Krishna
This follows the trend by Disney to remake all of their animation hits into movies with realistic looking animation and (not in this one) real actors where humans play a role. Following in the trail of Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book – and I know I am missing a ton of those remakes – here comes The Lion King.
On the positive side, the animations are breathtakingly realistic. The animals, their movements and posture are all realistic. You can see the giraffes waggle their ears frequently to get rid of the flies. You see the gazelles skipping along. And, as opposed to the stylized versions in the cartoon, especially of Zazu (the bird – hornbill) and Timon, the meercat stand out for their realism. The scenary is breathtaking and the animation is second to none.
On the negative side (or not, depending on your view) the story is identical to the cartoon. Yes, I know it is a remake but if you have seen the cartoon several times and go to see how they have done this, there is absolutely nothing in there for you.
The story should be familiar enough – the king Mufasa tolerates his evil brother Scar and considers him harmless. Scar makes a master plan to take over the Pride and succeeds by tricking the king Mufasa into his own death to save his son Simba – whom Scar himself tricked into danger – and then getting Simba to go into exile for life, guilt tripping him and scaring him that his life will end when he returns.
After getting (a false) confirmation that Simba has been killed on his orders, he assumes the throne that was rightfully Simba’s and proceeds to ruin the kingdom.
The rest of the story is about redemption, both in Simba’s mental state and for the kingdom as a whole.
If you want to watch a replica of the cartoon story with top class and realistic animation, sure, go to this movie. Even in the dialogs, it is pretty much the same. There was no enhancement, no additional scenes that makes you think, ‘Yes, they have rethought this’.
For me, it was somehow not enough.
4/10
– – Krishna