Disney is rolling out a new stage show titled Walt Disney – A Magical Life for Disneyland’s 70th anniversary. While the bulk of the show is the familiar One Man’s Dream content, the real headliner is the new Audio-Animatronic depicting Walt Disney himself. Disney Imagineering says this is the most lifelike Audio-Animatronic ever created, but what do fans think?
Unfortunately, the initial feedback to the Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic has been mixed. We’ve seen a lot of praise over the figure’s movement and ability to shift from a leaning to a standing position, but there’s also a lot of criticism about the Audio-Animatronic’s appearance. Fans are disappointed and saying the figure doesn’t look like Walt.
Does this look like Walt Disney to you?
Let’s compare the final result to Disney’s original concept art.
We understand how difficult it is to create a figure based on an actual person. It’s a tough task. But, Disney decided to take on that challenge, so we have to be critical of the final result. Disney fans have seen pictures and videos of Walt countless times. The bar here was high and the figure was always going to be scrutinized.
Sadly, the face of the Audio-Animatronic doesn’t look quite right. We’re not sure if it’s too scrunched, bloated, or wide, but something here is just off. We’ve seen other members of the Disney community say this version of Walt looks more like Tom Hanks when he played the role, and there’s some truth to that. Maybe the figure just needs to have a more narrow face and a less stocky neck?
It’s a shame because there’s some really cool technological advancements with the Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic. The movement, especially the “lean to stand” portion, is pretty incredible. And, the facial features themselves are extremely impressive if you can get past the issue of it not looking exactly like Walt.
We know a lot of people worked hard on this project, and there’s a lot to be proud of here. That said, we think there’s some room for improvement to make this a more convincing tribute to Walt.
