Will the remake be realistic?

[Warthog]

Hello.

I don't know if you watched the remake of "The Jungle Book" that came out in 2016; if not, you should know that the creators made some changes in the characters to make the story more realistic, for example:
- Baloo the bear (one of the protagonists) walked on two legs in the animated movies, but in the new one he walks on all four, because bears become exclusive bipeds only if their front paws are injured.
- King Louie the ape (one of the secondary antagonists) was an orangutan in the animated version, but in the new one he is a Gigantopithecus, a giant prehistoric ape that went extinct during the ice age, because it, unlike the orangutan, lived in India (where "The Jungle Book" takes place).

My question is: are the creators of the remake of "The Lion King" going to do the same, in your opinion?
For example, Pumbaa is red in the animated movies, but in real warthogs are grey, with sparse and black/brown fur.
And Timon is a bipedal meerkat in the animated movies. Meerkats can only stand on two legs, not walk on them, and they only live in South Africa, that is far away from the Serengeti (where "The Lion King" takes place, if I'm not mistaken).
Do you think it is more likely that Pumbaa's colour (same with Mufasa and Simba's manes and Scar's fur) and Timon's species/locomotion will be changed or not?

[Elton John]

based on the footage shown at d23 america last year, d23 japan this year and cinemacon last week, yes.


The footage hasn’t been made public and there are no bootleg phone cam versions of it but based on first hand accounts it was jaw dropping and got a huge response from the audience.

the footage likely won’t be made public anytime soon.

oh f*** I thought you were talking about visual style when you said realistic.

As for your question, no clue until we see footage.

[TLK_Kid]

Interesting topic. I didn't even think about the ways they altered The Jungle Book to make it more realistic.

I think they'll probably change Pumbaa's coloring, at least slightly. As for Timon...I don't know. It would be weird to see him walking on four legs; but like you mentioned, meerkats aren't found at all in that part of Africa, and they obviously shouldn't change what type of animal Timon is...

I don't think Mufasa and Simba will be too big a deal. Their manes are pretty bright red, but Disney will probably just blend that with a little more beige to make it look realistic.

One thing I am wondering about are the characters' eye colors. Most of the lions already have brown eyes, but there are a few exceptions (Nala, Scar, Sarafina etc.) Since lions don't have blue eyes in the wild (with the exception of white lions which is not what we're dealing with), are they going to change Nala's eyes to brown? Hopefully, Disney will realize not everything has to be realistic and leave her the way she is.

Scar might also be interesting, because honestly, he's just not that realistic. (Lions with black manes are generally stronger than other lions, but this isn't the case with Scar. Plus, lions generally don't have lime green eyes. xD) But, he does have the whole "villain" design to him, so I'm hoping they'll leave him like he is anyway.

[Warthog]

Well, meerkats are a kind of mongoose, so they could make Timon a mongoose species that lives in the Serengeti (the banded one, for example, that is about the same size as the meerkat, and like the latter, is social and insectivorous). Would it be strange?

I hope they won't change the eye colors too. As much as I'm "obsessed with realism", having all the characters with brown/orange eyes would be weird.

I also hope they will keep the "villain design" for Scar, with black mane and green eyes, though it would be unrealistic. But do you think they will change his fur colour?

About the other characters, I think Rafiki will be basically the same (but its tail will be most likely shortened to make him look like a real mandrill), the hyenas will be changed to resemble real spotted hyenas and ...what about Zazu?
He is a (probably Northern) red-billed hornbill, that isn't blue at all. Would they give him the real colours of his species, completely changing his appearence?

[Azdgari]

Really interesting topic. Recent Disney movies / animated movies have gone to remarkable lengths to be realistic in the ways they choose (e.g. studying animal movements in the wild, etc.) It'll be interesting to see how deep they choose to go for TLK. I agree with a lot of what Warthog said above--I think some creative license is important to meaningfully distinguish characters. However, I'm sure things like Scar's eyes will be at least toned down a bit--they're like neon in the original.

I don't think I have a huge issue with changing around the species of side characters like Timon or Zazu, as long as their personalities are the same? For me, those sorts of technicalities, and even their appearance to a large extent, are secondary to their personalities, how they act/interact with other characters, etc.

[Warthog]

I agree with you.

[TLK_Kid]

[quote="Warthog"]Well, meerkats are a kind of mongoose, so they could make Timon a mongoose species that lives in the Serengeti (the banded one, for example, that is about the same size as the meerkat, and like the latter, is social and insectivorous). Would it be strange?

I hope they won't change the eye colors too. As much as I'm "obsessed with realism", having all the characters with brown/orange eyes would be weird.

I also hope they will keep the "villain design" for Scar, with black mane and green eyes, though it would be unrealistic. But do you think they will change his fur colour?

About the other characters, I think Rafiki will be basically the same (but its tail will be most likely shortened to make him look like a real mandrill), the hyenas will be changed to resemble real spotted hyenas and ...what about Zazu?
He is a (probably Northern) red-billed hornbill, that isn't blue at all. Would they give him the real colours of his species, completely changing his appearence?[/quote]
Timon as a mongoose...that's just weird. Not a bad idea; it would be more realistic, but...sorry Disney, you dug your own grave on this one. He has to be a meerkat.

They might make his fur a bit less orange. Maybe more of a dark brown?

I was just about to bring up Rafiki. Yesterday I was comparing some pictures of baboons and mandrills, and the thing is, he doesn't look like either one of them. He has the colored facial features of a mandrill, but his fur resembles a baboon's. It's like he's a...mandoon. Babrill? xD

It wouldn't bother me too much if they changed the color of Zazu's feathers. I'd rather he be blue, but if they make him a more realistic gray, I'm fine with that too.

I wonder if Disney's regretting not making all the animals more realistic to start off with.

[Warthog]

[quote="TLK_Kid"]Timon as a mongoose...that's just weird. Not a bad idea; it would be more realistic, but...sorry Disney, you dug your own grave on this one. He has to be a meerkat. [/quote]

You are right, Timon's changes would likely be the most difficult to accept.

[quote="TLK_Kid"]They might make his fur a bit less orange. Maybe more of a dark brown?[/quote]

Yes, maybe it could be similar to Kovu's.

[quote="TLK_Kid"]I was just about to bring up Rafiki. Yesterday I was comparing some pictures of baboons and mandrills, and the thing is, he doesn't look like either one of them. He has the colored facial features of a mandrill, but his fur resembles a baboon's. It's like he's a...mandoon. Babrill? xD[/quote]

A mandoon/babrill would be interesting. XD
By the way, I think he is just a mandrill with an abnormally long tail. In "The Lion Guard" we see baboons, that are clearly a different species from Rafiki's, and we also see that Makini (Rafiki's apprentice) has a short tail.
But if Disney wants to be realistic, Rafiki should be a baboon in the remake, since mandrills do not occur in Serengeti.

[quote="TLK_Kid"]I wonder if Disney's regretting not making all the animals more realistic to start off with. [/quote]

That's probably what Disney is doing now.

[Elton John]

they didn’t make the original with a photorealistic cgi remake in mind.

how exactly did they ‘dig their own graves?’

[TLK_Kid]

[quote="Elton John"] how exactly did they ‘dig their own graves?’[/quote]
Cuz. Timon is a meerkat, but meerkats don't live in the Serengeti where the movie is set.