I would have to disagree that this would of been a good approach for the movie as it was going for realistic feel. Using models like these would be interesting if they intended to make a 3D adaptaion of the original movie which I also don't see the point for. These character models look more like what you would expect if the cartoon characters would ecxist in the real world. This would of deffinetly gotten rid of the problem of lack of expressions and probably convey the emotions better, but it would of shattered the realism.

I personally don't think they could have done much better job as far as setting the story in the real life goes. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy seeing all kinds of new things that Disney had given us, but I feel that by altering character design we would have gained some and lost something else. The characters are definitely hard to tell apart like cub Simba and Nala or any of the adult lionesses really, but again that is how we often see animals in the wild anyways. Heck it has been proven that people have harder time making lasting impressions and identifying people outside their own race, so though this might not be the most satisfying way as far as emotional aspect of the story goes, it was the only sensible approach to even remake the movie.