Cool breakdown!

I agree with them that Aslan's animation still mostly stands on its own, even after 20 years. I know Netflix's Narnia will have a huge budget, and technology has advanced significantly since then, but there's a part of me that worries Walden's Aslan might still look better.

On a slightly related note (feel free to let me know if it's not, mods!),

@impending-doom

It is an intriguing possibility!  Babe used a mix of real, trained animals, animatronic animal heads and CGI to create talking animals.  Given that Neal Scanlan worked on that movie, it is not impossible that something similar could be done here.  The Star Wars sequels also used a fair bit of the Creature department for some characters that would more often be created digitally today.

I commented in the article (before I saw your reply) that in the Waldon movies, I think (not 100% certain) we mostly saw the Creature Shop used for Mythological creatures. Talking Animals were usually CGI.  The Magician's Nephew has a lot of animals being created and talking (particularly around 'Brandy', their pet 😆), while there is not a lot of talk recorded for the Dryads, Naiads, Minotaurs, Centaurs, Fauns, The River God or mythical creatures in general.  This was making me wonder what the Creature Department would actually work on.  The thought that maybe practical effects could even be used for the animals is pretty cool!

And also, another Narnian VFX video appeared in my feed (I guess the youtube algorithm knows what I click on), this one was by a young artist who wanted to attempt to recreate the VFX for Aslan using Blender today).  For the most part, it is just a look at how someone creates these effects on a budget, though there are some insights again into how Waldon originally did these effects: Remaking Narnia VFX in a month

I had actually liked the BBC’s Aslan even though it was only a puppet.  While the Walden’s Aslan looked more realistic it probably would have been more endearing if it looked more like BBC’s, and that probably could have been done even with today’s technology. The mouth movements would be corrected to be look more convincing, and the lion’s walk would be less mechanical.  But there was something about the old fashioned way of doing things which seemed less like a computerized Aslan and more like a work of art. Liam Neeson and Ronald Pickup were both quite good with Aslan’s voice, which I think should certainly be male.  It is very unlikely that Greta Gerwig would go back to using puppets, but maybe her Aslan could look more like Pauline Baynes’ illustrations. But I doubt that she cares much about the lion’s appearance since she doesn’t even seem to be particular about getting Aslan’s gender right. 

Posted by: @narnian78

But I doubt that she cares much about the lion’s appearance since she doesn’t even seem to be particular about getting Aslan’s gender right. 

Can it please be emphasised once again that we simply do not know whether or not this is true?

All we have to go on is a rumour reported by two Hollywood news websites (one of them obscure, the other considered reasonably reliable, but neither of them officially associated with Netflix or any other studios) nearly 6 months ago — with absolutely no evidence offered at the time, or ever since.

The one piece of possible evidence we have of what Aslan may look like is that poster in one of the London sets showing a magnificently maned (therefore ostensibly male) lion. We don't know if that is meant to be a "teaser" reference to Aslan, but given the context — and the poster's promise of "a new world, a new home" — it is far more likely than not.

Neither Gerwig nor anyone else actually involved with the project has made any known comments so far about Aslan at all, let alone Aslan's gender, or that of the actor who will be providing Aslan's voice. We have no accurate and verifiable knowledge of what Gerwig's ideas and plans are for Aslan at all.

Therefore, insinuating that Gerwig doesn't care much about Aslan's appearance, and that she isn't even particular about getting Aslan's gender right, is not justifiable on the basis of the information we actually have. It's also really not fair on Gerwig herself.

In short, can't we wait until we know for certain what she IS doing with Aslan before we make judgments about it, and her? 

@courtenay

All right, I will apologize for saying it.  I can’t know about it for certain.  But it seems like now that this much time has passed and we haven’t heard anything from Greta Gerwig about who will be playing Aslan I guess that we won’t know until the movie is actually being filmed.  I would think she would have heard something about the rumors and said something factual to contradict them, but maybe that is still coming.  Actually I think a small part of the movie was filmed but only enough for a trailer. It now seems rather late to know who will play the most important character. But she may have some other reasons for taking her time.

I will wait and see if there are any positive reviews of the film before deciding whether I want to watch it.  It certainly would be nice to know something more about what it will be like.  I didn’t mean to offend you, and I think you were right in pointing out that I was too quick to judge a film that hasn’t even been completed.