Lady and the Tramp: Real Life Animals Can't Portray Emotions

The 2019 remake of Lady and the Tramp is simple as it is a beat-for-beat remake of the 1953 original. It is the first one of Disney's live-action remakes to go straight to Disney+. The film uses real dogs with CGI animation to move their mouths.

Jim Dear gives his wife Darling a Cocker Spaniel for Christmas that is named Lady. Lady becomes accustomed to being the at the center of Jim and Darling's world. Her world begins to change when a dog named Tramp informs her of the baby Darling is about to have. After the baby is born Lady begins to find herself getting less attention from her owners and she ends up out on the streets. She reunites with Tramp and he offers to help her get home while also showing her his lifestyle as a dog on the streets. During this time an unexpected romance begins to brew between the two dogs.

This remake doesn't do much to update the story through a modern perspective other than the lack of the cats and the interracial couple of Jim and Darling. The film manages to keep the same pleasant atmosphere of the original film with his exact beats and doesn't stray from the original story in any way. The only other difference is that in this version the dog catcher has a stronger role and presence in the story. The movie could have gone the route of having CGI animals but opts to cast real dogs. Even with the use of CGI for talking it still feels like an old-fashioned love story in the Midwest. The voice cast of Tessa Thompson and Justin Theroux as Lady and Tramp bring some excitement from their portrayals of the two iconic characters. The production design of the Midwest time is beautiful and sets the tone of the movie. The film draws on nostalgia and basics that are a departure from the big-budgeted, adventure filled remakes in the theaters.

Lady and the Tramp is not the best of the remakes, but it has a heart. It's home of a streaming service allows it to be a movie to turn on when audiences are in the mood for something nostalgic and slow-paced that reminds them why they love Disney films. The use of real dogs allows audiences to feel this emotion of watching something natural and real on the screen instead of CGI or animation. The scene of Lady and Tramp sharing a plate of spaghetti still has the same heart and emotion as the animated.