Baking & the Big Screen: Spaghetti & Lady and the Tramp
Okay, I’ll admit that this is a bit of a stretch when it comes to truly baking something, but I’ve always wanted to try making pasta from scratch, and I did throw it in the oven to finish it off, so we’re going to just move past that technicality. And naturally, a classic representation of pasta is from the famous scene of the original Lady and the Tramp sharing a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Since I’d never gotten around to the live-action remake of the film, it seemed like a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, it continued the trend I’ve discovered of the remakes of animal-forward Disney films falling very short of the original sources. At least the pasta itself made up for it!
Lady and the Tramp
Starring Tessa Thompson, Justin Theroux, Sam Elliott, Ashley Jensen, Janelle Monáe, Benedict Wong
Director: Charlie Bean
Released in 2019
Available on Disney+
The first pro I have to give this movie is the voice cast. I had no idea that many people of note signed on to work on this film. The remake also deserves a tip of the hat for updating the story where needed, such as removing the racist song centered around a pair of Siamese cats (in this version, there are just two extremely destructive and devious kittens). But I had the same issue with this Disney revamp as I did with The Lion King from a few years ago: you can’t express the same kind of emotion with these lifelike-but-still-CGI animals as you can with the original animation styles.While the animals are all pretty cute, to keep them looking realistic, you don’t get the same feelings that are so evident in prior versions.
Lady and the Tramp was never one of my top Disney films growing up, but as a huge dog lover, I still had a bit of a soft spot for it. I haven’t revisited it in quite some time, so there was no twinge of nostalgia that this movie helped stir. It’s cute, of course, but it seems a bit more cruel when realistic animals are going through the events of the film that the true cartoon helps soften (see also: being truly horrified when old enough to recognize the nightmare that is Cruella de Vil’s intentions and actions in the live-action 101 Dalmatians versus the cartoon). I’m not sure if a deep, devoted love of the original would have made me like this movie more or less, but it was a fine way to spend a bit of time, even if I’ll probably never watch it again.
Now here is where we get to the true win of this pairing: the pasta. I’d never made noodles of any kind from scratch, and this first attempt was a bit of a mess. However, despite having a couple significant screw-ups, it still was a success. I learned a lot about what I would change for the next time (thickness of the noodles, how to make an egg-well out of the flour a bit easier and how to cut them a bit neater), but I also learned how insanely delicious homemade noodles are. It’s definitely a bit of work, but I will absolutely be returning to try this more in the future - and if I stick with it, it may be worth it to invest in a pasta roller to save my arms from the tedious task of hand rolling every section of dough out (even though it did seem like a solid workout at the time). If I “had” to watch this movie in order to finally prompt myself to make this dish, it was well worth it.