Introduction
Animate film The Lion King from 2019 is a remake of the popular same-name hand-drawn cartoon. The action of both films takes place in the African savannah. They tell the story of a lion cub named Simba, who lost his father Mufasa because of his evil uncle Scar and was expelled from the pride. Years later, he returns to restore justice and regain the throne. In spite of the fact that the remake features spectacular photorealistic scenes made with the help of computer animation, it lacks emotional richness.
Progress of Technologies Seen in the Film
Researchers note that over the last two decades, digitalization and visual effects used while making animated films have developed greatly providing film-makers with a set of new opportunities (Bruckner et. al. 6). In this respect, The Lion King (2019) is a milestone from a technological perspective (Seitz). Jon Favreau, the director, who is good at creating the feeling of realness in animated films and his crew make the viewers feel like in the movie, not digitally created lions, monkeys, and other animals but real ones are shown (Seitz). According to Seitz, “this might be his best-directed film, if you judge purely in terms of how the scenes and sequences have been framed, lit, and cut together” (Seitz). So, the film-makers managed to create an animated film that looks like it has been shot with a camera.
The magnificence of the savannah is conveyed through employing long shots from the bird’s eye’s view and the high angle at the beginning of the film. Researchers note that shots of this kind are widely used by directors when they want to place a premium on the environment and show the position of the characters in it (Prince 9). Close-ups, on the contrary, emphasize the characters rather than the setting (Prince 9).
The Lion King 2019 features quite a lot of close-ups letting the “camera” (for it is a digitalized movie) follow the animals while they roam in water and rain or run through the meadows. The light reminds of the natural light of savannah which makes this motif different from the one of the original (Seitz). Plain, drab colors chosen are also true-to-life, therefore, the audience is, on the one hand, excited to see such a detailed representation of reality (Seitz). On the other hand, all these tools make people feel like they are watching rather a documentary film about nature than a fictional animated movie.
Emotional Impact of the Movie
Although the technical components of The Lion King might deserve a high grade, it is possible to note that “the question becomes not if animators can create realistic animation, but if they should” (Greer 2). Actually, the faces of highly detailed digital characters look stiff and can hardly express the range of emotions required (Prince 13). That is why in the movie under analysis realistic animals are not capable of having proper facial expressions.
As a result, all the episodes that, according to the plot, should involve plenty of emotions, in fact, do not. Mufasa’s death, Scar’s monologues and other fragments of the remake which are intended to be highly affective fall flat on the spectators. Moreover, the vocal performances taken from the original movie do not correspond with the unemotional faces (Seitz). In the film, the sounds of the wild nature can be heard which aggravates the similarity of the film with a documentary.
Conclusion
To sum up, in The Lion King from 2019, greater emphasis is placed on the realistic representation of animals and nature not only in pictures but also in sounds. With the use of the latest visual effect and tools, the film-makers have achieved impressive realness. However, as for the emotional component, the movie might be not deep enough due to the technical inability to make digitalized characters convey proper emotions.
Works Cited
Bruckner, Franziska, et al. Global Animation Theory: International Perspectives at Animafest Zagreb. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.
Greer, Sarah. Simulating Life: Reimagining Realism in the Art of Animation. 2019. Web.
Prince, Stephen. Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film 6th ed. Pearson Education, 2013.
Seitz, Matt. “The Lion King Movie Review and Film Summary.” rogerebert. 2019. Web.