Disney’s upcoming Lion King remake is colloquially referred to as ‘live-action’ to differentiate it from the original. But in truth, there is nothing live about the action we will see. As director Jon Favreau has openly said,
“There are no real animals and there are no real cameras and…there’s not even any performance that’s being captured….But to say it’s animated, I think, is misleading as far as what the expectations might be,”
The new Lion King is animated with such realism that it looks almost like live-action. The CGI is undeniably magnificent, though one downfall looks to be the range of emotion it’s possible for the characters to show in comparison to their cartoon counterparts.
Another problem has become clear in the newly-released character posters fo Lion King – not all animals stay cute with realism. Namely, the loveable Pumbaa of Timon and Pumbaa is actually frightening.
Cartoon warthog > real warthog. Bring back this cutie.
The rest of the animals look pretty damn majestic.
50 days. #TheLionKing pic.twitter.com/674isRWGlJ
— Disney (@Disney) May 30, 2019
Especially Mufasa and his mane.
50 days. #TheLionKing pic.twitter.com/8rAThZVmxO
— Disney (@Disney) May 30, 2019
These literally look like they could be National Geographic posters.
50 days. #TheLionKing pic.twitter.com/MLPJ3oppzz
— Disney (@Disney) May 30, 2019
The CGI realism of the animals is going to be incredible to see, and having voices like Donald Glover and Beyoncé behind the characters is reason enough to be pumped about The Lion King no matter how scary the warthog looks. The Lion King is set to be released July 19.