Alright, so apparently it’s not just the new version of “Be Prepared” that people hated about this new movie, it’s the look, too!
Don’t worry, someone’s here to save us!
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The new ‘Lion King’….
Sure, it’s done well in the box office. Sure, everyone you talk to has seen it or is going to see it.
However, there’s one thing that everyone can agree on…
The film looks practically nothing like the original.
Sure, it’s because it’s “live-action” now, but they took all the cuteness and soul from the characters, to replace them with realistic depictions of animals.
Luckily…
One Instagram artist, named Nikolay Mochkin has stepped up to the challenge of recreating the Lion King characters into new, live-action models.
This, Disney, is what they should have looked like.
Here’s Nala!
And honestly, I think I prefer the cartoon eyes to the dead, black eyes of the lions that we got.
They may be a bit on the Uncanny Valley, however, they’re more expressive.
Here’s Older Simba across from Nala in that scene you previously saw.
You can see side by side comparisons if you keep scrolling through, and tell me this artist’s version doesn’t look better.
Here’s Scar!
And would you look at that!
Once again, he looks better than the one we got and heck, that metal version of “Be Prepared” even sounds better than the new one!
And you see what I mean when I say the eyes are more expressive?
You can tell the poor little guy is heartbroken, and it kind of makes your heart melt.
Timon and Pumbaa!
While I admit Timon looks a little too cartoony in this picture, personally I think that Pumbaa looks perfect, exactly how he should’ve.
Instead of… grey and gross looking.
But the stars of the show in this picture are the hyenas, who look much more like their original characters.
You can even see Ed’s crazy eyes in the background.
Baby Simba!
Like, straight out of the womb Simba looks so much more adorable than his live-action counterpart.
No sense of the uncanny valley here, folks, just straight-up “awws” all around!
Alright sure…
There’s no Christmas scene in the actual movie, but if they ever start to make the Disney sequels into live-action remakes then they could totally use this pic as a frame of reference!
Rafiki looks terrifying in the live-action movie!
But he actually looks quite endearing in this version!
Maybe this is how he should have looked.
The artist shows a bit of his process, and shows how they improved the characters.
And honestly, if one person could do it, why wouldn’t a whole studio?
My god… the music, the visuals, it’s all… breathtaking.
Just imagine James Earl Jone’s voice booming through the thunder and the lightning: “you must take your place in the circle of life, Simba”.
Chills.
Everywhere the light touches?
This scene looks much more glorious with the way that Nikolay Mochkin paints it.
It’s just absolutely breathtaking. Watch the video, it’s mesmerizing.
Here’s Simba, Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa all standing together, looking rather triumphant.
In the background, you can see who I can only assume is Scar skulking around in his usual way.
Here’s the poster…
And what it would’ve looked like if they had used the Instagram artist’s expressions instead of the ones they used in the movie.
Looks much more expressive, do you not agree?
Here they are in a PSA about forest fires, and about saving Siberian forests.
While not technically a scene from The Lion King , it is them in a real-life situation.
Smokey would be proud.
Here are some quick side by sides, just so you can see all of them in action.
Just take a look at the differences between each of the pictures.
Which one would you rather see?
Here they all are back to back, so you can look through them and see what could have been.
Sigh… well, maybe we’ll get a live-action remake of the live-action remake in the future.
Thank you to Nikolay Mochkin for providing the art for this article.
And for the record…
The Instagram artist, Nikolay Mochkin , does a lot of cool pop culture related art on his page.
So if you liked this stuff, consider following him for much more greatness!
