Disney’s lesser King still grand viewing
The Lion King (PG, 118 mins) Directed by Jon Faverau Reviewed by James Croot ★★★1⁄2
It started with one of the most memorable trailers of the 1990s. Essentially lifting the first two minutes of the movie, Disney did a magnificent job of making its
32nd animated feature one of 1994’s must-see movies.
Introducing the world to Simba the lion cub and the Circle of Life ,it still gives you goosebumps 25 years on. When the film itself finally arrived, it had just as big an impact, representing the high-tide mark of the Mouse House’s animation renaissance, as well as the beginning of the end for traditional hand-drawn features
(Toy Story would arrive less than
18 months later).
But aside from the visuals and Elton John and Tim Rice’s memorable songs, it was the plotting and vocal casting that hit home. It offered drama that was nigh on Shakespearean (Big Cat Hamlet anyone?) and when else have the men behind Ferris Bueller, Edmund Blackadder, Benson, Darth Vader and Claus von Bulow been on the same cast list?
Also, like all the indelible children’s films, The Lion King offered plenty of traumatic moments and tears before bedtime.
Of course, we’re now in ‘‘a shiny new era’’ (as Jeremy Irons’ Scar purred) and, unless you’ve been living under Pride Rock, you’ll know that Disney has been retconning its greatest (and lesser) hits over the past few years with pretty impressive results
(Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast take a bow).
This, though, seemed an odd choice. Despite it being coined as a ‘‘live-action’’ remake, it’s nothing of the sort. It’s simply substituting one form of graphical representation for another.
There are still no humans involved in the plot (the thing that distinguishes The Jungle Book from this), and it’s hard not to feel this is just a do-over to take advantage of technological advances, rather than improving the storytelling.
As Gus van Sant (Psycho) will tell you, a virtually shot-for-shot remake of a classic doesn’t really do anyone any favours. Thank goodness then that, although there are times when things do feel like a photo-realistic facsimile with a resultant slight loss of emotion,
there’s enough originality in this King for the Black Panther and
Planet Earth generation to make it worth your while.
For a start, the vocal casting is again smart, but in a different way. James Earl Jones is back, but this time he’s joined by a cadre of performers of African descent. Donald Glover is now the adult Simba, Beyonce the adult Nala, and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s performance as Scar feels even more straight outta Rada than Irons’.
Elsewhere, John Oliver proves to be more than a match for the original’s Rowan Atkinson, and Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner are given an opportunity to put their own marks (including a quite brilliant Beauty and the Beastinspired gag) on crowd favourites Pumbaa and Timon.
Director Jon Favreau, who did such a great job in updating Jungle
Book in 2016, feels more like he’s playing it safe, making only minor tweaks. The hyenas are a more menacing presence and THAT stampede scene gets an extended, additionally poignant aftermath.
But, for the most part, he just gives King a little more nuance and shade (which is where the photorealism really shines), tidying up some of 1994’s narrative leaps, and also – disappointingly – trimming Scar’s call-to-arms Be Prepared.
Naturally there are new, Oscarbaiting tunes, none of which land as big an impact as Pumbaa and Timon properly covering The Token’s The Lion Sleeps Tonight this time around.
A film likely to further blur the lines between Attenborough and animated adventures, this new
King is a slightly strange experience for those who went to cinema in 1994, but it’s still a story likely to get a big roar of approval from younger audience members.
Unless you’ve been living under Pride Rock, you’ll know that Disney has been retconning its hits over the past few years.