Over the past couple of years, many childhood favorites like The Lion King are getting remade into live-action films. These movies stray away from the classic Disney and Pixar design. New films rely on too much computer-generated animation, which leads to backlash from fans of the franchise due to CGI being used over traditional animation that many people know and love.
Shrek 5 controversy
Shrek 5 is set to come out on Dec. 23, 2026, and has a lot to work to do. The trailer dropped on Feb. 27 and DreamWorks has faced backlash for their work. In this trailer, you can see a “new” and “improved” Shrek that is very uncanny to his original big screen appearance in 2001.
This change has left many fans feeling betrayed that they waited fifteen years for the Shrek story to come back. A user on X said: “I’m sure the advancement of animation tools has made leaps and bounds since 2010.” However, DreamWorks has made these advancements. In 2022, DreamWorks Studios released a new open-source renderer called MoonRay. This program has already proven its validity with the latest Shrek spinoff, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” With a 100-million-dollar budget, Puss in Boots grossed over 481 million dollars worldwide and was praised for its beautiful animation. So why is this not the same for Shrek 5?
Paramount’s Flop to Hit
A similar problem with animation happened in 2020 with the film adaptation of the Sonic video game series. In 2019, when the first trailer dropped, fans were in disbelief at how ugly Sonic looked. In particular, his small, beady eyes, as well as disturbingly realistic human teeth, were criticized by fans of the iconic character's original video game look. Jeff Flower was the Director of VFX and was responsible for the odd design. Flower’s belief was that Sonic needed to fit in the “real” world of the series. This led to the creation of the human-like Sonic.
Due to the widespread backlash, Sonic the Hedgehog was delayed by Paramount for several months as director Jeff Fowler and his VFX team amended the character design. Tim Miller on Corridor Crew said:
He's gotta fit into this real world. And there's a lot of examples where there's a translation of that. So he does it, and of course, mayhem ensues…which I feel like would've been the totally wrong thing to do. He just did it. It was the smartest thing he could have possibly done. I know it's goofy to say this, but I was very proud of him.
By allowing Fowler to refine the design and manage his interaction with the character's fans, the producer set the stage for the beloved version of the speedster we now see in both films. Miller pinpointed the flaws in the initial design, and those exact features were improved in the final rendition. Notably, Sonic's eyes were enlarged and made more cartoonish, aligning closely with the video game’s design. His teeth were also altered to be less prominent. The character’s colors were brightened, and his hands and fingers were made larger and clearly covered by his iconic gloves. Overall, Sonic's design underwent significant changes to appear less realistic and more reminiscent of the video game character, which greatly benefited the film.When referring to “Shrek 5,” an X user said, “We need to pull another Sonic. We cannot let this slide. We did it for Sonic, please, we can change this.”
Disney’s Success
Disney is giving fans what they want with the upcoming release of the live-action version of Lilo and Stitch on May 23. Over many years, Disney has made a lot of live-action adaptations of their beloved films. This has led to many films being praised and others flopping due to animation designs. With Lilo and Stitch, fans love how Stitch looks. Had Stitch’s appearance in the live-action remake been different from the original movie, viewers would likely have been upset and unaccepting of the new version. This could lead to issues connecting to Stitch. This happened with Disney’s The Lion King in 2019. Viewers said that the animals were too photorealistic and didn’t have the same humanistic features that made it so easy to connect with the character.
The photorealistic route would not have worked due to Stitch being an alien. He is completely unique from other animals. Although he does have similarities to a dog, if a photorealistic Stitch was present in the film, he would come off as more creepy than cute. Fans have been getting their hopes up after the success of the trailer.
