The golden age of hand-drawn animation was a wonderous thing, and produced some of the most stunning movies of all time. When Disney entered its Renaissance Era with The Little Mermaid in 1989, the Disney filmmakers carefully integrated hand-drawn 2D animation with the burgeoning computer graphics that were becoming available.
The intelligent and artistic use of CGI led to two of the most breath-taking sequences in any of the best animated movies – the ballroom sequence in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and the wildebeest stampede in The Lion King (1994). The Renaissance Era which ended with Tarzan in 1999 produced absolutely beautiful films and arguably the best Disney movies, which combined the best of both worlds of hand-drawn and computer-generated animation.
Unfortunately, Disney now seems preoccupied with producing live-action remakes of their most successful movies, and while they’ve been wildly financially successful – most people agree that they’re a significant step down in terms of artistry. Comparing the look of The Lion King (1994) to The Lion King (2019) is frankly depressing to most people, and the internet seems to agree.
Jake Lee Animation tweeted a sequence from the 94 version of The Lion King, in which the 2D animation gives the illusion that a camera is spinning around the characters. This was quote-tweeted by Trevor Fraley, who said; “Imagine having this type of human power in the world and companies would rather make something with a fraction of its beauty because it’s cheaper,” which got over 100,000 Likes.
James Baxter, the king of animation. In this type of 2D animation, there is no “camera” like in 3D animation, just pencil drawings on paper. This means drawing the character to change perspective as the environment is spinning to give the illusion of a camera movement. #lionking pic.twitter.com/tNoM08wIbE
— Jake Lee Animation (@JakeLeeAnim) August 24, 2023
One of the elements of The Lion King (2019) which was most heavily criticized was the unexpressive character design. Because of the focus on the animals looking realistic, their faces didn’t respond to the horror or wonder of what was around them, but remained almost completely flat and stoic throughout.
The live-action remakes continue apace, with Snow White and The Lion King 2 both set for release in 2024, and Moana for 2025. Many more are in development, including Hercules and Lilo & Stitch. While we wait for those, check out our guides to the best animated series, the best Disney Plus movies, and the best Disney Plus shows.