WHAT’S IT ABOUT
Simba idolizes his father, King Mufasa, and takes to heart his own royal destiny on the plains of Africa. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub’s arrival. Scar, Mufasa’s brother — and former heir to the throne — has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is soon ravaged with betrayal, tragedy, and drama, ultimately resulting in Simba’s exile. Now, with help from a curious pair of newfound friends, Simba must figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
Here we go again. Another Disney classic given the live-action treatment. Their animated version was released in 1994 and has aged surprisingly well. It’s actually better than most movies out now. So once again, I say, why Disney, WHY. You don’t need the money. No one has forgotten about the animated version. So Disney clearly thinks they need a new film in the theaters every other week, no matter what. This time it’s the beloved Lion King. There’s not much to say about the script because it’s an almost scene for scene copy of their original. So instead of writing about what it has, this review is mainly about what it doesn’t have. You can’t make a live version of a cartoon that involves only animals without changing the script to accommodate the change. Why? Because real lions, hyenas, meerkats, and warthogs (to name a few), can’t make human facial expressions to show fear, surprise, or happiness. They also can’t cry. So when something happens in the movie that requires emotion (the entire film), you can only rely on what they say because they look the same no matter if the animals are happy or sad. It’s like sleeping with your eyes open. Yes, it’s possible, but it looks weird. That’s how I felt watching the live version of The Lion King. It looks great. It sounds great. The animals seem incredibly realistic. So when Mufasa dies, I expected to see an emotional Simba. What I got were the sounds of emotions, while the very realistic lion cub Simba, had the look of whatever – because that’s how lions look. I understand Disney wanted it to look as real as possible, but you lose a lot when you take away facial expressions. So is this a good movie? If you can get past the expressionless characters, it’s just like the animated version with less humor. Other than that, the African landscape is beautiful, the creatures are near perfect, and the songs are not as memorable as in the original. Realism is what Disney excels in as a company and why their DisneyNature series is so great. In short, if you’ve seen Disney’s original ’94 version of The Lion King, don’t screw up your memories by seeing this.
OUR RATING – AN EMOTIONLESS 6.5
Media
- Genre – Family
- Street date
- Digital – October 11th 2019
- DVD/Blu-Ray – October 22nd 2019
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 1:78.1
- Sound – English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
- Subtitles – English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras
- The Journey to “The Lion King”
- More to Be Scene
- Filmmaker Introduction
- Director’s Commentary
- Song Selection
- Protect the Pride
- Perfecting the Pride (Pre-Sell Bonus)
- Pride Lands Pedia (Digital Exclusive)