|
|
 
|
|
Author
|
Topic: The Lion King (2019)
|
Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
|
posted 08-06-2019 10:22 PM
Well, this was the movie I most anticipated for the summer of '19, and while I can't say I was disappointed all that much, I wasn't overwhelmed with liking it either, like I was with its director's last Disney film, 2016's The Jungle Book.
I suppose that's because the original Lion King is one of my all-time favorite movies, and Disney's original animated Jungle Book is not. I mean, I thought it was, until we watched it not long after watching Jon Favreau's remake. In that case, the original pales in comparison. In the case of The Lion King, the original is the better of the two...in all respects except the animation of the animals.
But those animals are probably the biggest problem with this movie. As a lot of reviewers have pointed out, taking the "cartoon" out of this cartoon robs the animals of most of their expressiveness. I mean, an angry lion looks pretty much the same as a happy lion...Simba can't just bust into a huge grin, the way he could in the original.
The realistic landscape certainly looks, uh, realistic, but there again...the cartoon world looks better, because of the feeling behind it. When you see Pumbaa and Timon's adopted home in the original, it looks like absolute paradise compared to Pride Rock; you could see why Simba would definitely want to live there. In this movie it just looks like an area with a little better scenery or something.
Most of the actors do a credible job, but you just can't top Jeremy Irons' "Scar" in the original film. James Earl Jones sounds kind of wooden in this version, and Donald Glover's Simba has much less of the boyish charm brought by Matthew Broderick in the original.
A lot of lines are lifted whole from the 1994 version, and some of the new writing sounds seriously 2019 "woke," as in "I will not be made to feel ashamed of who I am".... come on, could a writer come up with anything less natural sounding than that?
Some (but not all) of the music seems a little better this time, especially the new song "Spirit" that Beyonce belts out when she and Simba are returning to Pride Rock. "Circle of Life" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" get nice remakes, although Beyonce goes a little bonkers with a few thousand extra notes in the melody, as all singers today are required by law to do. Beyonce proves beyond a doubt that as an actor, she shouldn't quit her singing job.
"Be Prepared" is shortened in the name of political correctness (supposedly the hyena people were upset with their favorite animal being THAT mean), and "Hakuna Matata" is given a lesser reading than in the animated version. The hilarious short tune sung by Timon and Pumbaa to distract the hyenas just before the final battle is gone altogether, although the joke they replaced it with works better in this context.
Elton John has a new song, "Never Too Late," featuring an African percussion section behind him, that's the catchiest thing he's come out with in at least 15 years. I've gone home humming it pretty much nightly.
Overall it left me with a kind of hollow feeling like there was an unmet potential. But I still got chills from the opening and closing and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," same as I did with the original. So I guess, three out of five stars. I was hoping for at least four.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
Printer-friendly view of this topic