10 Brothers Grimm Tales Which Disney Should Adapt

Plot: After swatting some pesky flies, a tailor starts posing as a giant slayer. Claiming he killed “seven in one blow”, he uses various cunning tricks to defeat his oversized enemies.

Everybody loves a well-written trickster hero. These shrewd, crafty characters appeal to our love of the underdog, using their wits to triumph over adversity. The protagonist of The Brave Little Tailor is one of the most remarkable trickster heroes in the Brothers Grimm collection, using cheese, a bird and a couple of small stones to outwit numerous giants. Disney have given us trickster heroes before, including Aladdin and Flynn Rider from Tangled, but The Brave Little Tailor provides them with an opportunity to explore this character type in greater detail.

You might be interested to know that Disney adapted the story all the way back in 1938, with a nine minute short starring Mickey Mouse as the titular hero. The 1938 adaptation still possesses an old-fashioned charm, but with over eight decades having passed, there is room for a new version of the story. Extending things to feature length could allow the protagonist to become a fully developed lead, with clearly defined motivations and growth. It could also lead to the other characters, such as the giants, a unicorn, and a difficult king, becoming memorable characters in their own right. However, this is a story where the main attraction is the compelling lead character, and it would be fascinating to see what Disney does with him.