Ask any up-to-date Marvel fan what their favorite part of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was, and nine times out of ten, they’ll tell you it’s Rocket’s backstory and the tragic fate of his buddies Lylla, Teefs, and Floor. While we pull made-up statistics from thin air, it’s worth considering the fact that Vol. 3’s photorealistic animals managed to pull off something that Disney’s The Lion King remake, a movie that is centered around the animal kingdom, couldn’t. They made us actually feel something.
This is an astute point that was raised by a r/MarvelStudios community member, u/Nala9158. The user threw some shade at the 2019 live-action remake of the fan-favorite Disney film in a thread saying that the latest Marvel film proves that photorealistic animals can, in fact, emote – complete with a gif of Rocket and Lylla embracing to prove their point.
This naturally devolved into a discussion about why Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 managed to succeed where The Lion King couldn’t. The general consensus is that Disney was wholeheartedly committed to the gimmick of “this is how this story would unfold in real life,” which ultimately fell flat with audiences. Moments which were supposed to be heartfelt, joyful, tragic, or otherwise – pretty just ended up looking disjointed and awkward. However, there was still agreement that despite its shortcomings, Donald Glover as Simba was an absolute win.
Back to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and its animals, though, PETA reviewed the film and praised it for how it exposes multiple real-world facets of animal cruelty – and that went down about as well as you’d expect.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will likely still be in theaters for a good long while, if you need an excuse to shed a tear in a big dark room again.
