Disney's The Lion King Remake: 8 Things They Must Do To Nail It
6. Make It Darker
Making things 'darker' is all the rage these days, but rarely is it done to service the film or the plot - it's usually just done for the sake of it, to give a film the demeanour of maturity - or, in DC's case, it's used as a way to differentiate themselves from the competition, even if it doesn't wholly mesh with the source material. But in the case of the Lion King remake, not only would a darker feel actively make the film better - it would absolutely make sense in context.
Save for a handful of grittier moments, the original Lion King was whimsical, charming and fun - it was a cartoon, so this tone was a perfect fit for the overly-saturated colours and eccentric characters. The remake is not going to be a cartoon - it's going to be photo-realistic and the idea of a live-action warthog and meerkat yelling, farting and goofing around is absolutely ludicrous, and this is one element of The Lion King remake that needs a pinch of added maturity in order for it to work.
Scar, too, needs to feel scary and intimidating - he's a freaking angry lion with a gouge slashed down the middle of his face! The shift from animation to live-action isn't just stylistic, it's tonal; certain lighter elements of the original won't work when everything feels more grounded, and Disney must notch up the realism of the tone in correlation with the realism of the animation.