The Lion King
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Runtime: 118 minutes
When I was a kid in the early ’90s, we only had two Disney films on VHS: Pocahontas and The Lion King. I wasn’t much of a Disney princess, so I quickly fell in love with this heart wrenching and touching take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This film soon became an obsession for me as I watched and re-watched it again and again to the point where I knew play-by-play what happened in each scene. When I heard Disney was adding The Lion King to their live-action reboot list, I was concerned to say the least. As a fully-grown adult, I still love The Lion King; how could this new film come close to the mass of nostalgia behind my love of the old one?
When I finally began typing my thoughts on the reboot, it came down to an ordinary and singular fact: I did not hate this film. Was it everything I hoped it would be? No. But I can’t honestly say I even knew what that would be. Was it terrible? No. As the number-one self-proclaimed fan of the original animation, I would say that I wasn’t sitting there shaking my fist and talking about the ‘good old days’. This wasn’t a necessary adaptation (none of them really have been) but they are also fun stories that everyone can enjoy, so what the heck?
My major complaints of the film are threefold. First, the live-action animals speak but they cannot exude emotion. This makes one of the most important scenes awkward, where Simba’s voice sounds like he is crying but the CGI lion evidently is not. I obviously understand the decision to strive for realism and animals don’t really cry; but animals also don’t talk, so why make sacrifices here? It seems a bizarre choice considering the tragic storyline, and it makes some of the most important scenes fall flat. Secondly, the CGI itself is glitchy at times. Surprisingly, in a film of this prominence and from a company of such wealth, there are still moments where the CGI doesn’t quite get the movements of the animals looking natural. Thirdly, some moments in the film are recreated almost beat by beat. Remember when I told you I had memorised this film from childhood to an insane degree? Yeah, I wasn’t kidding! But I strongly feel that if film studios are deciding to bring these classic tales back to life and make them more appealing for the modern audiences, then they can afford to take some risks.
But while there are moments that don’t land, there are several scenes that I ended up loving. These moments actually took me by surprise, as they were generally those that had been changed from the original. Shenzi (Florence Kasumba), the female Hyena from the original, is a greater and more formidable opponent. This raises the stakes for Nala in the final fight scene and creates a greater ‘balance’ (excuse the circle of life pun) between Scar’s army and Simba’s pride. Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogan) are perfect even though they differ from their original counterparts. While their dry sense of humour and bathroom jokes remain, their personalities are a little different and Eichner and Rogan give slightly different takes on the characters—and yet their comedic timing remains perfect, which almost seemed like an impossible task to achieve. Similarly, Zazu (John Oliver) is hilarious and became one of my favourite characters in this iteration, even though I didn’t pay him much attention in the original.
By the time the credits rolled, I wasn’t sure how to feel. I was neither mad nor impressed. I liked as many things as I disliked, and I always liked the original story and aesthetic feel of the film, which remain unchanged here. Overall, I don’t hate this film. It had some classic Lion King moments and some new moments or character changes that I thoroughly enjoyed. The CGI animation doesn’t hit the mark all the time, but after some time I adjusted to it. The Lion King will always hold a special place in my heart from youth, but this is a perfectly fine substitute if you’ve lost your DVD copy of the original.
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