Design Principles - Blog Posts

Lion King 2019 trailer dropped and Thanks I Hate It!

But in seriousness heres the problem of remaking an animated film like The Lion King in live action

In the original, the designs are very expressive and distinct, each character looks different/has different body language and facial features that display their character perfectly

Scar is sly and cunning, so his mane, body, movements, and expressions all match that perfectly. His animation during the line “Why if it isn’t my big brother....” comes to mind

Whereas Mufasa is respectable and powerful but wise, hence he’s always upright, has a powerful build and thicker mane, and can easily go from looking stern af to looking friendly and calm.

The stellar voice cast also played a part in this

In the live action trailer, There’s no emotion in the characters faces, all their expressions look the same to me, even when they’re in peril or emotional distress

Particularly at 1:00 when Scar tells Simba to leave, and Simba has a normal ass lion expression whereas in the original he was clearly crying and scared

Or I can’t even tell what they’re expressing because they look like normal ass animals. That’s boring!

A film like The Lion King does not work in live action, nor do most of the live action remakes Disney is churning out.

...and it’s probably gonna make like a billion dollars cause of course it will and “OMG That Movie was my childhood and Beyoncé is in it squeeeeee!” -_-