I can’t be the only one to think this… or maybe I am. It seems obvious that the key to getting to another level on these animated facial expressions is to make them operate less smoothly. Muscles don’t work in a perfectly continuous way. There should be small jumps/reverts during these movements to take them out of the “Check out how perfectly smooth this motion is” and into the “muscular motion can be jerky and random” bucket. Consider the motion of cartoonishly pursing the lips and pushing the mouth to the side. Just try that yourself. Feel the muscles in your cheeks moving in a noncontinuous way?
The timing also feels off. Like some movements are just animated for too long. And where are the microexpressions? I think in a couple of years, maybe less, there will be a “facial animation breakthrough” that incorporates these ideas.
