Disney's live-action Little Mermaid is about to be released, and fans have been scratching their heads over the character design shared so far. Gone is the charm of the creatures found in the cartoon film, with Flounder, Sebastian and chums now transformed into painfully real versions of their former selves.
But this isn't the first time Disney has run into criticism for its animal character design. In fact, Disney has often missed the mark with its approach to designing realistic animals in its live-action/CGI remakes.
I take a look at the design of animal characters in recent live-action films and ask – does Disney need to change its tactic? Perhaps the animation giant needs to take a look at our character design tips to get back on track (joking, not-joking).
The Jungle Book (2016)
Up first for the photoreal live-action treatment was The Jungle Book, which actually fared a lot better than films released since. The Jungle Book is considered a masterpiece from a design perspective (though I do miss the songs), and the character design turned out pretty well.
There's a subtlety in the facial expressions, but there's just enough movement to convey personality and, dare I say, feeling? Or maybe the inclusion of a human character has helped to inject the depth of character that's missing from other attempts as it helps to dilute the minimal facial expression provided by the animals. Either way, The Jungle Book pleased critics in a way subsequent films haven't.
The Lion King (2019)
The Lion King was heavily criticised for its characters, which were deemed far too realistic to convey any of the emotion or personality of the original animated film (which had me all sobbing throughout). Though the photorealistic production values were high, and the film a spectacle, not even Beyoncé could cut through the bland faces to create the kind of emotion we needed during Can You Feel The Love Tonight?
Sure, it's a cute lion cub but it it really Simba? And the flustered panic of Zazu is totally missing from the CGI bird. Don't get me wrong, the quality of the CG and VFX in this Lion King live action remake is outstanding (see how Lion King CGI: Behind the scenes feature on how it was made) but somewhere along the way the 'computer said no'. Disney missed the mark here.
The Lady and the Tramp
The Lady and the Tramp character design is some of the most strange you'll see on this list, and frankly, I'd wiped it from memory (and for good reason). Disney changed tactics somewhat with this release, using real dogs but augmenting their faces with CGI to make them talk and express emotions with facial ticks and winks. This might bring movement to their doggy faces, but the result is unsettling and does little to improve on the personality-less Lion King character design.
The lovestruck gaze of the original characters just isn't quite there in the new version, however much treatment has been given to the real pooches. And, actually, watching two dogs share a plate of spaghetti just feels a bit weird. Sorry Disney, but this one is best forgotten.
The Little Mermaid (2023)
We may only have seen initial footage of the 2023 remake of Little Mermaid, but fans haven't been impressed so far. Though we can see some nice CGI work on the faces of the animal characters, it's hard to imagine being able to capture the cuteness of Flounder using a real fish. The posters definitely don't do the footage justice, but we wonder what the purpose of recreating all these characters in a slightly-less-successful-way really is?
Besides the issue of the unoriginality of an endless rosta of live-action remakes, if they don't add anything to the experience of the first, we'd tentatively assert that they should be left alone.
I'd argue these characters, which were so expertly crafted in traditional animation, don't need to be brought up to date in this slightly creepy, somewhat charmless way. We hope Disney finds a happy medium or goes in another direction.
Want to explore more Disney or get started on a career in animation? Read our feature on Disney's principles of animation to discover the same advice pro animators get give. Or, take a look at the best laptops for animation and begin working on your own animated shorts.
