We’re back! The latest entry in our comprehensive score rankings is here, and this time, we’re taking on all 13 (as of this writing) Disney live-action remakes!

Feel free to check out our previous rankings here.

With the news that Mulan is finally getting its long-awaited released… on Disney+… for an additional price, we thought this would be an opportune time to revisit the music from the current surge of live-action remakes from Disney.

We’re still waiting for the Mulan soundtrack (from composer Harry Gregson-Williams) to be released, so it’s anyone’s guess where it will fall.

So what are we looking at here? Modern “live-action” remakes of Disney’s animated films (and their sequels) – not just any Disney film starring real people. For example, Mary Poppins Returns isn’t included since it’s technically a sequel to – not a remake of – the original… which also wasn’t a fully animated film.

And for the purposes of this list, we count 2010’s Alice in Wonderland as the start of the current live-action remake trend. Sorry, fans of Glenn Close’s 101 Dalmatians (1996).

Typically, in these rankings, we don’t consider songs in our decision-making process – just the orchestral scores. However, since many of these are musicals where the songs are integral, it didn’t make sense to separate them out. Especially in cases where the composer also wrote the songs. Therefore, we’ve factored them into our ranking.

Still, nearly all of the films/soundtracks have at least one “gimmick song” – a song built for the radio, the end credits, or social media chatter. We call special attention to them.

If you want to listen to the scores yourself, ALL of them are streaming on Amazon Music. Not an endorsement; just a fact. And if you’re interested, I’ve pulled together the best of the scores (according to me) in this playlist, which is organized in order of release. Listen and enjoy!

So without further ado, here’s the Roarbots’ definitive yet completely subjective ranking of the scores of the Disney live-action remakes.

(Header image above by The-Dark-Mamba-995 on Deviant Art.)

#13: Pete’s Dragon

• composed by Daniel Hart (2016)
• listen to: “Are You Gonna Eat Me?,” “Abyss,” “The Bravest Boy I’ve Ever Met”
• gimmick song: There’s really… not one. The closest we come is “Nobody Knows” by folk band The Lumineers or possibly a cover of the original film’s “Candle on the Water,” lazily sung by Okkervil River and robbed of all the joy and beauty Helen Reddy gave it.

Yes, I know. Pete’s Dragon wasn’t a fully animated film, but it’s my list and I’m including it. And as much as I really wanted to love this score (since I really enjoyed the movie, and I feel like it’s one of the forgotten treasures of the current crop of live-action remakes), the music is sadly dull and unremarkable, especially when compared to others in this group. Interestingly, Howard Shore was originally supposed to score Pete’s Dragon and was replaced during post-production. Oh, what could’ve been.

#12: Alice Through the Looking Glass

• composed by Danny Elfman (2016)
• listen to: “Hatter House”
• gimmick song: “Just Like Fire” by Pink, which is still in heavy rotation on the radio (for those of you who listen to the radio)

Elfman rehashes Alice’s theme from the first film and uses it extensively throughout this one. Other than a constant recycling of that theme (and sampling “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” several times), his score doesn’t bring much new or exciting to the table. Don’t look here for a wider exploration of Wonderland and its inhabitants, and don’t expect an expansion of the sound introduced with the first film.

In short, don’t expect a Batman Returns-style score in which Elfman blows out the boundaries he created and soars past the horizon with a thrilling new sound. Sadly, Alice Through the Looking Glass sticks too close to the original and isn’t that memorable on its own.

#11: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

• composed by Geoff Zanelli (2019)
• listen to: “Mistress of Evil,” “We’re Dark Fey”
• gimmick song: “You Can’t Stop the Girl” from Bebe Rexha

Speaking of sequels that rely on the original… Zenelli’s score to the second Maleficent that nobody asked for is a bit of a bizarre beast. It’s actually quite good and has a few standout moments. However, if you listen to it along with James Newton Howard’s score for the first film, it becomes apparent that Zanelli intentionally stuck close to Howard’s themes and melodies. It could be worse – Howard’s score for Maleficent is great, and a similar sound is expected with a sequel – but it sadly drops this one fairly low on the list.

#10: Alice in Wonderland

• composed by Danny Elfman (2010)
• listen to: “Alice’s Theme,” “Alice Decides”
• gimmick song: None. There was a separate release with music “inspired by” the film, but we won’t discuss that here.

It’s a Tim Burton/Danny Elfman collaboration. For those of you who live for such things, you’re undoubtedly gobsmacked that this is so low in the ranking. Sorry.

Listen, this is a list of phenomenally popular – and ridiculously good – scores. Being mediocre does more than lose a few points; it drops you to the bottom. Don’t get me wrong, Elfman’s score for Alice in Wonderland is in no way bad. It’s enjoyable and certainly hearkens back to the “classic” Elfman sound of the late 80s (especially with Alice’s theme positively soaked in a dreamy choir), but it just doesn’t reach the level maintained by the rest of this list.

It’s a solid score, but in doing some research for this list, I found a review that claimed Alice’s theme is one of the best hero themes ever composed. I mean, it’s good, but let’s not get carried away.

#9: Lady and the Tramp

• composed by Joseph Trapanese (2019)
• listen to: “Welcome to the Family,” “Getting on the Boat,” “I Missed You”
• gimmick song: “He’s a Tramp,” sung by Janelle Monáe, is the clear standout (but let’s not forget “Bella Notte” sung by F. Murray Abraham!).

In the complete absence of expectations, the music for Lady and the Tramp is surprisingly good! I get that this film probably flew under a lot of people’s radars, seeing as it was a launch title on Disney+ and everyone’s attention was focused squarely on The Mandalorian. But people, it stars Tessa Thompson, Janelle Monáe, Benedict Wong, Justin Theroux, and Yvette Nicole Brown! What are you waiting for?

Joseph Trapanese might not be an immediately recognizable name, but the young composer has had a lot of experience working on films and TV shows, such as Tron: Uprising, Quantico, and 2018’s Robin Hood. His score for Lady and the Tramp is equally jazzy and nostalgic for the 1955 original. If you’re a fan of music that makes you tap your feet, then this is your jam.

#8: Maleficent

• composed by James Newton Howard (2014)
• listen to: “The Spindle’s Power,” “Maleficent is Captured”
• gimmick song: Lana Del Rey’s “Once Upon a Dream” set the tenor for all the “creepy” takes on Disney classics that would follow.

It’s kind of hard to remember now, but there was a four-year gap between Alice in Wonderland (the first of the live-action remakes) and Maleficent. Disney hadn’t yet committed to remaking their entire animated catalog, so in a very real sense, the entire wave of remakes we’re seeing now hinged on the studio’s ability to make Sleeping Beauty fresh and relevant for the 21st century… well, it hinged on that and on Angelina Jolie’s cheekbones.

And since we know movies often live or die by their score, we can see James Newton Howard as the foundation of this entire list. Howard, who had scored more than 100 films since the 70s, also came with a Disney pedigree. He composed the scores for three of the most neglected and forgotten Disney animated films: Dinosaur, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Treasure Planet.

With Maleficent, though, he delivered a triumphant score that alternates between bold action sequences and intimate emotional moments. It’s a brilliant score that’s endlessly listenable.

#7: Dumbo

• composed by Danny Elfman (2019)
• listen to: “Goodbye Mrs. Jumbo,” “The Final Confrontation,” “Medici Circus – Miracles Can Happen”
• gimmick song: “Baby Mine” by Arcade Fire? I did NOT see that coming.

Hey look, it’s another Tim Burton/Danny Elfman Special! More than any other film on this list, the 1941 Dumbo probably had the most actual songs that didn’t make it through to the remake. Burton’s film features a version of “Baby Mine” – because you can’t have Dumbo without that song – but “Casey Junior,” “When I See an Elephant Fly,” and “Pink Elephants on Parade” are only quoted in Elfman’s instrumental score.

And though Elfman’s music mostly stays true to the character, very little of the original sound is retained. Those aren’t criticisms. Dumbo is very much a product of 1941, with plenty of characterizations and stereotypes we’d like to forget about. But at its heart, it’s a coming-of-age tale about independence and… ahem, learning to fly. It’s thrilling, inspirational story about overcoming the obstacles life puts in our way and finding the strengths we all have buried inside.

And Elfman’s score to the 2019 remake is perfectly suited to that heart. It’s joyous, exhilarating, and just a tiny bit menacing. This is Danny Elfman at his most fun.

#6: Aladdin

• composed by Alan Menken (2019)
• listen to: “Breaking In,” “Genie Set Free”
• gimmick song: Will Smith’s Genie songs (“Arabian Nights,” “Friend Like Me,” “Prince Ali”) are the clear highlights here, but the new song for Jasmine – “Speechless,” sung by Naomi Scott (and written by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul of The Greatest Showman, La La Land, and Dear Evan Hansen) – is quite good.

Many of the films on this list came with few expectations and a wide-open landscape into which the composers were free to play. However, a few films – three, to be exact – absolutely couldn’t stray very far from the original source material. Aladdin was one of these.

Movies like Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty may have had songs, but they weren’t exactly musicals. Aladdin is a musical. You can’t remake Aladdin without Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s songs. So it was an obvious choice to bring back Menken, composer of the 1992 original.

It’s hard to separate Menken’s score from Ashman and Menken’s songs when you think of Aladdin. But when listening to the soundtrack, it’s fairly easy to do. The score is mostly background music and subdued melodies; it’s clearly meant to let the songs take center stage. And boy do they ever.

#5: The Lion King

• composed by Hans Zimmer (2019)
• listen to: “Rafiki’s Fireflies,” “Stampede,” “Simba is Alive!” “Reflections of Mufasa”
• gimmick song: Let’s face it, Beyoncé is the gimmick. Everything else simply sits in her shadow.

Come on, is there another Disney soundtrack that’s more universally beloved than The Lion King? The 2019 remake certainly had an uphill road to climb just in terms of expectations. Did The Lion King even need to be remade? Why tamper with something so brilliantly done the first time?

In the end, the remake was… fine. It didn’t destroy the integrity of the original and wasn’t exactly “live action,” but the cast was beyond amazing. So much of the soundtrack release are the songs, because, let’s face it: there are a lot of songs in The Lion King.

Zimmer’s score didn’t actually change all that much from his own score to the 1994 original, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There’s a noticeable lack of Elton John here, though. And again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

#4: Christopher Robin

• composed by Geoff Zanelli & Jon Brion (2018)
• listen to: “Not Doing Nothing Anymore,” “A Father of Very Little Brain,” “I Do Nothing Every Day”
• gimmick song: As much as I love Jim Cummings, Richard Sherman’s delightful songs are the clear winners: “Busy Doing Nothing” & “Christopher Robin”

Surprise! Admittedly, it might be my personal love of Winnie the Pooh that helped this one rank so high, but the score is surprisingly great. It’s everything Pooh should be: sweet, innocent, lovely, and soul warming. And the fact that it’s overflowing with Sherman magic is just icing on the cake.

Beyond the new Richard Sherman songs, the score is a relaxed listen; this certainly isn’t Aladdin or Maleficent. There are no huge action sequences or jaw-dropping visual effects (I mean, aside from the denizens of the Hundred Acre Wood). Melodies gently ease off a softly played piano and embrace the listener in a sublime chorus of strings.

There’s a touch of melancholy to the score, but given the film’s plot, that’s hardly surprising. It’s the perfect soundtrack if you want to feel young again… but also be a little bit sad.

#3: Beauty and the Beast

• composed by Alan Menken (2017)
• listen to: “Main Title: Prologue,” “Colonnade Chat,” “You Came Back”
• gimmick song: It’s hard to nail down a single gimmick when the soundtrack includes Emma Watson, Emma Thompson, Josh Gad, Celine Dion, Ariana Grande, and Josh Groban.

Remember how I mentioned three of these films really couldn’t stray very far from the source material? This is the third of those. Way more than any other title on this list, Beauty and the Beast hewed VERY CLOSE to the original in every respect – story, script, visualization, and music.

As with Aladdin, Alan Menken came back to fine tune his 1991 score and update the songs he cowrote with Howard Ashman. Ultimately, that’s really all he did: fine tuning. He added some to his already amazing score, but much of the score is identical to the animated film, so it’s precisely what you expect it to be: gold.

#2: The Jungle Book

• composed by John Debney (2016)
• listen to: “Water Truce,” “The Man Village,” “Elephant Waterfall,” “The Jungle Book Closes”
• gimmick song: It’s a tie between “The Bare Necessities” by Dr. John and “I Wanna Be Like You” by… Christopher Walken? The former is a legitimately fun version of the song; the latter is just weird enough to make it interesting.

I know what you’re thinking. The Jungle Book over Aladdin, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast? How? Well, here’s the thing. We all knew what to expect with those three. The originals are ridiculously popular musicals, and the scores have been praised for years. And all three stuck very close to the source.

However, we didn’t know what to expect from The Jungle Book, except for the inevitable “The Bare Necessities.” And aside from the few songs, Debney really makes a considerable departure from the 1967 original. The score does the impossible and is by turns both soaring and intimate, expansive and introspective. In short, it’s a perfect fit for the setting and story.

#1: Cinderella

• composed by Patrick Doyle (2015)
• listen to: “The Stag,” “Pumpkins and Mice,” “You Shall Go,” “Who Is She”
• gimmick song: It’s a tie between “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” by Lily James and “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” by Helena Bonham Carter. Neither strays very far from the original, and neither is incredibly memorable. Both are very safe renditions and feel tacked on to an otherwise stellar score.

Airy. Ethereal. Emotionally uplifting. Patrick Doyle’s score for Cinderella is so heads and tails above the rest of this list, it’s not even a contest.

Doyle and director Kenneth Branagh are frequent collaborators, having worked together on Hamlet and Thor, most notably. (Check out our ranking of the MCU scores to see where Doyle’s Thor landed, but spoiler alert: his spectacular theme elevated the entire trilogy.) Doyle also composed the score to Brave, which came in at #3 of our ranking of Pixar scores.

His music here is as lush and lavish as Branagh’s film. Neither shies away from the story’s fairy tale roots. On top of the film’s score, Doyle also composed six waltzes and polkas used as source music at the prince’s royal ball.

Indeed, Doyle fully embraces the romantic nature and epic scope of Cinderella’s story while intentionally avoiding any callbacks to the 1950 original. Absent (from the film) are the classic songs “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” and “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,” and Doyle refuses to quote them or recall the original score at all.

Doyle’s Cinderella score manages an uneasy feat: it successfully avoids comparisons to and a reliance on the animated classic but still fits the story and character perfectly… like a glass slipper.