The Lion King has finally arrived and it roared at the box office making over 500 million
dollars worldwide in the first weekend.
It’s been 25 years since the original animated classic and now after seeing the live action
remake I had questions.
Many fans were divided over the film.
Was the Lion King too realistic?
Today’s video is going to be talking about my own opinion as well as others who saw the
movie and the answers I sought out after seeing it in theaters.
OK, so first of all, this movie is beyond breathtaking.
It is the most technologically advanced film since Avatar with most of the movie being
filmed in VR, so crazy.
The dirt, the rocks, the trees, the sky, the animals, everything was fake.
You can call it live action but it’s actually photo realistic CGI, live action is just easier
to say.
So my main issue in the film was that the characters lacked and even were void of emotion.
Their faces never changed.
I was ready for Mufasa’s death scene to be heart wrenching but it wasn’t even sad
to me.
Simba didn’t look sad.
He just stood there looking emotionless thus making the whole scene feel heartless.
I was so curious as to why they didn’t even animate the ears to go back like when an animal
is sad, something with the eyes, anything.
My question was answered by director Jon Favreau who basically explained that the whole concept
was to make us feel like we were watching actual real life animals in this story.
They wanted some moments to feel like it was even a documentary.
OK well that explains why Disney chose to go this route but this is a cartoon remake,
but I would much rather have a mix of more animated characters to help give them life.
The end result made it seem like the voice actors weren’t doing their jobs because
the characters were not reacting the same.
This brings me back to my question, was The Lion King too realistic?
I wonder if Disney tested out more animated/emotional characters, did it take away from the realism?
My brain was literally convinced most of the time that things were real in the world, I
didn’t sit there and question if a rock or grass was fake or not, I enjoyed the movie
for what it was.
It was a monumental project to bring to life and I think Disney did an amazing job visually
but kind of missed the mark trying to capture the heart and soul of the film.
I have a few other bits I did not like but today we are focusing on the realism aspect
of the movie.
Filming in VR sounds incredible, putting filmmakers into a virtual 3D set where they can move
things around, take things out, it’s like standing inside a video game.
Every fiber of hair is captured in 3D because it’s all created in 3D, the filmmakers could
step into a shot and move around as if the character was standing right in front of them.
They could even location scout in VR to find the best angles inside the created landscape
set.
2016s The Jungle Book was groundbreaking for digital movie sets and Lion King took it even
further.
It really felt like you were watching real animals, their subtle quirks and movements,
the way the wind caresses their fur, everything was incredibly photo realistic.
I saw the movie in 3D which looked amazing and now I want to go see it again in 2D and
experience it differently.
There is so much detail to see you cannot possibly take it all in at once.
Disney made a movie that felt real, as if we were watching living breathing animals
in a story.
The musical numbers were altered to be believable in terms of what the animals would/could do.
It all makes sense knowing this before you see it.
I went in expecting to see expressions and such but if you go in knowing that it’s
supposed to just feel like you are watching real animals in front of a camera, then you
might enjoy it more.
The new Lion King is definitely a spectacle, but the original will always be king.
So…wrapping up, what did you think of The Lion King, was it too realistic that it lacked
emotion?
What was your favorite part?
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