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The Lion King: Symbolism and Themes in a Timeless Classic

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The circle of life, identity and self-discovery, family and community.

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The Lion King

My generation grew up mourning the death of Bambi’s mother. Now comes “The Lion King,” with the death of Mufasa, the father of the lion cub who will someday be king. The Disney animators know that cute little cartoon characters are not sufficient to manufacture dreams. There have to be dark corners, frightening moments, and ancient archetypes like the crime of regicide. “The Lion King,” which is a superbly drawn animated feature, is surprisingly solemn in its subject matter, and may even be too intense for very young children.

The film is the latest in a series of annual media events from Disney, which with “ The Little Mermaid ,” “ Beauty and the Beast ” and “ Aladdin ” reinvented its franchise of animated feature films. The inspiration for these recent films comes from the earliest feature cartoons created by Walt Disney himself, who in movies like “Dumbo,” with the chaining of Mrs. Jumbo, and “ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ,” with its wicked stepmother, tapped into primal fears and desires. Later Disney films drifted off into the neverland of innocuous “children’s movies,” which were harmless but not very exciting. These most recent four animated features are once again true “family films,” in that they entertain adults as well as children.

“The Lion King” is the first Disney animated feature not based on an existing story. In another sense, it is based on half the stories in classical mythology. It tells the tale of the birth, childhood and eventual manhood of Simba, a lion cub. The cub’s birth is announced in the opening sequence of the movie, called “The Circle of Life,” which is an evocative collaboration of music and animation to show all of the animals of the African veld gathering to hail their future king. The cute little cub is held aloft from a dramatic spur of rock, and all his future minions below hail him, in a staging that looks like the jungle equivalent of a political rally.

Of course this coming together of zebra and gazelle, monkey and wildebeest, fudges on the uncomfortable fact that many of these animals survive by eating one another. And all through “The Lion King” the filmmakers perform a balancing act between the fantasy of their story and the reality of the jungle. Early scenes show Simba as a cute, trusting little tike who believes everyone loves him. He is wrong. He has an enemy – his uncle Scar, the king’s jealous brother, who wants to be king himself one day.

Villains are often the most memorable characters in a Disney animated film, and Scar is one of the great ones, aided by a pack of yipping hyenas who act as his storm troopers. With a voice by Jeremy Irons , and facial features suggestive of Irons’ gift for sardonic concealment, Scar is a mannered, manipulative schemer who succeeds in bringing about the death of the king.

Worse, he convinces Simba that the cub is responsible, and the guilty little heir slinks off into the wastelands. (The movie makes a sly reference to a famous earlier role by Irons. When Simba tells him, “You’re so weird,” he replies “You have no idea,” in exactly the tone he used in “ Reversal of Fortune .”) It is an unwritten law that animated features have comic relief, usually in the form of a duet or trio of goofy characters who become buddies with the hero. This time they are a meerkat named Timon (voice by Nathan Lane ) and a warthog named Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella), who cheer up Simba during his long exile.

The movie has a large cast of other colorful characters, including a hornbill named Zazu ( Rowan Atkinson ), who is confidant and advisor to King Mufasa ( James Earl Jones ). And there are the three hyenas (with voices by Whoopi Goldberg , Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings ), who are a tumbling, squabbling, yammering team of dirty tricks artists.

The early Disney cartoons were, of course, painstakingly animated by hand. There has been a lot of talk recently about computerized animation, as if a computer program could somehow create a movie. Not so. Human animators are responsible for the remarkably convincing portrayals of Scar and the other major characters, who somehow combine human and animal body language. But computers did assist with several remarkable sequences, including a stampede in which a herd seems to flow past the camera.

Despite the comic relief from the hyenas, the meerkat and the warthog, “The Lion King” is a little more subdued than “Mermaid,” “Beauty” and “Aladdin.” The central theme is a grim one: A little cub is dispossessed, and feels responsible for the death of its father.

An uncle betrays a trust.

And beyond the gently rolling plans of the great savanna lies a wasteland of bones and ashes. Some of the musical comedy numbers break the mood, although with the exception of “Circle of Life” and “Hakuna Matata,” the songs in “The Lion King” are not as memorable as those in “Mermaid” and “Beauty.” Basically what we have here is a drama, with comedy occasionally lifting the mood. The result is a surprising seriousness; this isn’t the mindless romp with cute animals that the ads might lead you to expect. Although the movie may be frightening and depressing to the very young, I think it’s positive that “The Lion King” deals with real issues. By processing life’s realities in stories, children can prepare themselves for more difficult lessons later on. The saga of Simba, which in its deeply buried origins owes something to Greek tragedy and certainly to “Hamlet,” is a learning experience as well as an entertainment.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Jeremy Irons as Scar
Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi
Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Young Simba
Matthew Broderick as Adult Simba
James Earl Jones as Mufasa

Directed by

Rob Minkoff
Roger Allers

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The Lion King (2019) Film Review

Be Prepared

The original Lion King is one of my favourite films. It’s a beautifully realized, well written animated title, one packed full of charm and heart with a powerful message at its core. With Disney’s constantly revolving roulette wheel of remakes in full swing, it was only a matter of time before this film received the updated formula in Disney’s mission to remake every classic film. Updating the animated masterpiece with photo-realistic CGI accompanied by a story that matches the original beat for beat, The Lion King feels like a pale imitation of the classic, a shadow of the film it once was and one that’s forgotten what made the original so memorable.

For those unaware, the story sees a young lion Prince called Simba run away from his homeland after the brutal death of his Father, only to return stronger years later to avenge his family, fight for his throne and learn valuable lessons along the way. For the most part, The Lion King unashamedly matches the story of the original, almost scene for scene. However, there are some notable changes but if I’m honest, these actually take away from the story rather than enhance them,with the exception of a more menacing hyena threat.

One particular example of these changes include Rafiki’s stick lesson which has been completely removed from the story, missing the point of Simba’s life lesson completely and seeing his character do a 180 after seeing his Father in the sky. Simba and Nala’s love song, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” is sung in the hot, sticky afternoon sunlight whilst we receive an entire rendition of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” but a reduced, reworked version of “Be Prepared”. Unlike Aladdin which did go some way to add some flair and visual hedonism to proceedings, The Lion King’s songs feel like pale imitations; karaoke reworks of classics that, whilst good, don’t match up to the originals.

Visually, The Lion King looks fantastic. The fur for the animals is realistic, the different species are beautifully realized and it really feels like a living, breathing African Savannah through a lot of the film. The character models are also amazingly rendered but in a bid to adopt photo-realism, the film loses the charisma and charm each character had in abundance. The desaturated colour palette doesn’t help either, taking cues from The Walking Dead to turn everything into a murky, colourless world that lacks personality. The lions look completely expressionless most of the time and Scar lacks the iconic menace to help him stand out next to the other lions too. This is before even mentioning Zazu’s design or how tweaking the saturation of the film may have actually made things look more visually appealing.

While the actors were never going to achieve the same lofty heights the original garnered, some of the script changes and dialogue omissions feel really odd and lack the bounce and charm the original had. Scar doesn’t have the same cunning, raspy tone, Zazu is completely miscast next to the iconic Rowan Atkinson and James Earl Jone’s return as Mufasa only further highlights the differences between the classic and remake voice casting.

Having said all that, Seth Rogan and Billy Eichner absolutely steal the show. Their performance as Timon and Pumbaa is fantastic and their ad-libbed dialogue has a real ebb and flow to proceedings, managing to modernize the humour whilst keeping the tight-knit friendship they have intact throughout the film. Some of their jokes, especially one in particular which refers to the Hakuna Matata song, are amusing jabs toward the original and work really well to keep things lighthearted.

I have no doubt that The Lion King will break box office records this year. It’s an iconic piece of film history and fans of the original will undoubtedly flock in their millions to see their favourite characters brought back to life. Unfortunately this remake feels like a cash-grab and whilst I absolutely applaud all those who worked hard on this film, particularly the visual effects team, the film lacks the heart that made the original so memorable.

The Lion King’s original beautiful story is changed and watered down like squash with too much water and not enough flavour. It lacks heart, charm and charisma making it one of the worst remakes Disney have put out. Next to the beloved original, The Lion King fails to hit those same nostalgic sweet spots, despite its best efforts late on, but the shot for shot scenes and returning score feel designed to hit that point so people will look past the inadequacies.

There are some films you don’t touch and The Lion King is certainly one of them. Despite it’s best efforts, the 2019 Lion King remake falls hard and fast into the merciless stampeding wildebeest.

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'The Lion King': Review

By Tim Grierson, Senior US Critic 2019-07-12T09:59:00+01:00

Jon Favreau’s thrilling ’photo-realist’ Disney drama remains loyal to the original jungle monarch

Source: Disney

‘The Lion King’

Dir: Jon Favreau. US. 2019. 118mins.

Like other recent Disney remakes, The Lion King largely lionises the original animated film, reluctant to risk alienating fans or to veer wildly from the source material. Nonetheless, director Jon Favreau ( The Jungle Book ) manages to give this version its own spark thanks to a willingness to embrace the story’s inherent darkness and a photo-realistic computer-animation approach which amplifies the majesty of the tale’s animal characters. Blessed with some excellent voice performances, this new King is familiar but still lively enough to encourage audiences to emotionally invest again in story they are already so familiar with.

There’s a savage ferocity to these characters that accentuates their kill-or-be-killed reality

Disney will release the film across much of the world by July 19, looking to match (or better) the worldwide grosses of live-action remakes Beauty And The Beast ($1.3 billion), The Jungle Book ($967 million) and Aladdin (currently $924 million). The original Lion King was the biggest global hit of 1994 — it seems fairly certain that the remake will be among this year’s top-grossing films too, buoyed by a faithful recreation of the original’s beloved soundtrack which never quite tops the Elton John and Tim Rice originals — or, frankly, tries to offer substantially different versions of them (Pharrell Williams produced five songs on the track).

Favreau takes us back to the African savannah, where wise Mufasa (voiced by James Earl Jones) rules over a pride of lions, including his sprightly son Simba (JD McCrary). But when Mufasa’s conniving brother Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) secretly murders the king — and makes Simba believe he was responsible — the cub flees, befriending two lovable outcasts during his exile: meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and a warthog named Pumbaa (Seth Rogen).

Even more than 2016’s The Jungle Book , The Lion King achieves what looks like wondrous live-action filmmaking as the wild animals behave in realistic ways — except, of course, for the fact that they talk and sing. Creating digital environments based on actual African locations, Favreau and his effects team concoct an immersive landscape that, although occasionally set-bound, is visually resplendent. (Special credit to Caleb Deschanel, whose cinematography is a rich mixture of evocative shadows and beautiful, sun-splashed widescreen compositions.)

It’s unfortunate, then, that this remake doesn’t attempt to enrich a narrrative that, despite its primal prodigal-son stirrings, has always felt as if it could be fleshed out. At its weakest, this Lion King merely rehashes the original story, but even then, it’s a luminous production which is satisfying enough to simply let the vistas enrapture the audience. And, while this remake is primarily geared towards families, Favreau doesn’t shy away from the story’s sombre, even scary underpinnings. If it’s enormously cute to watch photo-realistic cubs scamper to and fro, it’s equally unnerving when the wiry Scar enters the frame — or when his hellacious hyena henchmen threaten Simba. To be sure, the original’s traditional animation had flair, but the remake’s live-action-ish quality allows us to fully appreciate just how powerful and dangerous these creatures are. Mufasa’s regal bearing and Scar’s coiled fury have a potency that the 1994 version can’t match — there’s a savage ferocity to these characters that accentuates their kill-or-be-killed reality.

Favreau has also done a good job with his casting, picking Donald Glover to voice the adult Simba who, after long abandoning his destiny, will finally rise to the challenge of taking his father’s place. Jeremy Irons gave us a cheeky Scar, but Ejiofor is far more ominous, while Rogen and Eichner are an amusing comic duo. Reprising his role as the mighty Mufasa, Jones provides the same velvety authority that has been his trademark for decades. While The Lion King ’s love story feels as rushed as ever, at least Glover and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (as Nala) have a warm rapport. And John Oliver is in fine form as Mufasa’s loyal aide Zazu, an anxious hornbill.

Yet for all the computer wizardry on display, it seems to be mostly in service of mimicking the sensation of watching the ’94 movie, which can feel like a lot of effort exerted for a trivial objective. And yet, Favreau and his cast have zeroed in on what remains so moving about this material — its wrenching father-son portrait, its extolling of the need to grow up, and its clear-eyed divide between good and evil. It’s easy to be swayed by the craftsmanship on display, even if one wishes all involved weren’t so loyal to the original King .

Production company: Fairview Entertainment

Worldwide distribution: Disney

Producers: Jon Favreau, Jeffrey Silver, Karen Gilchrist

Screenplay: Jeff Nathanson

Production design: James Chinlund

Editing: Mark Livolsi, Adam Gerstel

Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel

Music: Hans Zimmer

Main voice cast: Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Billy Eichner, John Kani, John Oliver, Florence Kasumba, Eric André, Keegan-Michael Key, JD McCrary, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, James Earl Jones

United States
Walt Disney

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“The Lion King” by Disney Essay (Movie Review)

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As a rule, the tradition of the Disney animated family pictures dictates that the plot of the show or movie should be based on a fairytale; this is how the company has marketed its products since its very beginning. However, there is a product that stands out of the line of Disney fairytale adaptations. Based loosely on Shakespeare’s Hamlet (“Prince of Denmark, and the film shadows this work so closely, that parallels between the main characters themselves are wildly apparent” (McElven para. 2)), the movie spawned the show that has been staged countless numbers of times in different theaters. The Boston Opera House staging, which is one of the recent adaptations of the famous story, introduced its rendition of the story, which has become timeless classics over the past seventeen years, both retaining the key characteristics of the original and introducing new and unique features into the well-known story.

Following the existing tradition of storytelling, the musical represented a typical three-act storytelling. At the beginning, the key exposition details are provided in a very subtle manner; the song that the musical opens with is a send-back to the first animated movie. The singers rendered the song that is already viewed as the Disney heritage in a very skillful manner. As the setting revealed the famous mountain, the family of lions represented their cub and the heir to the “throne” to the pride.

Almost immediately after the ceremony, the main villain and the key antagonist of the lead character, Uncle Scar, the brother of King Mufasa and the uncle of the newborn lion, Simba, was revealed. Exposing his sorrow for losing an opportunity to be the king, treacherous Scar starts plotting the murder of his brother. Meanwhile, young price Simba learns what the nature of the king’s duties is and how important it is to maintain balance between every single element in the kingdom. Thus, Simba learns that the life of every creature is important, as even the smallest ones contribute to creating the great circle of life, which the narrator sung about earlier.

However, the boisterous nature of the young prince takes its toll, and he nearly gets into a trap set by Scar and his henchmen hyenas. Eventually, Scar manages to kill Mufasa and makes Simba leave the kingdom by making the prince believe that he was to blame for his father’s death. Scar returns to the Pride Lands to declare the death of Mufasa and Simba and claim the throne.

As Simba escapes the pride land, the setting changes drastically, and the yellow-and-orange colors of the Pride Land are switched with the green landscape of the African savanna. Simba comes across a warthog named Pumbaa and a meerkat named Timon; the two befriend Simba and tech him that he should learn to leave the past behind him. Therefore, Simba is not haunted by his tragic past anymore and enjoys life with his new friends, who sing a joyful song called Hakuna Matata , which literally means “no worries.” Simba spends quite large amount of time with his new friend, growing into an adult and forgetting nearly everything about the Pride Lands and his family.

However, by a stroke of luck, he comes across a lioness called Nala, his childhood friend, who tells him that Scar has seized power over the pride Lands and basically destroyed everything to the point where lionesses have to starve. She asks him to return home, yet Simba, still under the false impression of murdering his own father, refuses to leave. The interaction between the two characters occurs with an unearthly beautiful musical number called Can You Feel the Love Tonight .

The third act unwraps as, after understanding that he needs to reconcile with his past instead of running away from it, Simba returns to the Pride Lands, Timon and Pumbaa coming along with him. The setting changes from the bright and colorful images of savanna to the dark and gloomy remnants of the Pride Land. Simba searches for Scar to dispute his right to be the heir and, therefore, confronts his fear of disclosing his secret, i.e., his presumable fault in Mufasa’s death. However, as Scar and Simba start fighting, the former tells Simba the truth in anticipation of the latter’s death and as an attempt to gloat. Simba, therefore, finds the way to fight back and overthrows Scar, becoming the new king. The musical ends with Simba’s “coronation” and his acceptance of his duties and responsibilities as a king.

Being another interpretation of Disney’s The Lion King , the musical staged in the Boston Opera House, nevertheless, represented an original approach towards the famous story of the Hamlet-like heir to the throne. Being one of the most memorable performances of the year, the staged performance incorporated a very detailed reiteration of the key scenes that the movie and the traditional musical included, yet added a unique flair to each of these scenes, therefore, making them memorable and very relatable.

Works Cited

McElven, Trey. “ Hamlet and The Lion King: Shakespearean Influences on Modern Entertainment. ” Lion King . n. d. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2020, July 3). "The Lion King" by Disney. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-lion-king-by-disney/

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The Lion King (2019) Review: A Photo Realistic Nostalgia

As one settles onto the seat and puts on a pair of 3D glasses, ready for an animated experience, Disney’s The Lion King (2019) stupefies its audience in its first scene itself. In almost a second you are transported to the Pride Lands of Africa and you stand there observing the sun, grass and the animals. The imagery is so real that you can almost feel the wind as you hear the African Savanna rustling.

The 2019 remake of the 1994 classic is a visual spectacle. Jon Favreau’s modern rendition takes you into quite a realistic journey into Simba’s life. With Jeff Nathanson’s screenplay remaining true to its classic version, the film is a scene by scene replica of the original with just a few tweaks here and there.

One for example, this time we see Nala fighting Scar and the hyenas before she escapes to seek help. The humour in the dialogues of Zazu, Pumbaa and Timon are surely hilarious but have somehow lost the touch that they reflected in the classic. That is the thing with the photorealistic CGI that we see.

Also Like The Lion King (2019): The Jungle Book (2016): Hello, Childhood

It gives a very realistic feel, with each of Mufasa’s whiskers feeling real but paradoxically it is too close to real to let us immerse into Simba’s story. Emotions are felt but are not as raw and soul touching as the happy, bouncy, colourful animation of 1994.

Simba’s predicaments, Mufasa’s death, Zazu’s jokes all hit us harder when we knew we were watching a fictional tale and the animation assured us of the same. In the contemporary version however, the mind is unable to seamlessly sync with what the eyes see. It can be said that it feels like watching Animal Planet knowing that the commentary is a fictional tale.

A part of the reason why the classic Hamlet-inspired narrative does not fascinate us much is because the story is being re-told. Like any other classic that is revised after many years, it needs a change in the way it is narrated. While Favreau has added a few new elements, the major change lies only in the imagery.

Also Read: Toy Story 4 (2019): A Pixar Film You Enjoy But Do Not Take Home

A lot of credit to what we feel in the film’s important moments goes to the voices that we hear. Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Zazu (John Oliver), Mufasa (James Earl Jones), JD McCrary (Young Simba), Seth Rogen (Pumbaa), Billy Eichner (Timon) ,Donald Glover (Simba) and Beyonce Knowles-Carter (Nala), all are at their best.

Not to forget, Hans Zimmer’s remake of his Oscar winning music is beautiful and so are the scores ‘Circle of Life’, ‘Hakuna Matata’ by John Elton and Tim Rice. Beyonce’s ‘Spirit’ is also a great addition.

All of Disney’s films that are being re made are not as good as their original versions. Like all stories that are told and re-told down the generations and altered to make them interesting, Disney too needs to do something more to give to the toddlers today what was fun loving, cute and heart wrenching back in the 90s. It is only then that the ‘circle of life’ will be complete.

The Lion King (2019) Rating: ★★★½

The lion king (2019) trailer:.

The Lion King (2019) Links: IMDb , Wikipedia

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The Lion King is a gorgeous, if not strictly necessary remake of a Disney classic

Recasting animated classics of the 20th century as live action in the 21st has become Disney’s own kind of circle of life: Dumbo , Aladdin , Cinderella , Beauty and The Beast .

And now maybe inevitably, its circle of Lion , too — though the 1994 original is unique, at least, in also becoming the third-longest-running Broadway musical of all time before making its way back to the screen again.

Why presume you can improve on a film that already earned close to a billion dollars at the box office, took home two Oscars, and is still winning over new tiny iPad-conversant consumers of farty warthogs and fast-talking meerkats every day?

The short answer might be: technology. 2019’s Lion King is a marvel of photorealism from the first frame, nearly indistinguishable from the real real; it looks like Netflix’s Planet Earth , if gazelles could share watering holes with their natural predators, and zebras semi-regularly broke into song.

The longer answer may still be simple, too: because it’s the closest the notoriously fickle movie business comes to a sure thing; a beloved, highly lucrative property, helmed by a director, Jon Favreau, who already delivered another near-billion-dollar conversion with 2016’s The Jungle Book .

And also because a panoply of A-list talent agreed to lend their voices, including Donald Glover as grown Simba, prodigal son; Beyoncé as his future queen, Nala; James Earl Jones reprising his role as the original king Mufasa, with Chiwetel Ejiofor stepping in for Jeremy Irons as his mangy, malevolent brother, Scar. (No wonder Mufasa and Scar seem so estranged; even their accents come from different continents).

The story is a dark one, even by old-school Disney standards of early orphan-ing and heedless villainy. A little lion cub must watch his father die violently, and believe it’s entirely his fault; he must be pursued by ravenous predators, threatened by wildfire and stampede, and commit his own family transgressions to save the pride.

Favreau does his best to amend that with comic relief: Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner as Timon and Pumbaa, centipede-snuffing hedonists of the animal kingdom; John Oliver as a fussy, officious hornbill; Keegan Michael-Key, underused as a never-not-peckish hyena.

And he (or more accurately, an untold collective of studio wizardry) lavishes care on the look of the film, over and over: It’s in every breeze that lifts Mufasa’s mane; in the Serengeti sweep of sun-drenched plains and sleepy giraffes; even the wriggly grubs squirming beneath an overturned log.

If the film feels a little airless for all that open space, maybe it’s because the movie’s CG is so elaborately, meticulously made that it doesn’t leave much room for the spark of spontaneity. The story and the songs, with a few notable if hardly unexpected updates, are fondly faithful to the original; the magic mostly intact. Another reboot was never terribly necessary, maybe — but it’s good, still, to be King . B

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The Lion King (2019) Review

VISUALLY IMPRESSIVE,

But lacks originality.

In 1994, Walt Disney Studios released The Lion King , their 32 nd animated feature film and the fifth film in the famous “Disney Renaissance era” (i.e. 1989 to 1999). Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, the movie, which starred the voice talents of James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, and Nathan Lane, a young lion prince named Simba, who must embrace his role as the rightful king of his native land (i.e. The Pride Lands) following the murder of his father, Mufasa, at the hands of his uncle, Scar. The Lion King was met with success by receiving both critical and public acclaim from critics and moviegoers everywhere. The proof of the film’s success was also measured in its box office result, with the movie grossing (as of now) over $980 million worldwide as well as garnishing several awards, including two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. The legacy of The Lion King has endured for years and has created several off-shoots with its brand as franchise, including DTV (Direct to Videos) sequels, two cartoon series, a Broadway stage musical, and several others. Now, nearly 25 years since the release of the 1994 animated classic, Walt Disney Studios and director Jon Favreau present the 2019 remake theatrical motion picture of The Lion King . Does this “visual jump” from handwriting animation to computer generated ascend its lofty aspirations or is it just an unnecessary remake from the House of Mouse?

In the Pride Lands, Mufasa (James Earl Jones) is proud and benevolent king lion, welcoming his son, Simba (JD McCary / Donald Glover) to the kingdom in a presentation ceremony, with the shaman monkey Rafiki (John Kani) blessing him as the next in line to rule as king. Angered by the notion is Scar Chiwetel Ejiofor), Mufasa’s brother and once heir to the Pride Land throne. Learning about his responsibilities while growing up, Simba makes friends with Nala (Shahadi Wright Joseph / Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) and remains managed by the Mufasa’s majordomo Zazu (John Oliver), but his curiosity gets the best of the young cub and is quickly targeted as prey by the trio of hyenas (Florence Kasumba, Eric Andre, and Keegan-Michael Key). When Scar manages to exact his revenge of Mufasa, he blames to fault on Sumba, who disappears from the Pride Lands, devastated by the event, and soon befriends the camaraderie companionship of the meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and the warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen), who teach him the ways of the wild from a carefree perspective. As Scar ascends the now vacant throne, the Pride Lands fall into darkness, while Simba grows into a confused lion, ashamed of his past and unclear at what his future should be.

THE GOOD / THE BAD

Remember who you are! The king has returned! Simba, it’s to die for! Long live the king! What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula!” Man…. The Lion King definitely has so many great quotes. As you can imagine (from all my other Disney related posts), I grew up watching all things Disney in my youth, especially 1994’s The Lion King . I can really go on and on about how much the movie is great, how much I loved it, and why it’s still such a great masterpiece of children’s entertainment, but I mentioned a lot of that in my “cinematic flashback” review for the movie. Be sure to check it out…. ( CLICK HERE ). Suffice to say, The Lion King is truly a great movie and is its no wonder why its been revered since was released all the way back during the mid-90s. The story is iconic, the animation is beautiful, the voice acting was incredible, the songs are memorable, and practically everything about it showcases the pinnacle of Disney’s animation feature films. And, of course, with Disney being Disney, fully capitalized on the popularity of The Lion King has turned the 1994 film into a brand franchise…. like the ones I mentioned above. I do have to say that I’ve seeing the Broadway musical of The Lion King and it was pretty good. If you guys get the chance to see it….do so. In the end, say what you will about the movie (if you loved or hated it or just felt somewhere in-between those two), Disney’s 1994 animated classic The Lion King stands tall and proud as cinematic achievement in both animation movies and just in movies in general. I mean…. there’s definitely a reason why the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” in 2016.

Naturally, this brings me back to talking about 2019’s The Lion King , a new visual updated version of the 1994 masterpiece. With Disney’s “current” renaissance era of reimagining some of its more popular and beloved animated tales into new cinematic endeavors, it was almost a forgone conclusion that the “House of Mouse” would eventually get around to doing a remake of their 32 nd animated motion picture. Personally, due to how much I love the original film, I was super excited when Disney announced that they would releasing a remake of The Lion King , especially when I learned of the voice talents cast that Disney assembled to bring these iconic characters to life. Then the various pre-release marketing campaign (movie trailers, posters, TV spots, etc.) got me super hyped even more to see 2019’s The Lion King . So… finally…the day was here and I went to go see the movie on its opening weekend, hoping that anticipation will equally match what the actually film present itself to be. What did I think of it? Well, while its technical visual efforts are definitely the feature’s biggest draw, 2019’s The Lion King doesn’t really draw outside the lines of its predecessor. There’s plenty nuances and nostalgia for an enjoyable viewing experience, but not much in the way of originality and in separating itself from the 1994 masterpiece.

The Lion King is directed by Jon Favreau, who previously directed Disney’s 2016 remake of The Jungle Book as well as other movies like Chef , Elf , and Iron Man . Given his prior knowledge of working on The Jungle Book (and the success that the feature has received), it seems like a no-brainer why Disney would select Favreau to direct this new remake of one of their most beloved animated movies of all time. To his credit, Favreau is a talented director and surely demonstrate that on The Lion King , helming a feature that boasts a lot of CGI effects and in anticipation with the public eye. Much of what many liked about the original movie is kept intact (something that Favreau certainly knows) and presents his version of the film with a sense of warm nostalgia of remembrance to all who loved 1994 animated film. What Favreau’s Lion King does great (and truly does shine) is in how the movie’s visual appeal is presented; utilizing the latest technology in CGI animation to bringing these classic Lion King characters in a brand-new way. Much like 2016’s The Jungle Book , the film gives the various 1994 animated cartoon characters a phot-realistic look to their correspondent animals; rendering all in such a hyper real way that it’s almost uncanny that didn’t use real animals for the feature. Of course, they did not, but it’s quite amazing to see these various African dwelling animals (i.e. lions, birds, monkeys, antelopes, giraffe, elephants, etc.) all rendered in the movie with such great detail. Even something like natural body movements of all these characters are all quite impressive to behold on-screen. Thus, regardless if this movie isn’t to you liking as much as the original animated film was, Favreau’s The Lion King is a sheer demonstration of how today’s current cinematic visuals can achieve through filmmaking entertainment. As a side-note, I will say that the movie is rated PG for a reason as some kids out there, despite them probably seeing the original 1994 film, might get a little scared at seeing of these characters realized in realistic way.

Given the new representation of the film, 2019’s Lion King has all the nuances of the original, including the various songs featured in the 1994 film. Naturally, almost all of these songs are well-represented and definitely keeps the very “spirit” with the original Lion King film alive with its musical numbers. I mean…. hearing the “Circle of Life” with original vocalist Lebo M reprising his iconic vocal talents is definitely a treat as well as hearing all the other Lion King songs are just as timeless and memorable as they were back in 1994. Although, I was a bit disappointed with how “Be Prepared” was presented in the movie. Continuing with the feature’s nostalgia nuances, composer Hans Zimmer returns to the world of The Lion King to repurpose his incredibly beautiful film score for this new iteration. Regardless if you love or hate this movie, there’s no denying how much Zimmer’s classic Lion King score is just as melodically profound (dramatic and powerful) as it was back in the mid-90s.

Unfortunately, despite the lofty ambition of translating one of the most beloved animated movies of all time into a new cinematic remake, The Lion King falls short in the goal and creates several problems that hold it back. Perhaps the most problematic that many viewers out there will undoubtedly comes across with the movie is in narrative story. Naturally, what made the original film so great was how the movie’s story drew inspiration from various motifs and had a certain Shakespearean flavoring throughout (most notably from Hamlet). This was made even further realized that it was a narrative told within a children’s animated movie and how well-rounded and evenly keel pacing 1994’s The Lion King was, balancing drama, comedy, character, and plot points within an 88-minute runtime. The 2019’s version, however, doesn’t really deviate from its original source material, keeping pretty much everything “status quo” in translating The Lion King into a new interpretation. The problem? Well, the 2019 version feels very much the same and doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. The film’s script, which was penned by Jeff Nathanson, is almost an exact duplicate of the original 1994 story / plot. There are one or two new scenes added, but majority of the Lion King’s story is exact the same…. from start to finish. In hindsight, a lot of these recent Disney remakes have added or expanded on its original source material by fleshing certain narrative storytelling moments and / or character developments, but also keeps the original story intact. Nathanson’s script for 2019’s The Lion King doesn’t do that and just carbon copies that entire story from the original 1994 film, with little innovation or creativity. Additionally, a great portion of the movie’s dialogue lines are ripped from the original film, which can be fun at certain points, but a lot of lines are almost verbatim…and that seems a bit lazy on Nathanson’s part.

This also extends to Favreau’s idea to keep his version of Lion King almost the same as the animated movie. Yes, I understand that The Lion King is one of Disney’s most beloved animated movies of all time (and justly so), but a little bit creative energy is desperately needed Favreau’s iteration of the 1994 animated classic. A movie remake can’t run on nostalgia alone. This also continues down to Favreau’s decision to make a lot of more dramatic shots of the movie exactly the same as the original. Of course, the cinematography work by Caleb Deschanel is noted and does give some great small moments of greatness, but majority of these sequences are carbon copy shots from the 1994 film…to the point where it becomes a bit monotonous and lacks creativity on both Deschanel artistic nuances and in Favreau’s finesse. I mean…. if I wanted to see a “shot by shot” of The Lion King , I would’ve watched the original 1994 film.

Another problem with the movie (though it’s a minor one for me as I sort of expected it) was some of the stuff that gets lost in translating a 2D fanciful animation feature into a grounded and more photo-realistic iteration of the Lion King tale. What do I mean? Well, the original film (being an animated feature) has several sequences that incorporate some fanciful effects and shots, which certainly add a sort of dramatic effect, especially for being a Disney film. Naturally, with 2019’s The Lion King being more “rooted” into real-life nuances and believability, some of those fantastic elements are diluted and almost nonexistence in this version. Thus, those expecting the large-scale fanciful moments (like in the songs “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” or in “Be Prepared”) will be disappointed. To me, I expected it, so it didn’t bother me as much. Additionally, the film might be criticized by some viewers that the various characters in the movie don’t have the same type of facial expression that their 1994 animated counterpart were able to emote. Naturally, with the decision to make The Lion King’s characters more photo-realistically rendered in CGI animation, their facial rendering looks like…. well…. like real-life animals and not so much like cartoon anthropomorphic characteristics. The expressive nature of cartoon animals (i.e. larger eyes, more revealing mouths for talking, and sometimes human-like body movement) is replaced by a more believable nature of the various animal species. Thus, the facial rendering of some characters doesn’t quite match some of the more emotional moments of the film’s story scenes. Again, I sort of expected this (much like the case in 2016’s The Jungle Book ), so it didn’t bother me as much, but it will bother some out there.

The cast in The Lion King is actually good, with most of giving solid performances in their respective roles and are probably the best cast selection since Disney’s 2017 remake of Beauty and the Beast . Young actor JD McCrary ( Little and The Paynes ) and actress Shahadi Wright Joseph ( Us and Hairspray Live! ) do excellent jobs as the voices for the younger version of Simba and Nala. Both deliver a sense of youthful innocence and playfulness, which certainly helps the likeability within their respective characters. Plus, their joyful singing voice in “I Can’t Just Wait to be King” is really good. The voices for the adult version of Simba and Nala, who are voiced by actor Donald Glover ( Community and Solo: A Star Wars Story ) and musician popstar / icon Beyoncé, are perhaps the weakest voices in the movie. That’s not to say that Glover or Beyoncé give bad performances, but rather they are underutilized and don’t really stand out as much as their younger counterparts. Both get the right tone (i.e. a likeable and carefree voice for Simba, a regal and warmth for Nala) and can both definitely sing (and sing quite well in their rendition of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, but they were just okay as I personally found that Matthew Broderick and Moira Kelly the better voices for adult Simba and Nala respectfully.

Who truly does standout in this remake (much like the original film) are the characters of Timon and Pumbaa, the comical / wisecracking meerkat and warthog that befriend Simba and guide him from childhood to adulthood. While actors Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella gave such great vocal performance to first bring these two characters to life, actors Billy Eichner ( Parks and Recreation and Billy on the Street ) and Seth Rogen ( Knocked Up and The Long Shot ) do a fantastically job in carrying on the comedic voices to these two respective Lion King characters. Their natural effects of Eichner’s combination of nervous and loud sounding voice and Rogen’s laidback / goofy voice definitely sells their interpretation of Timon and Pumbaa and their back and forth banter with each other. Plus, their iteration of “Hakuna Matata” is great!

Behind Rogen and Eichner, actor John Oliver ( Community and Last Week with John Oliver ) does a great job in voicing the character of Zazu, a yellow-billed hornbill bird who is the majordomo to the king of the Pride Lands. While not much new material is given to the character of Zazu (beyond one or two new scenes), Oliver’s voice and his delivery of lines makes the character quite memorable and I really couldn’t perfect anyone else (except original voice actor Rowan Atkinson) the role. Interestingly, the character of Sarabi, Mufasa’s wife and Simba’s mother, gets a little more screen-time in this version of The Lion King , with actress Alfre Woodard ( 12 Years a Slave and Star Trek: First Contact ) giving a great performance in that role.

Additionally, the characters of Mufasa, Simba’s father / king of Pride Rock and who is once again played by legendary actor James Earl Jones ( Star Wars and Field of Dreams ) and Rafiki, the wise and spiritual shaman mandrill monkey who is voiced by actor John Kani ( Black Panther and The Ghost and the Darkness ) are rock solid in the poignant supporting roles. Although this new movie doesn’t really add much nuances to these characters from what the original movie laid out, Jones and Kani bring a sense of gravitas to the proceedings and deliver impeccable voiceover to their characters. I mean…come on….no one could do Mufasa’s voice except James Earl Jones. The rest of the supporting players, including actress Florence Kasumba ( Black Panther and The Quest ), actor Eric Andre ( Man Seeking Woman and Disenchantment ), and actor Keegan-Michael Key ( Keanu and Pitch Perfect 2 ), who make up the trio of hyenas (Shenzi, Azizi, and Kamari) and give fine performance in the movie.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The king has returned to silver screen once again; bringing with it all the nostalgia and iconic imagery from the 1994 original film in the movie The Lion King . Director Jon Favreau latest film project sees Disney (going through its current trend) of reimagining its beloved animated features into updated remakes for new audiences to experience….in a brand-new cinematic light. Unfortunately, while Favreau’s passionate nostalgia intent is there, the translation doesn’t bring much to the table for moviegoers. Of course, the new photo-realistic visuals are incredibly impressive and the voice talents are solid across the board, but the celebrated narrative (and its dramatic shots and character dialogue) are left exactly the same as they were 25 years ago; rendering this remake perplexingly unnecessary. Personally, I liked the movie, but it’s hard to warrant a new iteration of this classic tale if the movie feels virtually identical to the original. To me, (as Disney remakes go), it’s definitely one of the better ones (the best of three 2019 remakes to be sure), but against the original 1994 animated film (considered to be one of the greatest animated movies of all time) it falls short. Still, I felt that the movie had plenty of nostalgia and entertainment throughout. Though, on the other hand, I still prefer the original animated movie over this new 2019 iteration. Thus, my recommendation for this movie is both a “recommended” as well as a “iffy-choice” as viewing likeability of The Lion King is really in the “eye of the beholder” (some will like it, while others will have mixed feelings about it). In any case, with Disney’s continuing to expand upon its remakes trend ( Mulan and The Little Mermaid on the horizon), it’s clear that the established Hollywood studio isn’t going stop anytime soon. In the end, The Lion King , despite its moviemaking pedigree and nostalgia accolades, stands as a cautionary reflection to the “House of Mouse”; echoing that fond past memories needs to stand on more than just simply that.

3.6 Out of 5 (Recommended / Iffy-Choice)

Released on: june 19th, 2019, reviewed on: june 22nd, 2019.

The Lion King is 118 minutes long and is rated PG for sequences of violence and peril, and some thematic elements

The Lion King (2019) Review

19 Jul 2019

The Lion King (2019)

Another month, another Disney remake of an animated classic. There are two reasons that this film exists, and neither is because anything was missing from 1994’s furry Hamlet . The first is to show off genuinely dazzling visual effects, technological marvels that give us photo-real animals in an absolutely convincing setting. The second is to showcase the ability of Disney and director Jon Favreau , following 2016’s reimagining of The Jungle Book , to assemble a world-class voice cast. But it’s still not enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the great king of the past.

It doesn’t seem right to describe this as "live action", when the visuals were created in the London offices of visual effects wizards MPC. Whatever its category, the immediate and overwhelming impression is so life-like that you expect David Attenborough to start narrating at any moment. Every hair and whisker is in place, every footprint raises a puff of dust. You'll believe that Pride Rock is a real place somewhere in Africa, watching over a landscape kept in careful balance by the stewardship of its great lion king, Mufasa. He is voiced, once again, by James Earl Jones , because some things are sacrosanct even in this mixed-up age. Our hero, Mufasa’s son Simba (JD McCrary; replaced in adulthood by Donald Glover ), is just as cute and clumsy as ever as he takes his first steps into the big, wide world.

Beautifully crafted and carefully conceived, without ever entirely justifying its existence.

The big problem with this photo-realism, however, is that animal mouths are not designed for words, and their faces do not express human emotion. What we gain in realism we lose in expression, even in their limpid eyes; it’s distinctly jarring when these cats speak, and even more when they break into song. You can't help but mentally impose the performances of their 2D predecessors and see far more, well, animation in the older characters.

This emotional gap is somewhat covered over by a talented voice cast, with Chiwetel Ejiofor making a bitter yet seductive Scar and John Oliver snarking up a storm as the fussy Zazu. But it's not until Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen rock up as Timon and Pumba, respectively, that the film finds its groove. Favreau gives them their head, and they inject a much-needed shot of humour and energy into all the Shakespearean drama of Pride Rock. For a while they succeed in lifting the pace from a stately big-cat stalk to a full stampede, at least until Simba’s old pal Nala ( Beyoncé Knowles-Carter ) turns up and drags him back to save the pride from evil uncle Scar’s predations.

It’s all beautifully crafted and carefully conceived, without ever entirely justifying its existence. A few new songs increase the running time and chances of an Oscar, yet mean it sometimes drags before the lost prince returns to reclaim his throne. So, you might feel the love tonight, but perhaps not quite as much as before.

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Fiction | Novel | Early Reader Picture Book | Published in 1994

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The Lion King Review

In the modern age of everything-is-possible visual effects, there has been a massive change in the way in which we look at live-action versus animated storytelling. It used to be that the latter could supplement the limitations of the former when trying to conceptualize larger-than-life ideas, but the power of computers these days has completely eliminated that line of thinking – with living furniture, all-powerful genies, and fierce jungle animals now realistically visualized on the big screen like never before. Obviously the recent popularization of live-action remakes of animated classics in general very much reflects this shift, but Jon Favreau ’s The Lion King really epitomizes it all by itself.

The movie isn’t a live-action remake by definition, as only one shot in the feature was actually captured with a camera (the rest being state-of-the-art CGI), but the intent in its creation is ultimately the same as Guy Ritchie ’s Aladdin , Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast , or Favreau’s The Jungle Book , which is to photo-realistically bring fantastical and beloved stories back to the big screen. In that respect it is an absolute triumph, as it’s a technical wonder and stunningly beautiful from the first frame until the last.

It’s not that simple, though, because what is and isn’t possible in live-action has never been the be-all-end-all determining factor for what makes an animated film. Like oil paints versus watercolor, the medium is a stylistic choice all by itself. There are certain perspectives and expressions that can be depicted in the art that simply can’t be captured in live-action, and it’s why animation will always be an incredibly important part of cinema.

This is where The Lion King ’s primary issue arises. While everything looks incredibly life-like, it reveals that there are particular limitations of reality that run into conflict with the needs of the storytelling, and that’s a problem that it struggles to overcome. As impressive as it may be – and it is a marvel – the experience doesn’t capture the full magic of the 1994 original.

With some exception, the new film doesn’t change much when it comes to the general narrative of the classic, playing out a take on Hamlet that’s set in the African savanna and stars a diverse collection of animals. It begins as the king and queen of Pride Rock, Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and Sarabi (Alfre Woodard), give birth to a lion cub that is destined to be Mufasa’s heir to the throne. This is welcomed news to the various species living in the kingdom, but the lone exception is Mufasa’s younger brother, Scar ( Chiwetel Ejiofor ), who has suddenly found himself demoted in the line of succession.

Young Simba (JD McCrary) is rambunctious and fun-loving, particularly when palling around with his playmate Nala (Shahadi Wright Joseph), but also eager to learn about the land he will eventually rule, and absorbs the wisdom of his father.

Great as things are, it doesn’t take long for everything to fall apart, courtesy of Scar and his alliance with the ravenous hyenas (Florence Kasumba, Keegan-Michael Key , and Eric Andre). An evil plan goes swimmingly for the villains, and recovering from tragedy Simba finds himself an outcast from his community. Taken in by a meerkat and warthog duo named Timon ( Billy Eichner ) and Pumbaa ( Seth Rogen ), he lives his life away from Pride Rock – but eventually learns the true consequences of his departure, and must decide what he wants his future to be.

The familiarity of the whole setup alone will hyper-click the nostalgia button of anyone who has grown up watching the original Lion King , and it sends a chill down your spine from the start with the first notes of “ The Circle Of Life.” Taking that a step further, it’s fun to hear and see the new renditions of the brilliant line-up songs brought to life again, as the source material has arguably the best soundtrack in the history of Walt Disney Animation Studios musicals. A great deal of what is great about 1994 film is maintained here.

It’s also in the musical sequences, however, that you recognize the fascinating advantage that the traditionally animated version has over the remake. In a word, it’s about theatricality. You first notice it in the “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” number – which thematically is meant to inform the audience about Simba’s ambitions, but also practically for the narrative help Simba and Nala escape the watchful eye of Mufasa’s avian majordomo, Zazu ( John Oliver ), so that they can sneak into the forbidden elephant graveyard.

In the 1994 movie it’s a zippy, colorful, highly choreographed sequence involving a wide variety of animals that climaxes with a pyramid of creatures collapsing on top of Zazu, allowing Simba and Nala to escape. But the 2019 film can’t do that. The realistic aesthetic demands that the characters all behave realistically, and that definitely means excluding animal pyramids that feature anteaters standing on the backs of giraffes that are standing on the backs of hippos. There are definitely a lot of different species included in the scene, and to Jon Favreau’s credit he tries to push that line as far as he can, but it’s a high bar for which the new take is left reaching.

It’s something that’s present throughout the film. Chiwetel Ejiofor presents some awesome pipes with his recording of the sinister “Be Prepared,” but it doesn’t feel the same watching it without pools of mysterious, bubbling green ooze and hyenas firing off screen courtesy of volcanic geysers. Even the more naturally cartoony Timon and Pumbaa don’t get to do any cliff-diving while performing an excellent and hilarious update of “Hakuna Matata.”

But the theatricality is only part of the issue. It’s also about the emotionality displayed by the characters. Walt Disney Animation Studios has a long legacy of masterful animators skillfully anthropomorphizing animal characters and letting them show a wider-than-natural range of complex feelings, but that’s largely because they have the freedom to imbue noticeable human-like qualities in the work. Again, the 2019 Lion King can’t do that. There’s only so far that the animation on these realistic lions can be pushed to make them more expressive – and that’s a limitation. The blessing is that there is an outstanding cast backing everything up that could still make the movie an emotional experience even if you’re blindfolded.

Being an actor himself, Jon Favreau knows how to build an ensemble, and that skill is on full display here. It will shock absolutely nobody to learn that it is Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen who steal the show, as Timon and Pumbaa have always been fan-favorites, but the duo really does put a special spin on the characters that comes as a result of the actors’ unique personalities (there’s a certain meta-ness/fourth wall awareness they have that works incredibly well in this version).

Going back to the music, the combination of Donald Glover and Beyonce Knowles-Carter (playing adult Simba and Nala, respectively) brings tremendous power to the ballad “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” and JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph really do deliver some wonderful youthful energy to “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King.”

Viewed in a vacuum, Jon Favreau’s The Lion King is a highly entertaining and enjoyable ride, but to a certain degree it also feels like a litmus test: it’s an easily sellable movie that will help gauge audience reaction to a new advanced filmmaking technology. Given what works and what doesn’t, hopefully it will inspire the approach to be applied in even bigger and more advanced original storytelling in the long run. As it currently exists, though, it’s a curious experiment.

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.

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‘The Lion King’ Review: The Art of Herding Digital Cats

Beyoncé, Donald Glover and Seth Rogen are some of the famous voices in a super-realistic version of the Disney and Broadway favorite.

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By A.O. Scott

Watching the newest version of “The Lion King” — a big-screen celebrity-voiced musical trying its best to look like a television nature documentary — I recalled a line from John Gregory Dunne’s 1969 book “The Studio” that may be my all-time favorite sentence in the annals of movie writing. “Six months were devoted to teaching Chee Chee the Chimpanzee how to cook bacon and eggs,” Dunne wrote, referring to a character in “Doctor Dolittle,” one of many real animals cast in that big-budget, family-friendly musical spectacle.

Dunne was pounding the pavement on the 20th Century Fox lot at a time of political tension and social fracture, when the Hollywood studios seemed to be facing an existential crisis. Pretty much like now, in other words, except that the money and ingenuity those studios used to spend on things like teaching chimps to make breakfast now go toward turning lines of code into fur and sinew. This is undoubtedly an ethical improvement, much as Chee Chee may have enjoyed hanging out with Rex Harrison. The hope behind this “Lion King,” opening July 19, is that advancing digital technology will also enhance the luster of the moviegoing experience.

It does and it doesn’t. There are a great many impressive moments in this film, and a few that might elicit a gasp of amazement or an appreciative burst of laughter from even a jaded viewer. For example: When Pumbaa, the flatulent warthog voiced by Seth Rogen, absent-mindedly scratches his left ear with his hind leg, I confess that I nearly wept. Not because the scene was especially touching or sad, but because of the sheer extravagant craft that had clearly gone into rendering those two seconds of reflexive animal behavior. I was nearly as moved by the efforts of a dung beetle to propel a ball of scat across a patch of desert. The digital artisans responsible for these images didn’t necessarily have to do it all with such fanatical care, and the fact that they did is surely worthy of admiration.

So if a movie could be judged solely on technique, “The Lion King” might qualify as a great one. And it kind of wants to be judged that way — for its technical skin rather than its dramatic soul. The opening sequence (it doesn’t seem right to call it a “shot”) fools the eye in subtle and brazen ways. You might think there are real creatures mixed into the computer-generated menagerie (there aren’t), but at the same time the flights of animal choreography lie beyond the skill of any trainer. Then the music starts, and it’s “The Circle of Life” and baby Simba is cute enough to make all the trolls on Twitter go awwwww.

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Disney’s The Lion King Feels Like an Unusually Good Nature Documentary. Is That What We Wanted?

This review was originally published earlier this month. We are republishing the piece as the film hits theaters this weekend.

Technically speaking, it’s a marvel. Jon Favreau’s “live action” remake of Disney’s The Lion King possesses all the immersive detail and tactile immediacy of an unusually good nature documentary. It transports us. We can practically feel the fur on these animals, and we want to duck away from their thundering heels as the camera breathlessly rushes us through trembling grass and craggy ravines. It’s hard to imagine that this has all been created in a studio, and that almost none of it is real. It’d be a great case of “How did they do that?” except that they did it so well that you forget that they did anything at all. “Oh, the lion is singing? Well, how ’bout that? I didn’t know a lion could sing. But there it is — a real lion, singing.”

That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is that, having entered the photorealistic realm, The Lion King ’s mood too has changed. Suddenly, that iconic opening scene, with all the animals gathering to bow before the newborn lion cub Simba, held up like some sort of scepter of absolute power, doesn’t feel triumphant or moving, as it did in its fantastical, animated setting. It feels queasily authoritarian. But of course, the filmmakers recognize that. So now, when the old king Mufasa (voiced again by James Earl Jones) shows the young Simba the extent of his domain (“ Everything the light touches is our kingdom … ”), we now appropriately get some additional dialogue about how it’s not really his: “It belongs to no one, but it will be yours to protect.”

But by and large, this new Lion King hews pretty closely to the animated Lion King , at times even replicating the same shots and editing patterns as the original. And the effect can feel like a stunt — like someone decided to do a scene-by-scene re-creation using real-life animal footage. It doesn’t help that the characters in some cases have been rendered with such realism that they have lost all human expression on their faces. Maybe that’s the idea — to not anthropomorphize them too much and to stay grounded in zoological authenticity. But they’re still talking , and singing , only now their faces are inexpressive; it’s a weird disconnect.

That creates an unfortunate hierarchy among the actors, allowing some to shine while leaving others to drift. As Scar, the conniving, embittered uncle who kills Mufasa and claims the throne for himself, Chiwetel Ejiofor brings the kind of howling, snarling energy you’d expect from a true Shakespearean; he connects to the story’s raging passions. (Of course, this was also true of the original, which had the sensuous, slithery stylings of Jeremy Irons.) Whenever he’s “onscreen,” the film has genuine power.

As the grown-up Simba, Donald Glover stays too above the fray. He’s ordinarily a fine actor, but here we sense a distance between his character and his voice. It reminded me of how Disney’s actual nature docs, the Disneynature series, will often have the narrator half-perform dialogue for the creatures onscreen, just to keep things interesting. As Nala, Beyoncé suffers a similar fate. The talking lion might look realistic, but when we hear her dialogue, all we see is Beyoncé in a recording booth, reading lines. The comic-relief characters split the difference: Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner are delightful as the farting warthog Pumbaa and his wiseass meerkat pal Timon; John Oliver is plunge-a-skewer-in-your-ears irritating as Mufasa’s avian steward Zazu.

Favreau’s previous talking-animal-heavy Disney live-action remake, The Jungle Book , was a masterpiece — a stylized, communitarian fever dream that transformed the thickets and caves of its wild landscape into a grand stage for its operatic fable of betrayal and belonging. Whenever The Lion King sticks with that approach, it works beautifully. Pride Rock, the outcropping on which much of the movie’s drama turns (and where the animal kingdom’s fate is decided) looms heavily in the characters’ minds. When Simba takes his final, lonely walk to accept his royal destiny — his supposed moment of triumph — we can sense his hesitation. Similarly, Scar’s nocturnal performance of “Be Prepared” (which, in the original, was a dementedly surreal vision of marching hyenas and roaring hellfire) makes for a mocking echo of that “Circle of Life” opening scene: Instead of making the entire savannah bow down before his heir in the morning light, Scar assembles his ghostly gathering of scavengers, as he leaps sneering and singing from rock to rock, raging, contemptuous, and prideful.

While numbers like “Be Prepared” and Pumbaa and Timon’s gaseous rendition of “Hakuna Matata” retain their charm, the songs too are uneven in this new Lion King . Glover and Beyoncé’s duet of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” is, as a piece of audio, utterly glorious, and yet it has little impact onscreen (where, for some reason, it’s performed in total daylight ), because neither Simba nor Nala has come through as an engaging character. The couple of new pieces that have been added also seem out of place, but that might be because the old songs are so familiar at this point. It all speaks to the uneven impact of this glossy, no-expense-spared version of The Lion King : It’s a stirring reminder of what can be achieved with all the talent (and money) in the world, as well as a cautionary tale of what can happen when there’s no vision to bind it all together.

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As Disney continues to burn through its catalogue of animated classics, they’ve failed to justify why these new versions need to exist beyond “IP is a low-risk, high-reward way to cash in on nostalgia and brand recognition.” These movies make a lot of business sense, but as far as an artistic justification, there’s not much there for Beauty and the Beast , Aladdin , and now Jon Favreau ’s photoreal adaptation of The Lion King . The template for these movies seems to be to deviate as little as possible from the original narrative right down to dialogue inflection and shot composition, add in a couple of scenes that will appease people who make obnoxious YouTube videos about the original’s “flaws”, and lard it up with expensive CGI. The Lion King hopes to stand apart by resting on its technical achievements, but the photorealism ends up being both the film’s greatest strength, and its greatest weakness. The few moments where the film is able to break free and show some spontaneity, like in the scenes with Timon and Pumbaa, are when it comes alive. But these moments are few and far between as Favreau treats the original like holy writ minus the theatricality the story requires.

In case you haven’t seen the 1994 original, the story is exactly the same. Simba ( JD McCrary ) is a lion cub living on Pride Rock, and he’s the son of the land’s ruler, Mufasa ( James Earl Jones ). Simba thinks being king is all fun and getting to do whatever you want, but Mufasa tries to teach him about responsibility and the “Circle of Life”, which means living in balance with nature. However, Mufasa’s brother Scar ( Chiwetel Ejiofor ), has his eye on the throne, and hatches a plot to steal it. This eventually forces Simba into exile where he becomes an adult ( Donald Glover ) with his carefree pals Timon ( Billy Eichner ), a meekrat, and Pumbaa ( Seth Rogen ), a warthog. However, Simba’s old friend Nala ( Beyoncé Carter-Knowles ) finds him and tries to get him to come home, challenge Scar, and assume his rightful place as king.

The Lion King , for all intents and purposes, is a melodrama. It has shades of Hamlet , and it wrestles with weighty themes like destiny and legacy. Unfortunately, the photoreal approach makes it feel like a Disneynature movie that happens to have celebrity voices. On the one hand, the photorealism is a technical landmark. You have to keep reminding yourself that none of this stuff is there, and at the very least, The Lion King pushes the ball forward on what we can do with CGI and especially VR since VR was used to bring the camera operators into the virtual space of the Pridelands. If The Lion King wins the Oscar for Best VFX, it will probably deserve it on the technical merits of what they accomplished.

And yet VFX are supposed to help tell the story, and here they clearly hinder it. The emphasis on photorealism means you lose the dramatic flourishes and theatricality the movie needs to thrive. For example, lions don’t have a lot of facial expressions. They’re not like apes where you can get a lot from their faces. While Favreau leans hard on vocal performances and Hans Zimmer ’s masterful score to convey the emotions of the scene, he can’t change the fact that Simba’s face at his saddest looks a lot like Simba at his happiest.

The film also suffers from being far too reliant on the original so that it never finds its own purpose to exist outside the photorealism. The best characters are the comic relief ones like Timon and Pumbaa because it’s clear the actors had room to play off each other and punch up the dialogue a bit. Their spontaneity is like water in the desert of worshiping the original while also missing exactly why that original works so well. You can have Donald Glover say all the lines from the original and have the CGI Simba go through all the movements, but it misses the nuance and style the original Disney animators brought to the 1994 movie.

The Lion King is slightly better than Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin if for no other reason it doesn’t feel too bloated and the additions largely make sense. Even the new song, “Spirit”, is well-placed in the narrative (as opposed to the record-scratch awkward placement of “Speechless” in Aladdin ). But the film still suffers from failing to improve upon or significantly differ from its originator. Sure, you could argue that this will “introduce” The Lion King to a new generation, but that assumes what kids today want are photorealistic animals with frozen faces rather than 2D animation that can emote and conjure feelings. And maybe that’s true. Beauty and the Beast made $1.2 billion and Aladdin has earned $925 million so far. That’s great if you’re a Disney shareholder. It’s a bummer if you’d like to see the wealthiest studio do more than regurgitate its IP with cutting-edge CG.

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The Lion King (I) (1994)

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Hans Zimmer Rocks Out on His Birthday With ‘Dune,’ ‘Lion King’ and His Daughter at Madison Square Garden: Concert Review

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Hans Zimmer Live, Madison Square Garden, NYC, Sept 12 2024, North American Tour, Suzanne Teresa

Hans Zimmer had a long guest list for his 67th birthday: some 19,500 people at his sold-out Madison Square Garden concert on Thursday night.

The legendary composer rocked the stage for nearly three hours, proving that film scores can captivate audiences just as much as set lists from any other popular artist nowadays, be it Chappell Roan, Linkin Park or Sabrina Carpenter (though Zimmer’s fans skewed a bit more middle-aged — and left the glitter and eye shadow at home).

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After the show began promptly at 8 p.m., Zimmer soaked in the applause with his band, full of electric guitarists, violinists, cellists, vocalists, drummers, bassists and more. Zimmer and his band started with songs from Jenkins’ DC superhero hit “Wonder Woman.” The stage lights flashed gold, red and blue — a nod to the colors of Gal Gadot’s famous costume — and the violinists’ bows cut through the air like Themysciran swords.

The show jumped right back into the action with music from Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy, the first of which kicked off the partnership between the Oscar-winning director and composer. A giant screen above the band showed a flurry of bats flit across the stage, and white floodlights panned over the audience, like Gotham City’s bat signal searching for crooks. After a quick detour with songs from “The Last Samurai,” it was finally “Dune” time. Before the music started, three dancers appeared in the crowd dressed in the black robes of the magical, mysterious Bene Gesserit. Loire belted out her fierce “Paul’s Dream” vocals from the stage, as an electric guitar punctuated her lyrics.

“Sometimes you come across a musician who can do the impossible. Then you think she’s doing the impossible, she just pushes it a little bit further,” Zimmer said of Loire.

Zimmer then returned to Nolan once again with the emotional “Day One” and “Cornfield Chase” from “Interstellar.” After the electronic rock-and-roll, the music slowed as Zimmer played the light piano theme from the film. Spotlights shined down on stage, imitating the heart-wrenching, 4th-dimension scene from “Interstellar” where Matthew McConaughey’s astronaut finds himself separated from his daughter. Light reflected off a giant disco ball hanging above the stage, drowning fans in zooming stars as if they were time travelers themselves. An aerial dancer descended from the ceiling, twirling and flipping on a massive silk as the band played on.

For the grand finale, Zimmer brought out “Circle of Life” singer Lebo M. and a group of African vocalists to perform a nostalgic, booming “Lion King” medley. The stage was alive with colorful lights, dancers and singers as the packed audience grooved in their seats. Lebo M. then gave a touching tribute to James Earl Jones, the voice of “Lion King’s” Mufasa, who died four days earlier at the age of 93, and led the crowd to sing “Happy Birthday” to Zimmer.

Just as it appeared the night was over, Zimmer returned for two encore songs: his explosive James Bond theme song “Gun Barrel” from “No Time to Die” and “Time” from “Inception.” For the latter, he brought out his daughter Annabel to perform the heavy theme from Nolan’s twisty thriller. In a first-time duet for the father and daughter, the Zimmers sat next to each other at the piano, with Annabel resting her head on her dad’s shoulder. She smiled as her famous father closed out the concert with the song, then arose for a roaring standing ovation.

Not many people get to share their birthday with Batman, Wonder Woman, Paul Atreides, but for Zimmer it’ll be one to remember at Madison Square Garden.

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The Lion King movie review & film summary (2019)
11 min read. It may be a long time before viewers can appreciate the 2019 remake of "The Lion King" as a freestanding work, instead of judging it against the original. The 1994 version was "Hamlet" plus "Bambi" on the African veldt: a childhood-shaping, Oscar-winning blockbuster, the second-highest grossing feature film of its ...
A Film Review The Lion King English Literature Essay
A Film Review The Lion King English Literature Essay. The Lion King presents the story of a lion cub's journey to adulthood and acceptance of his royal destiny. Simba begins life as an honored prince, son of the powerful King Mufasa . The cub's happy childhood turns tragic when his evil uncle Scar murders Mufasa and drives Simba away from ...
Film review: The Lion King
This film, however, is a cautious remake which takes its cue from its life-like visuals. Some actors have a more realistic delivery than others, which makes the tone a bit erratic. But if the new ...
The Lion King: Symbolism and Themes in a Timeless Classic
Conclusion. The Lion King is a classic movie that continues to captivate audiences of all ages. The movie's enduring appeal lies in its ability to convey powerful themes and motifs that speak to our understanding of the natural world and the human experience. The Circle of Life, identity and self-discovery, family and community are just a few of the themes that are explored in the movie.
The Lion King movie review & film summary (1994)
Despite the comic relief from the hyenas, the meerkat and the warthog, "The Lion King" is a little more subdued than "Mermaid," "Beauty" and "Aladdin.". The central theme is a grim one: A little cub is dispossessed, and feels responsible for the death of its father. An uncle betrays a trust.
"The Lion King" Franchise: Concepts, Themes, and Characters Essay
In Lion King, Simba is the heir to the Pride lands kingdom and Mufasa his father is getting old, but Mufasa's brother, Scar is jealous of his brother so he befriends Simba to manipulate and deceive him. There is a strain of violence as illustrated in the death of Mufasa, Simba's father in a wildebeest stampede. The aesthetic effect of the ...
'The Lion King' Review -- Variety Critic's Pick
Film Review: 'The Lion King'. Jon Favreau's 'live-action' remake of the 1994 cartoon classic leans on the strength of the original story while pushing the animation to photo-realistic new ...
The Lion King (2019) Film Review
Visually, The Lion King looks fantastic. The fur for the animals is realistic, the different species are beautifully realized and it really feels like a living, breathing African Savannah through a lot of the film. The character models are also amazingly rendered but in a bid to adopt photo-realism, the film loses the charisma and charm each ...
'The Lion King': Review
Jon Favreau's thrilling 'photo-realist' Disney drama remains loyal to the original jungle monarch. Source: Disney. 'The Lion King'. Dir: Jon Favreau. US. 2019. 118mins. Like other recent ...
'The Lion King': What the Critics Are Saying
The best summary of the discomfort critics are feeling about the movie likely comes from Stephanie Zacharek from Time, who writes that "this Lion King is a faithful remake, and in terms of its ...
"The Lion King" by Disney Essay (Movie Review)
1 hour! Being another interpretation of Disney's The Lion King, the musical staged in the Boston Opera House, nevertheless, represented an original approach towards the famous story of the Hamlet-like heir to the throne. Being one of the most memorable performances of the year, the staged performance incorporated a very detailed reiteration ...
The Lion King (2019) Review: A Photo Realistic Nostalgia
The imagery is so real that you can almost feel the wind as you hear the African Savanna rustling. The 2019 remake of the 1994 classic is a visual spectacle. Jon Favreau's modern rendition takes you into quite a realistic journey into Simba's life. With Jeff Nathanson's screenplay remaining true to its classic version, the film is a scene ...
The Lion King review: Disney remake is gorgeous, but not necessary
The Lion King. is a gorgeous, if not strictly necessary remake of a Disney classic. Recasting animated classics of the 20th century as live action in the 21st has become Disney's own kind of ...
The Lion King (2019) Review
In 1994, Walt Disney Studios released The Lion King, their 32 nd animated feature film and the fifth film in the famous "Disney Renaissance era" (i.e. 1989 to 1999). Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, the movie, which starred the voice talents of James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, and Nathan Lane, a young lion prince named Simba, who must ...
The Lion King
The Lion King released by Walt Disney The Lion King portrays several life lessons that were truly unforgettable and nostalgic. This 1994 animated film taught that "running away doesn't solve your problems", instead of running away and living in fear, it is always better to face it and forgive yourself after all.
The Lion King (2019) Review
Published on 12 07 2019. Release Date: 18 Jul 2019. Original Title: The Lion King (2019) Another month, another Disney remake of an animated classic. There are two reasons that this film exists ...
Lion King Summary
The Lion King is a 1994 board book adaptation of the movie of the same name produced by Disney Animation. Written by Don Ferguson, it is a narrated and illustrated retelling of the coming of age of Simba, a young lion, as he overcomes the death of his father and ousting from his pride which rules the Pride Land, a kingdom of animals in Africa.
The Lion King Review
As impressive as it may be - and it is a marvel - the experience doesn't capture the full magic of the 1994 original. With some exception, the new film doesn't change much when it comes to ...
'The Lion King' Review: The Art of Herding Digital Cats
The hope behind this "Lion King," opening July 19, is that advancing digital technology will also enhance the luster of the moviegoing experience. It does and it doesn't.
The Lion King 2019: Review
Suddenly, that iconic opening scene, with all the animals gathering to bow before the newborn lion cub Simba, held up like some sort of scepter of absolute power, doesn't feel triumphant or ...
'The Lion King' Review: The Cold Majesty of Photorealism
Image via Disney. The Lion King, for all intents and purposes, is a melodrama. It has shades of Hamlet, and it wrestles with weighty themes like destiny and legacy. Unfortunately, the photoreal ...
The Lion King (1994)
The Lion King is by general consensus the greatest Disney film from their glorious renaissance period (1989-1999), and is undoubtedly worthy of such recognition. Notably, it is the highest rated Western animation on IMDb's own Top 250, which while flawed and imprecise is a good indicator of quality.
'The Lion King' Reviews: What the Critics Are Saying
Critics have been less than welcoming to the return of " The Lion King " 25 years after the original's release. As of writing, the film holds a rotten score of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, far ...
Hans Zimmer Performs Dune, Lion King Music at Madison Square Garden
Concert Reviews Sep 13, 2024 3:10pm PT Hans Zimmer Rocks Out on His Birthday With 'Dune,' 'Lion King' and His Daughter at Madison Square Garden: Concert Review

The Lion King: Symbolism and Themes in a Timeless Classic

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