The film was an adaptation to the fullest extent: star-studded cast, standalone characters, and one of the most revered love stories given more depth than the original could. Of course, the Disney magic came in full force as well with Cinderella’s dress transformation, which is arguably just as magical and brilliant as the original piece of animation. For Maleficent, Disney cast Angelina Jolie as the revered yet misunderstood Maleficent and Elle Fanning as the sweet Princess Aurora. In retelling the story of Briar Rose from the perspective of Maleficent, audiences not only saw the villain redeemed as Aurora’s competent caregiver, but Maleficent was also a step for future live-action princess films to encapsulate every point of evolution from previous films.
