Lady And The Tramp: 5 Things The Live-Action Changed (& 5 Things They Kept The Same)

Dog lovers, rejoice! Rejoice even more if you happen to be a Disney+ subscriber! Disney’s new streaming platform has all the best dog-related films and TV shows to date like Underdog, Snow Dogs, and even both Homeward Bound films. But what was most shocking was that Disney+ not only has the original Lady and the Tramp that was released in 1955, but also debuted a modern live-action version! With Disney’s recent trend of remaking some of their greatest hits, we knew that a live-action remake of Lady and the Tramp was coming soon. While the main premise is left unaltered, there are many things that have been changed to make the film more suited for a modern audience. While there will definitely be some debate moving forward as to whether or not the remake can compete with the original, we’ve created a list of 5 big changes made to the story, along with 5 things that remained the same to the relief of many Disney fanatics.

10 Changed: The Fate Of Peg And Bull

When Lady is taken to the pound, she meets Peg and Bull, two of Tramp’s friends who, at least in the original film, tell her all about Tramp’s past flames. Yet in this version, after Lady leaves the pound, Peg and Bull are never seen again. Both the 1955 and 2019 versions mention the reality of euthanization in dog pounds, and we’re guessing the writers of the 2019 remake didn’t want viewers thinking that this was what happened to Peg and Bull. In the live-action film, they actually end up getting adopted by a kind-hearted man who definitely has a diverse taste in dogs. Who can seriously imagine someone going to the pound and getting a Pekingese and a Bulldog at the same time?

9 Same: Breeds Of The Main Characters

Fans of the original film will be glad to know that the dog breeds of the main characters hasn’t changed at all. We’ve already mentioned Peg and Bulldog. Lady is still a Cocker Spaniel, Tramp is still a Schnauzer-mutt, Trusty is still a Bloodhound, and Jock, although he’s been changed to a female, is still a Scottish terrier, complete with a kilt and all. Just give the casting director an Oscar.

8 Changed: Tramp’s Fight In The Alley

Upon watching the live-action remake, fans of the beloved classic will immediately notice that the aura of grittiness that the original possessed has been lost, substituted instead with the feel-good nature of a hip, jazzy Midwestern town.

In both versions, Lady gets herself lost after having a muzzle forced onto her. In the 1955 version, after she strays into hostile territory, Tramp fends off three other strays in a gruesome battle. In the 2019 version, she runs into a single dog’s lair, but the threat of harm still exists, but Tramp doesn’t even lift a paw to defend her. Instead, the two manage to trick the aggressor into thinking that Lady has rabies, scaring him off. Take notes kids! Fighting isn’t always the answer!

7 Same: Tramp’s Fight Against The Rat

While Tramp doesn’t battle any other dogs in the live-action adaptation, he still does have an epic showdown with a rat. In fact, the conflict plays out almost identically to the 1955 depiction of events. In both films, Tramp corners the rat in the baby’s room, knocking over everything in sight (including the baby’s crib) before killing the rat and being taken by the dogcatcher. Lady then unveils the rat’s corpse proving Tramp’s innocence.

6 Changed: How Lady Gets Her Muzzle Off

After sneaking into the zoo, Tramp and Lady enlist the help of a beaver to help Lady get her muzzle off. The live-action remake, however, didn’t feature a zoo as one of its settings. Instead, Tramp takes Lady to a statue of a beaver, and has her hook one end of her muzzle to the beaver’s teeth to pull it off. Not only does it still get the job done, but beaver enthusiasts can rest assured that this movie won’t inspire any reckless treatment towards beavers. Plus, could you imagine how much time would’ve gone into animating all those zoo animals?

5 Same: Tramp Tricking Humans Into Arguing

In the 1955 version of The Lady and the Tramp, Tramp manages to sneak he and Lady into the zoo by pretending to belong to a random zoo patron, tricking a security guard into thinking that this law-abiding citizen snuck a dog into the zoo when the rules clearly stated against it. Though we didn’t see any zoos in the live-action adaptation, we did get to see Tramp still make a fool out of some humans. Towards the beginning of the film, he steals a sandwich from a distracted parkgoer after sniffing the back of a woman’s neck, fooling her into thinking that the man actually had the audacity to violate her personal space. Both scenes are different, even taking place in different parts of the narrative, but they both show us just how much Tramp has learned about people in order to survive without one as his owner.

A note that in both versions, Tramp’s victims also happen to be reading, proving that he definitely has a grudge against books.

4 Changed: Lady And Tramp Don’t Have Puppies Together

The 1955 film shows Lady and Tramp having had puppies together, with one of them, Scamp, even starring in the original film’s direct sequel. In the live-action adaptation, however, the puppies living with Lady and Tramp at the end of the movie aren’t their own. Instead, Lady’s owners decided to adopt them from the pound. This feels like an attempt to encourage viewers to adopt rather than breed in order to combat the pet overpopulation problem that exists all over the world, and if it is, who are we to disagree?

3 Same: The Time Period The Film Takes Place In

Dating the original Lady and the Tramp is easy. The film is known to take place in 1909, and the live-action remake seems to take place at the same time. For one thing, the cars in both films are the same, and people also use horse-pulled carriages to get around. At one point, Jock’s owner is shown taking a picture of her with what’s definitely an older camera. These cameras, known as Reise Cameras, were popular in the early 1900s, meaning that this film takes place in a time very similar to its source material. Lady’s owners being an interracial couple complicates the fact that this takes place in 1909, especially since interracial marriage wasn’t legalized in America until 1967. Still, we know Disney has a habit of portraying things as better than they actually were.

2 Changed: Aunt Sarah’s Cats

We must never forget that the original Lady and the Tramp was released just a decade after Japanese internment camps were shut down. The 1955 film possessed several stereotypical representations, with most absurd being Aunt Sarah’s two Siamese cats, who aren’t only depicted as racist caricatures, but their music number teeters over the line of being racially insensitive towards the larger Asian community.

These felines not only demonized cats, but also an entire racial group. To counter this, the 2019 film depicts Aunt Sarah’s cats as two jazzy tomcats. Any hint of racism is washed away for this rendition, and their song is actually one we can get down to.

1 Same: The Spaghetti Scene

Perhaps the most famous scene in Lady and the Tramp (1955) is the “spaghetti scene”. We feared the live-action film wouldn’t do it justice or even leave it out, but it felt just like the original! Tony and his assistant still played the accordion and the guitar for Lady and Tramp behind their restaurant, and the two dogs still even shared that accidental kiss. They even included Tramp pushing the remaining meatball over to Lady in an act of adornment. This only showed us how much Lady and the Tramp remains a timeless classic for dog lovers and Disney lovers alike. As long as we get more adorable animal actors, we’re all ears for that inevitable Lady and the Tramp II live-action remake.

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