Here’s Simba! Picture: ©2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Click to view trailer.
Disney classic The Lion King is brought back on the silver screen in an attempt to grab a lion’s share of summer box office ticket sales.
The film is wrapped in a pseudorealistic appearance created by computer graphics, but it’s the furriness that distracts the viewer away from the depth of the original story.
Director Jon Favreau’s adaption (screenplay by Jeff Nathanson), however, is quite true to the original script. The focus is on Simba’s growing-up-story after his father’s, Mufasa’s (James Earl Jones), tragic death.
Simba (JD McCrary and Donald Glover) is at the crossroads of two life philosophies. Which one to follow? The Way of Hakuna Matata, which essentially can be translated as The Art of Not Giving a Roar. Or should the young lion follow the philosophy of Circle of Life? A path of interdependence, where everything is connected.
The original soundtrack, which was heavy on the work of Elton John and composer Hans Zimmer, has been remade with the modern demands of the pop culture with featuring artists, such as R&B queen Beyonce. The remakes are not necessarily better. But different.
The modern adaptation portrays Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) as scarier than before because of his disheveled looks and more cunning nature than of any beast of the savannahs.
But unlike the animated feature of 1994, which brought a few tears in your eye corners, the reboot focuses on action and vivid scenery. In its favor, however, because of the updated dialogue and comic gestures, it creates a more funny Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen), the wisecracking meerkat and the gassy warthog—the Laurer and Hardy of the grassy plains.
The babbling bird, Zazu (John Oliver), the omnipresent eye of the kingdom, flies and glides fantastically, too.
However, the modern enhancements and the plastic feel, sadly, don’t really bring anything new to improve the old classic, which won two Oscars and is widely considered one of the best films of all time.
‘The Lion King’ premieres in cinemas July 17.
