The lions. THE lion. The songs. The lyrics. The love. The rock. The score.
Disney's The Lion King is easily one of the most well-known and beloved movies of all time. A classic story for generations and generations to come. A brother of a king, angry with the "little hairball" that he even exists. The brother kills the king, the brother frames the hairball, the brother wants the hairball dead, hairball runs away, the brother takes over as king, everyone is starving and scared, the hairball returns, the hairball takes his place as king. *insert amazing Hans Zimmer music*
Disney's The Lion King Live Action . . .
well, it did have lions.
As one of the most anticipated films of 2019, The Lion King was set to break box office records and bring back that love and nostalgia for the now-adults that grew up with this movie . . . alright I'm just gonna get into it:
IT DID NOT MEET EXPECTATIONS.
I went into the theatre pretending I had never seen this movie before; like it was brand new. I knew I would compare scenes to the original movie, without a doubt, but I was still excited for it.
Alright so here me out. The CGI was obviously incredible. These animals looked real! It stuck with the main story, there were not any plot twists or crazy alternate endings or anything. It was . . .ok. But just ok. The main thing was the lack of emotion and passion in the casts' voice acting. Yes, they wanted these animals to look and act very real, but at least put some emotion into the words and at least the eyebrows. The main scenes that stick out to me are:
1) The "Be Prepared" segment. They STOLE this song from us! It was basically Scar just talking and saying "be prepared" like 9 times pacing back and forth on a rock.
2) The "Long Live the King" dark moment. OMG. I should have made this number one. Scar's famous and hissing "looong...live...the king..." was butchered. The voice acting here sounded as if a middle school put on a play and the class clown who gets F's got the part of Scar. It was lazy, plain, soulless, carefree . . . that "evil" was NOT there.
3) The "Somebody...Anybody" crying Simba scene. Ok... so of course you remember little Simba's tears running down his face and his little ears are down and he's crying and feels guilty etc. yeah that wasn't there in the live action. Simba's voice sounded like he was sobbing . . . but his face never changed. At all. Not even slightly. It was actually very weird to watch and listen to at the same time.
4) The "Nala and Simba reunion" scene. Everything was going perfect until Glover (Simba) said "I know you'll lOvE iiiit." . . . . . . like . . . . . .that was NOT Simba. At all. It was cringy. Like, majorly.
5) The "Rafiki swings through the trees leading Simba" adventure. FIRST OF ALL, the squash banana song was removed, which was sad. Then when we get to the pond, the "he lives in you" just did not have that same impact as it did in the original. I can't really explain it. It just didn't hit the same.
6) The "Mufasa in the Clouds" moment. So, I didn't have a problem with how it looked, my problem was how it dragged on. In the original, Mufasa is basically just "Simba... you have forgotten yourself and have thus forgotten me FATHER NO I'M LOST remember who you are FATHER WAIT remembeeerrrrr"- like it was quick, powerful, and deep because it wasn't a conversation or even actually happening. It was like an awakening for Simba. The live action film was a conversation and it felt too long. Like, it was weird to have it like Mufasa was replying to Simba and they were having a casual talk vs Simba having this HUGE wake-up moment where he thinks he hears his father talking to him.
The Lion King is beloved by everyone. It's impossible to not like it, simply put. The original and the live action kept many of the classics songs and didn't butcher most of them; as well as adding in a new song by Beyonce, "Spirit," which I personally do like. Timon and Pumbaa were just as funny as they were in the original, but also felt new and refreshing. The scores, of course, gave goosebumps. That beginning "AAAAAHHHHHHHH" immediately puts tears in the eyes and the CGI looks like a National Geographic documentary. The animation, the colors, the fun; all made a fantastic movie to watch come to life from childhood . . . if only the powerful emotion had continued on into the live action from the original would it have been the perfect remake.
-Amanda
--photos do not belong to me and are the property of Disney--
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