WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Lady and the Tramp, streaming now on Disney+.
Like the other Disney remakes that have come out in recent memory, the live-action Lady and the Tramp largely reproduces the events of the original movies, but it still found ways to slip in different tweaks and elements to the original story to add small changes.
Now, we're breaking down all of the major changes between the Disney+ original film and the animated Disney classic it's based on.
JOCK
In the original film, Jock was played by Bill Thompson. He was the most aggressive of Lady's friends, who actively tried to convince Lady to play things safe. He's one of the characters who disliked Tramp the most and was even implied to have feelings for Lady, at one point even proposing to her alongside Trusty in an attempt to keep her safe. But he comes to see the error of his ways after Tramp helps save the Darling's baby, and even becomes something of a surrogate family figure for their eventual pups.
In the new film, Jock is recast as a female dog. She's the pride and joy of one of the Darling's neighbors and is the center of much of her artwork. She's still one of the more dependable friends Lady has, but the romantic subtext has been completely removed from the film. Otherwise, she's still largely the same character, however, trying her best to help guide Lady. She also becomes the caretaker of a pair of puppies, giving her the chance to still get the happy ending the original Jock got as well.
THE SIAMESE CATS
One of the most infamous parts of the original Lady and the Tramp was the pair of Si and Am, the two Siamese cats who are brought into Lady's life when the Darling's ask for Aunt Sarah to watch over the baby. She brings the two cats along for company. The two cats proceed to cause widespread destruction in the house, and Lady is blamed for it. The pair are often held up as the most offensive characters in the film, with exaggerated Chinese accents and a musical motif to their song, "The Siamese Cat Song" that is considered a stereotypical Chinese melody.
Although they largely play the same role in the new film as they did in the original, they've been changed dramatically in their presentation. They are more clearly men in this version, and don't speak with accents of any specific kind. But they still cause destruction across the house that gets Lady blamed and brought out of the house to be muzzled. Another minor change is made to her connection with the Darling's. In the original film, she was Jim's aunt. In the new film, she's actually Darling's aunt instead.
THE BEAVERS
In both versions of Lady & the Tramp, Lady gets a muzzle forcibly put on her by Aunt Sarah. In a panic, she ends up running off down the streets and getting lost. There, she reunites with Tramp and explores the town around them. In the original film, they try to get the muzzle off by heading towards the zoo. There, Tramp is able to convince one of the beavers to help free Lady by biting at the harness of the muzzle.
In the new film, Lady and Tramp never end up going to the zoo, and never get the chance to meet any of the actual animals at that location. Instead, Tramp brings Lady to a statue in the town square. In addition to an apparent early settler, the statue also features a beaver. Tramp is able to put Lady's muzzle in the teeth of the beaver, and they pull back, successfully freeing Lady from the muzzle. While it basically leads to the same beat for the story, it does simplify things for the filmmakers, who don't have to take the dogs to a zoo filled with animals.
TRUSTY
Trusty is present in both versions of the film. Alongside Jock, he's one of Lady's closest friends. Trust is a bloodhound who, in his old age, has somewhat lost his sense of smell. However, he regains it just in time to help find Tramp after he's been captured by the dog catcher. This leads to the climax of both films, with all the dogs rushing after Tramp. But, the two films seriously deviate from the other's plot.
In the original animated film, Trust ends up being run over by the dog catcher's trolley. He's initially believed to have been killed in the moment. In the original version of the film, this moment did kill Trusty, but Walt Disney changed his mind and had it modified so Trusty survived the moment, albeit with a broken leg. He doesn't even receive that in the new film. He's part of the chase after the dog catcher, but he's nowhere near the trolley when it crashes. Instead, it's Tramp who gets his leg injured in the crash, which leaves him with a bit of a limp.
PUPPIES
The original film ended on a bright and optimistic moment for the assembled new Darling family. It's even shown that a decent amount of time has passed, as Lady has given birth to a small litter of puppies that the Darlings raise. The film ends with Jock and Lucky being honorary uncles for the pups. The new film doesn't end with the time skip, instead cutting ahead to the next Christmas season for the Darling family.
Tramp is still very much part of the family, but Lady hasn't had puppies yet. Instead, Jock's owner has adopted a pair of young con artist pups that Tramp met earlier in the film. They take up the excited puppy part that was at the conclusion of the previous film, running around Jock and Trusty with a sense of excitement. It's also a way for the film to end with adorable dogs without having to change the look of the Darlings at all.
Lady and the Tramp stars Tessa Thompson as Lady, Justin Theroux as Tramp, Sam Elliott as Trusty, Ashley Jensen as Jock, Benedict Wong as Bull, Janelle Monáe as Peg, Kiersey Clemons as Darling Dear, Thomas Mann as Jim Dear, Yvette Nicole Brown as Aunt Sarah, Arian Martinez as Elliot and Arturo Castro as Marco.