The biggest changes made to the original

How will the Disney remake be different? The Lion King to be at the original? The new trailer of The Lion King highlights the sense of continuity between the animated classic of 1994 and the photorealistic remake of Jon Favreau. It presents loving reproductions of some of the most popular scenes of the original, including many shots of this iconic opening of the "Circle of Life".

Disney has proven that his remakes can be huge box-office successes, including successes The beauty and the Beast and The jungle Book. The key is to honor the original while making a film that feels distinctive and unique in itself. In the case of The Lion King, Elton John has already confirmed that one of the classic tunes – "Be Prepared" – will be removed. Meanwhile, Elton John and Tim Rice are working with Beyonce on a new song for the generic scene.

Related: Why the "realistic" remake of King Lion looks worse than the original

The first trailer draws heavily on the sense of continuity between the animated version and the modern remake. Most of the scenes come directly from the breathtaking opening sequence of the film, in which Rafiki presents Mufasa and Sarabi's newborn to the animal kingdom and remarkably reproduces the original. And yet, even in a trailer that highlights the similarities between the two versions, there are some very visible changes. Let's take a look at them.

Animals mingling

The animation in the original Lion King is clean and simple, the animators striving not to complicate the images too much. In the opening scene of "The Circle of Life", for example, there is a sunrise over the African plains – with only one of Africa's iconic baobabs in sight. This kind of approach works for an animated film, but that would seem out of place in the photoreal version of Favreau. It must create a more credible environment. As a result, his sunrise scene is full of baobabs. This is a much more true version of the reality of African Savannaland.

The most delicate scene of all is undoubtedly the one where the animals gather around Pride Rock to celebrate the birth of Simba. This would have been an extremely difficult scene for the animators, with so many different animals to animate. As a result, the 1994 classic tries to keep things as simple as possible. Animals do not mix and mingle at all; you get groups of antelopes, giraffes and elephants. Take a closer look and you'll even notice a strong element of duplication, the animators copying and pasting the same elephant or giraffe, and the colorists giving them a different look using a different tone or hue. These approaches are not feasible in a photoreal Lion Kingand as a result, the modern rendering of the scene is very different. The animals are mixed, with rhinos and zebras, giraffes and elephants side by side. In addition, in the images of the trailer, there is no impression of duplication; each animal is modeled individually, unique among the others.

Rafiki has changed a lot

Let's focus on one of the specific characters: Rafiki, who serves primarily as priest of pride. He has long been in the caravan, climbing on Pride Rock and anointing young Simba with a mysterious red substance. A significant number of changes have been made to Rafiki – some cosmetics, some not. The most obvious change is the fact that the version of Favreau does not seem to require a cane. It makes sense; in the real world, mandrills do not use canes, so this would not work for a "live" interpretation. It can mean key scenes in The Lion King play a little differently, although it is possible that Rafiki picks up a stick from the ground at certain times.

Related: Disney's Biggest Lion King Foul is "Live-Action"

Some of the other changes are, however, more difficult to explain. The Rafiki of The Lion King Remake is right handed, rather than left. Presumably this just gives more meaning to the camera angles favored by the production team. More interestingly, in the animated classic of Rafiki, Simba is handled with a red liquid from a fruit. In the remake, he uses a red powder obtained by breaking what appears to be a root. It is still unclear why Favreau chose to modify this detail in particular; maybe it just could not identify a real world African fruit that would look like this.

Page 2: The Stampede and the roar of Simba

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