Animated feature films all began with Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a revolutionary idea that rocketed the company to become the household name it is today. On May 26, Disney will release its 19th live action remake of an originally animated film: The Little Mermaid. Why does Disney feel the need to remake its animated films into live action? The answer is obvious: money.

Statistically, animated Disney films have always been better received critically than their live action counterparts; however, 11 out of 17 films performed better at the box office, sometimes doubling the original animated films’ income. While yes, the income is better, the quality is lower. It is a cash grab, plain and simple. It is frustrating to see Disney continuously putting time and effort into replicating movies that already exists. In the event that the movie is bad, there is no original music or storyline to save it. If it crashes, it does not just burn; it explodes. Disney is equipped with the resources and creativity to create beautiful and heartfelt movies, but as of late, the company has done nothing but disappoint.

Disney is not the only culprit of the crime of bad remakes. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cowboy Bebop, and even The Flintstones have been “reimagined” for goodness sake. I can mark the rise of remakes with M. Night Shyamalan’s atrocious adaptation of Nickelodeon’s beloved series, Avatar: the Last Airbender. Even more horrible, it is considered a box-office success. To me, the monetary success of the bad films has shifted film from an art into a cash cow. The best I can call these remakes is cheap and sad.

I think that animation is a wonderful creative medium. Spiderman: into the Spiderverse is a modern example. Dedication, time, and love was put into the film, and it shows. It is stylish and thrilling in a way that live action media just cannot match. Translating live action material into animation may be more time-consuming, but the visual feast is worth the wait. I can only hope that the animation trend picks up after the success of Into the Spiderverse. Animation is art, and so is film; at least it should be. Television like Arcane on Netflix and films produced by Studio Ghibli show the world the potential of animation. If only the world would listen.