You know, to me Steve Barron's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is a great example for how to adapt these things.
The characters maintain their iconic looks and trademarks, yet they've gone all the way to try to make them all believable, and created a believable world around them.
As out there as they are, it never looks as if they've just thrown cartoon characters on the screen.
Of course there are many ways to believe a tangible world. Tim Burton often manages to create believable worlds which are far distanced from our reality, but the main point is...
You gotta make me believe in what I see, one way or another. Even if it's the most absurd and unrealistic stuff. And these live-action Disney animated remakes fail to do so, because it's as if the filmmakers just tend to shrug it off with a " people know it was an animated movies once, they'll buy into it, connecting it to their childhood favorites, no worries. Just keep throwing the fanservice in there."
Which, by the way, is a problem I have with some of the Marvel Studios movies, as well. Spider-Man's barely live-action anymore, even when he's just walking around, talking. Same goes for Black Panther, and some narrative and stylistic choices. I often get the same feel as with the remakes, of the team sitting around just saying "They've gotten used to this stuff. It's comic book stuff. No need to worry about it too much."
Just my two cents.
