Lady and the Tramp (2019 film)

Lady and the Tramp
Official release poster
Directed by	Charlie Bean
Produced by	Brigham Taylor
Screenplay by	Andrew Bujalski Kari Granlund
Based on	Disney's Lady and the Tramp  by Erdman Penner Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog  by Ward Greene
Starring	Tessa Thompson Justin Theroux Kiersey Clemons Thomas Mann Janelle Monáe F. Murray Abraham Yvette Nicole Brown Adrian Martinez Ken Jeong Sam Elliott
Music by	Joseph Trapanese
Edited by	Melissa Bretherton
Cinematography	Enrique Chediak
Production company	Walt Disney Pictures Taylor Made
Distributed by	Disney+
Release date	November 12, 2019 (2019-11-12) (United States)
Running time	104 minutes
Language	English
Country	United States
Budget	$60 million

Lady and the Tramp is a 2019 American musical romance web television film directed by Charlie Bean and written by Andrew Bujalski and Kari Granlund, and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. This film is a live-action remake of Walt Disney’s 1955 animated feature film of the same title, which was based on the Cosmopolitan magazine story of "Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog" by Ward Greene. This film featuring 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 in May 2019.

This film was released on November 12, 2019 on Disney+, making it the first Disney remake to not receive the theatrical release but on the on-demand streaming service platform. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its performances and voice acting, but criticism for its visual effects, screenplay, pacing, and pointlessness.

Plot

For Christmas of 1909, Jim Dear gives his wife, Darling, a female American Cocker Spaniel puppy as the present. She takes to her and names her Lady where she essentially becomes the "centre of their world". Lady grows and becomes friends with her neighbour dogs, the old Bloodhound named Trusty and the feisty Scottish Terrier named Jock.

Meanwhile, the homeless Schnauzer-mutt, who goes by the name Tramp, spends his days wandering the streets in search of food 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 the run for it and ends up in the Dears' backyard. Lady, who is beside herself after being neglected by the adults, 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 ignoring her and the baby will replace her, but she refuses to believe him. Trusty and Jock suspect Tramp because he's the "street dog" and send him away. Before gladly leaving, Tramp warns them 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 the vicious rat that has been plaguing the house and start putting her outside. Lady begins to worry Tramp was right.

One day, Jim and Darling take Lulu out and leave Darling's 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 two trouble-making cats, which are two Devon Rexes named Devon and Rex begin to destroy the house with Lady caught in the middle.

Believing Lady to be the cause of it all, Aunt Sarah takes Lady to the pet store to have the muzzle placed on her. Lady runs away, but gets trapped in an alley and threatened by a brutal street dog named Isaac. Luckily, Tramp arrives to save her by tricking Isaac. He then helps her remove her muzzle with a beaver statue at the park before opting to take her home by taking the "scenic route" so as to avoid Elliot since Lady left her collar behind. They end up growing close and Lady accepts Tramp's offer to eat at "Tony's", his favourite 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 sleeps. Though Tramp tells Lady to run, she returns to help him and gets caught instead. Tramp hesitates before escaping. Lady meets with Peg, Bull and the other pound dogs who all talk about Tramp and his exploits. The next morning, Jim and Darling pick up Lady and kick Aunt Sarah and her cats out for the way she mistreated Lady. Lady begins to bond with Lulu.

Sometime 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 while she appreciates it and still loves him, she does not want to leave her family again. They say their farewells and Tramp leaves just as the storm begins. However, the rat returns and sneaks into Lulu's room. Lady is put away 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 is responsible for attacking Lulu instead of the rat.

Just as Elliot takes Tramp away to be euthanized, Lady uncovers the rat's corpse 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 begins to mourn but he eventually awakes and they reunite. The Dears arrive, having realized that Tramp was actually protecting Lulu since he saved the baby from getting killed by the rat before deciding to adopt him, saving Tramp from Elliot.

By next Christmas, Tramp has been fully accepted into the Dear household and given his own collar while Jock's owner has adopted two young puppies named Dodge and Ollie 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

• Thomas Mann as Jim Dear, a man who is the owner of Lady.
• Kiersey Clemons as Darling, the wife of Jim Dear.
• Yvette Nicole Brown as Aunt Sarah, the aunt of Darling.
• Adrian Martinez as Elliot, a dog catcher.
• F. Murray Abraham as Tony, the owner of a restaurant that Tramp visits.
• Arturo Castro as Joe, a check who works for Tony.
• Ken Jeong as Doctor, an unnamed doctor that Jim and Darling visit.
• Kate Kneeland as Jock's Owner
• Darryl W. Handy as Trusty's Owner
• Parvesh Cheena as Pet Shop Owner, an unnamed owner of a pet store who provides Aunt Sarah with a muzzle for Lady.
• Rose as Lady.
• Monte as Tramp.

Voices

• Tessa Thompson as Lady, a Cocker Spaniel.
• Justin Theroux as Tramp, a Schnauzer-mutt.
• Sam Elliott as Trusty, an old Bloodhound.
• Ashley Jensen as Jock, a trusty Scottish Terrier.
• Janelle Monáe as Peg, a Lhasa Apso who is friends with Tramp.
• Benedict Wong as Bull, a Bulldog who is friends with Tramp.
• Clancy Brown as Isaac, a brutal street dog that attacks Lady.
• Nate Wonder as Devon, a Devon Rex owned by Aunt Sarah.
• Roman GianArthur as Rex, a Devon Rex owned by Aunt Sarah.
• James Bentley as Chance
• Jentel Hawkins as Dame
• Ara Storm O’Keefe as Dodge
• Aemon Wolf O’Keefe as Ollie

Production

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 Jackie, 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

All music composed by Joseph Trapanese, except where noted.

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Main Title (Bella Notte)/Peace on Earth"	Lady and the Tramp Studio Choir and Donald Novis	2:23
2.	"Welcome to the Family"		2:58
3.	"Another Perfect Day (La La Lu)"		1:06
4.	"The Tramp"		3:02
5.	"Busting Peg and Bull"		3:33
6.	"Tramp Comes to Town"		3:08
7.	"La La Lu"	Kiersey Clemons	1:19
8.	"Baby Moves In"		1:27
9.	"Auntie Arrives"		1:43
10.	"What a Shame"	Wonder and GianArthur	2:27
11.	"Muzzled"		4:24
12.	"Scenic Route"		2:41
13.	"Getting on the Boat"		1:54
14.	"Carriage Ride"		2:17
15.	"Tony and Joe"		2:29
16.	"Bella Notte"	F. Murray Abraham and Arturo Castro	2:50
17.	"A Home"		3:09
18.	"Left Behind"		1:52
19.	"Dog Catcher Chase"		3:38
20.	"Lady at Pound"		1:53
21.	"He's a Tramp (2019)"	Monáe	1:34
22.	"The One Way Door"		1:34
23.	"They Came Back"		1:28
24.	"Lady Meets Lulu"		1:11
25.	"Howling at the Moon"		1:03
26.	"I Missed You"		4:43
27.	"Rat"		6:10
28.	"Caught"		1:36
29.	"Carriage Chase"		5:19
30.	"He Has a Home"		4:39
31.	"Peace on Earth"	Clemons	2:20
32.	"That's Enough"	Monáe	2:10

Release

The first trailer for the film was released on August 23, 2019. A second trailer featuring new footage as well as the song "He's a Tramp" was released on October 14 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 on November 6, 2019.

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 65% and an average rating of 5.91/10, based on 51 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Lady and the Tramp's 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 12 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

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Visual Effects Society Awards	January 29, 2020	Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode	Robert Weaver, Christopher Raimo, Arslan Elver, Michael Cozens, Bruno Van Zeebroeck	Nominated
		Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project	Thiago Martins, Arslan Elver, Stanislas Paillereau, Martine Chartrand (For "Tramp")	Nominated

External links

• Lady and the Tramp on Disney+
• Lady and the Tramp at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website

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Coming	2020s	Black Is King (2020) • The One and Only Ivan (2020) • Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020) • Howard (2020) • Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (2020) • Clouds (2020) • Magic Camp (2020) • Godmothered (2020) • Safety (2020) • Flora & Ulysses (2021)
In years		Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (computer-animated) • Cinderella (computer-animated) • The Sleeping Beauty of Aurora (computer-animated) • Beauty and the Beast (computer-animated) • Pocahontas (computer-animated) • The Princess and the Frog Prince (Computer-animated film)
Upcoming		Untitled Mickey Mouse documentary (TBA) • Wolfgang (TBA)
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