Upcoming ‘Land Before Time’ Remake Already Succeeds Where 2019’s ‘Lion King’ Failed

When Disney’s The Lion King got a CGI remake in 2019, audiences were promised a “live-action” reimagining of the 1994 animated classic. But what they got was a film so focused on realism that it forgot how to feel. The characters looked real, but they couldn’t emote like the characters in the 1994 2D animated film.

As a result, Simba’s grief, Scar’s menace, and the heart of the story fell flat.

Now, British filmmaker Joey Lever, who’s directing a fan-made remake of The Land Before Time, seems to have taken that lesson to heart. His upcoming project, titled Littlefoot, reimagines the original 1988 film with 3D animation—but not at the cost of expression.

In a recent social media post, Lever introduced the new versions of the classic dinosaurs, including Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and Littlefoot himself, which are not “hyper realistic” renditions like the animals in 2019’s The Lion King, but far more akin to Pixar characters:

Related: Fan Film Rekindles ‘The Land Before Time’ as Hollywood Stays Silent

He described them not just by appearance, but by personality: Cera is “fierce, stubborn, and full of fire,” while Littlefoot is “soft, curious, brave”, he said in the post. More importantly, Lever emphasized that their emotions were a top priority in the design process.

“We didn’t want to go down the hyper-realistic route you see in modern reboots (a certain Lion King),” he wrote, referring to Disney’s 2019 remake. “Instead, we leaned into what made the original characters timeless: their expressiveness, charm, and stylised beauty.”

That’s exactly what The Lion King (2019) missed.

Credit: Universal Pictures / Amblin Entertainment

Despite raking in over $1.6 billion at the global box office, The Lion King‘s characters couldn’t connect on an emotional level because their ultra-realistic designs stripped away the very tools animation uses to tell stories—exaggerated expression, timing, and nuance.

Like the original Lion King, The Land Before Time is an emotional tale. From Littlefoot’s loss to the group’s unlikely friendship, it depends on the audience feeling every beat. Lever’s decision to keep the animation expressive may be the smartest move the project makes.

Lever’s The Land Before Time might not be studio-backed, but in this case, that might be a huge blessing. If he succeeds, Littlefoot could remind everyone why stylized animation still matters—and why sometimes, looking real, no matter how impressive, isn’t always enough.