Lady and the Tramp (2019 film)


Lady and the Tramp is a 2019 American musical romance film directed by Charlie Bean and written by Andrew Bujalski and Kari Granlund, and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is a live-action and CGI adaptation of Walt Disney’s 1955 animated film of the same name, which was based on the 1945 Cosmopolitan magazine story of "Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog" by Ward Greene. The film stars the voices of Tessa Thompson, Justin Theroux, Janelle Monáe, and Sam Elliott with the human characters portrayed by Thomas Mann, Kiersey Clemons, Yvette Nicole Brown, F. Murray Abraham, Adrian Martinez, and Ken Jeong. It is dedicated to storyboard artist Chris Reccardi, who died on May 2, 2019.
Lady and the Tramp was released on November 12, 2019 on Disney+, making it the first Disney remake to not receive a theatrical release but on an on-demand streaming service platform. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its performances and voice acting, but criticism for its visual effects, screenplay and pacing.

Plot

In 1909, for Christmas, Jim Dear gives his wife, Darling, a female American Cocker Spaniel puppy as a present. She takes to her and names her Lady where she essentially becomes the "center of their world". Lady grows and becomes friends with her neighbor dogs; an old Bloodhound named Trusty and a feisty Scottish Terrier named Jacqueline.
Meanwhile, a homeless mutt, who goes by the name Tramp, spends his days wandering the streets in search of food, being tricked by Dodger and Ollie, and causing trouble for the dog catcher Elliot who owns a vendetta against him. After freeing his friends Bull and Peg from Elliot's carriage, he makes a run for it and ends up in the Dears' backyard. Lady, who is beside herself after being neglected by her human friends, finds Tramp and tries to give away his position until he points out that Darling is clearly having a baby. He warns her that her owners will keep neglecting her and the baby will replace her, but she refuses to believe him. Trusty and Jock distrust Tramp and send him away. Before gladly leaving, Tramp warns that "when a baby moves in the dog moves out". Jim and Darling have a baby girl named Lulu who they soon devote their lives to. They even stop listening to Lady's warnings of a vicious rat that has been plaguing the house and start putting her outside. Lady begins to worry Tramp was right.
One day, the Dears take Lulu out and leave Darling's cat-liking Aunt Sarah to look after Lady for them, though she had really hoped to look after Lulu. As she goes upstairs to practice her singing, her trouble-making cats begin to destroy the house with Lady caught in the middle. Assuming Lady is the cause of it all, Aunt Sarah takes Lady to the pet store to have a muzzle placed on her. Lady runs away, but gets trapped in an alley and confronted by Isaac, a brutal street dog. Luckily, Tramp arrives and saves her by tricking Isaac. He then helps her remove the muzzle with a beaver statue at a park before opting to take her home by taking the "scenic route" so as to avoid Elliot, since Lady left her collar behind. They grow close and Lady accepts Tramp's offer to eat at "Tony's", his favorite restaurant.
Afterwards, Tramp shows Lady the view of the town and reveals that he too had owners, but they abandoned him once they had a baby. They get found by Elliot and are chased to the train station where Tramp lives. Though Tramp convinces Lady to run, she returns to help him and gets caught instead. The heartbroken Tramp decides there is nothing he can do. Lady meets with Peg, Bull and other pound dogs like Chance, Dame, Dodger, and Ollie who all talk about Tramp and his exploits. The next morning, Jim and Darling pick Lady up which is witnessed by Tramp. As Aunt Sarah and her cats take their leave from the house, she states that they should work on Lady's behavior next time. Jim closes the door on Aunt Sarah stating that there won't be a next time.
Some time later, Tramp finds that Peg and Bull have both been adopted, causing him to further regret leaving Lady behind. He goes to her house to apologize and though she appreciates it and still loves him, she does not want to leave her family again. They peacefully bid their farewells and Tramp leaves just as a storm begins. However, the rat returns and sneaks into Lulu's room. Lady is shut in a room just as Elliot arrives to interview Jim and Darling and tell them about Tramp. She manages to call Tramp, who sneaks into the house and fights the rat in Lulu's room. In the process, Tramp is injured but manages to kill the rat. Although he had knocked over Lulu's crib by accident in the fight, he is caught by Jim, Darling, and Elliot, who believe he was attacking Lulu instead of the rat.
Just as Elliot takes Tramp away to be euthanized, Lady uncovers the rat and shows it to Jim and Darling before proceeding to chase down the carriage with Trusty and Jock's help. The dogs catch up to the carriage and scare the horses, causing the carriage to collapse. Lady finds Tramp seemingly dead from the crash and they mourn him but he eventually awakes and they reunite. The Dears arrive and, having realized that Tramp was actually protecting Lulu from being harmed by the rat, decide to adopt him, saving him from Elliot.
By next Christmas, Tramp has been fully accepted into the Dear household and given his own collar. Jock's owner has adopted Dodge and Ollie from the pound, whom Trusty and Jock take to as an uncle and aunt. Lady and Tramp happily spend the holidays with their perfect family, bonded together for the rest of their lives.

Cast

Development

On February 8, 2018, it was announced that Walt Disney Pictures was developing a live-action adaptation of the 1955 animated film Lady and the Tramp. The film was expected to premiere on Disney+, Disney's streaming service that launched in late 2019. On March 19, 2018, it was announced that film was set to be directed by Charlie Bean from a screenplay by Andrew Bujalski with Brigham Taylor serving as a producer.

Casting

In July 2018, it was announced that Ashley Jensen, Justin Theroux, and Sam Elliott had been cast in the voice roles of Jock, Tramp, and Trusty, respectively. Additionally, it was reported that Kiersey Clemons was in talks for the live-action role of Darling, Lady's human owner. In August 2018, it was reported that Tessa Thompson and Benedict Wong had been cast in the voice roles of Lady and Bull, respectively, and that Thomas Mann had been cast in the live-action role of Jim Dear. In September 2018, it was announced that Yvette Nicole Brown and Adrian Martinez had been cast in the live-action roles of Aunt Sarah and the dog-catcher Elliot, respectively. In October 2018, it was announced Arturo Castro had been cast in the live-action role of Marco and that Janelle Monáe had been cast in the voice role of Peg.
The production utilized real dogs to portray the film's titular characters with a dog named Rose portraying Lady in the film. About three months prior to the start of filming, the animals started their training for the film. Tramp is physically portrayed by Monte, a rescue dog, while Jackie was renamed Jock shortly before filming began.

Filming

Voice work for the film begin in July 2018 with principal photography of the film's live-action externally filmed portions last from September 10, 2018 to November 18, 2018 in Savannah, Georgia. Locations were set to include Johnson Square, Wright Square and The Cathedral of St. John's the Baptist. Filming on an indoor soundstage took place through December 2018.

Music

The film was going to feature a new version of "The Siamese Cat Song", performed by Janelle Monáe. The song was to be re-written by Nate "Rocket" Wonder, Roman GianArthur, and Monáe due to both its modern-day perceived racist connotations and to fit the characters' depictions in the film. The song was ultimately reworked as a blues song titled "What a Shame". Monáe also performed two new songs for the film. On August 23, 2019, Joseph Trapanese was revealed to be composing the film's score. The soundtrack, featuring Trapanse's score, as well as songs from the original film performed by the remake's cast, was released on November 12, 2019.

Track listing

Marketing

On August 23, 2019, a first trailer was released. On October 14, 2019, a second trailer featuring new footage as well as the song "He's a Tramp" was released. On November 6, 2019, a featurette which presented each of the dogs chosen to portray the main characters and how they were all rescued from animal shelters and foster homes was released.

Release

Lady and the Tramp was released on November 12, 2019 exclusively as part of the launch content library for Disney's streaming service, Disney+.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67% and an average rating of 5.89/10, based on 63 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads: "Lady and the Tramps cute dogs and likable cast work well enough, but the live-action update lacks some of the magic that made the original 1955 film such a delight." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 48 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."
In a mixed review, Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "The worst of this new Lady and the Tramp comes when the script piles on the strenuous comic action, followed by ill-advised dark shadows."

Accolades