A while back I saw this article:
Which inspired a thread on another site’s boards where I challenged other posters to “Disneyfy” classic literature (or history, or classic movies, etc.) and it was fairly well recieved and generated some really fun ideas.
Here’s an example of my own:
** Disney Presents: Upton Sinclaire’s The Jungle**
The Main Character: Jurgis, a young immigrant come to America to seek his fortune.
The Love Interest: In the book Jurgis was married, but you need a romatic subplot, so here goes . . . Ona (who was Jurgis’ wife in the book) and her rich family have left Lithuania to live in America, Chicago. Rejected by Ona’s family because of his lack of money, he follows them to America. Unfortunately, becoming rich in America isn’t the easy task he was lead to believe and he soon finds himself working at the Sinclaire Slaughterhouse.
The Comic Relief: Bertha, Bossy and Lulubelle, a trio of talking cows to stupid to realize the trouble they’re in, whom Jurgis must fight to save from slaughter.
The Villain(s): Edgar Sinclaire, owner of the Sinclaire slaughterhouse, who forces his workers to operate in filthy unsafe conditions and his idiot son Roger, who has his eye on Ona. Edgar manages to talk Ona’s family into arranging for the two to be married.
The Villain’s Demise: After a mad chase through the abandoned and burning - after a worker rebellion - slaughterhouse, Edgar goes tumbling down the meat processing chute and is chopped up by his own machinery.