Check Out How This Genius Fixes The 2019 Lion King Using DeepFakes

The recent release of Disney’s remake of its original work Lion King in July, which winded out to be a full display of CGI, according to many critics, "doesn't work with the material."

Now, Jonty Pressinger – visual effects artist – recently posted a video on YouTube that involved the use of deepfake technology to re-create a new variation from the newly released Lion King using the artwork from the original work in 1994. The new take on the film utilized the original movie’s art style, which gave characters a wider set of eyes and more expressive faces. And when combining it with the 2019 Lion King brings about a more recognizable, emotive old characters from the original film and give some characters their signature looks back.

The 19-second video did a spectacular job of comparing Disney’s remake of Lion King and Jonty’s own take of the remake. While Disney tries to make the movie as realistic as possible, Jonty’s, on the other hand, focuses on the warmth expression from the old animated work.

Placing his deepfake product side-by-side with 2019 Lion King’s trailer, instead of looking like a bewildered big-cat, Simba in Jonty’s video seems to have taken back his appearance that a person might expect from a Disney’s movie. Moreover, Pumbaa in the deepfake video also has more of his signature appearance rather than a random hog. Lastly, our favorite treacherous “uncle” Scar gets to keep his signature black mane. 

The deepfake video utilized drawings from artist Nikolay Mochkin, which can be found in the description of Jonty’s YouTube video. This proves that although there are many abusive uses of deepfake, the technology can still be applied to other fields, which can be seen in this simple 19-second video and a growing number of art projects.