{"id":19298,"date":"2019-07-24T16:22:28","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T14:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/zaparents-blog\/?p=19298"},"modified":"2022-06-21T12:47:36","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T10:47:36","slug":"lion-king-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/lifestyle\/movie-reviews\/lion-king-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lion King: Movie Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay, this is a movie review with a difference. Because this review was written by two movie reviewers\u2026 who are married to each other\u2026 and who have very different opinions about many things, and agree on some things, but not <\/span>The Lion King<\/em> (2019).<\/span><\/p>\n

So it\u2019s a He said\/She said review \u2013 and because She is taking the byline, we\u2019ll start with He:<\/span><\/p>\n

He said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Lion King\u00a0<\/em>is a classic. It\u2019s timeless. Untouchable. Well, apparently it isn\u2019t because they\u2019ve gone and done it again. There\u2019s a new Simba in town, and he\u2019s a not-real\/sort-of-real live action lion.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Woohoo. They\u2019ve done it again! I loved the animated 1994 original, and I adored the stage musical, and what could possibly go wrong \u2013 unless they leave out one of the classic songs, or change the ending? [Clue: They didn’t.]<\/span><\/p>\n

The backstory<\/h2>\n

He said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

John Favreau is an amazing filmmaker. He helmed the first major Marvel Studios film,\u00a0Ironman<\/em>, and he made the live action-style remake of another Disney animated classic, The Jungle Book<\/em>. Now he\u2019s turned his live action vision to The Lion King<\/em>, with\u2026interesting\u2026results.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m only an actor\u2019s wife, not an actual actor, so I have a vague idea who John Favreau is (Tony Stark\u2019s driver from Ironman<\/em>). But to be honest, who cares? [Clue: Your kids certainly don\u2019t.] The biggest drawcards for me are that Beyonc\u00e9 plays Nala and John Oliver plays Zazu.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film itself<\/h2>\n

He said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So, if you haven\u2019t seen the original, and in the interests of not spoiling anything: A little lion prince falls victim to his evil lion uncle and is tricked into believing that he\u2019s done a terrible thing. He runs away until he comes back to defeat the evil uncle lion and win the day. Along the way he befriends some cute animals, eats some bugs, and falls in love with a girl lion from his past.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re a parent, right? So you\u2019ve seen either the original or the musical or both, or you\u2019ve read the books, or your kid once watched a trailer (16 times) on YouTube. Or you fell victim to one of those awful tie-ins, like The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride.\u00a0<\/em>Come now. Let\u2019s not pretend you don\u2019t know what this story is about.<\/span><\/p>\n

The characters<\/h2>\n

He said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is one of the areas in which I feel the remake falls far short of the original. The original cast – Mathew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Nathan Lane, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robert Guillaume – was pretty stellar.<\/span><\/p>\n

And their ensemble performance was essentially perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tough order to follow, and I\u2019m not sure that the new cast – Donald Glover, Seth Rogan, John Oliver, Florence Kasumba, Billy Eichner, etc. – manage it. I\u2019m not even sure that James Earl Jones is as good as Mufasa as he was in the animated original.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there are exceptions. Chiwetel Ejiofor stands out as a wonderful Scar the evil uncle lion, John Kani is a magical (South African!) Rafiki the witch-doctor-baboon and Beyonc\u00e9 is a surprisingly good best-friend-slash-future-wife Nala.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No ways, man! This voice cast is great. Except for Timon and Pumbaa (Eichner and Rogan), who aren\u2019t half as funny as Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella. Lovely kiddie-voice-artistry and singing, too, from JD McCrary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also: Beyonc\u00e9. I\u2019ll just leave that there, shall I?<\/span><\/p>\n

Notable elements<\/h2>\n

\"The<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

He said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is where things get interesting. You see, beginning with The Jungle Book<\/em>, and now continuing with The Lion King<\/em>, Favreau has set out to give the audience as close to a live action experience as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s tried to create a computer-generated film that looks and feels REAL.<\/span><\/p>\n

So the land, and the animals, and the wind, and the water, and everything\u00a0<\/em>looks like it\u2019s\u2026 well \u2026real. Almost.<\/span><\/p>\n

And here lies the rub:<\/span><\/p>\n

In depicting the characters as realistic animals, they lose the ability to express human emotion. Human communication is 93% non-verbal (body language, facial expressions, bearing, etc.). But in classic animated films the artists cheat by giving animal characters human-like expression, physical rhythm, and emotion.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, in seeking perfectly realistic depictions of animals, Favreau has sort of shot himself in the foot, because I struggled to feel the characters\u2019 emotions. Which made is hard for me to get into the film.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Jaaaaa… He\u2019s right about that. I\u2019ve got nothing. In some scenes, watching the CGI animals \u2018emote\u2019 was like watching Sandra Bullock try to use her forehead in Ocean\u2019s 8<\/em>: NOTHING. HAPPENS.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it was kind of worth it for Beyonc\u00e9’s new song, “Spirit”, and some very clever and self-effacing lines of dialogue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Life lessons<\/h2>\n

He said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For kiddies, there\u2019s this: Care. Commit. Be responsible. And don\u2019t run away and eat bugs in foreign jungles with anarchist animal gangs.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s lots in here. But a big one, that\u2019s not necessarily unique to this version, is \u2018Why doesn’t the idea of “Hakuna matata” or “No worries” always work? Can anyone get through life without a little worry and conflict?\u2019 [Clue: No.]<\/span><\/p>\n

The bottom ‘lion’<\/h2>\n

He said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The film is technically breath-taking. It\u2019s visually amazing. It\u2019s a work of art. But it\u2019s also a bit\u2026 bleh.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I loved it. Your kids will love it. And I\u2019m taking the actor\u2019s daughter to see it.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s best for ages 7+ (there are some scary ish bits), so get tickets, gather your family and get to the movies.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally written for Jozikids by Tiffany Markman in 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

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