The Lion King

[peter]

Jon Favreau's live action version of The Lion King is a scene by scene remake of the fabulously successful cartoon version made what, twenty plus years ago. Putting aside the obvious question, why would you do that, and the equally obvious answers, money and because you can, the thing is, is it any good.......does it work?

Well, the answer is both yes and no. Technically it is a triumph. It looks and sounds fantastic. Both in terms of the realism of the scenic aspects and the characters themselves, the visual depiction is bang on the mark. Neither so realistic it becomes unpleasant, nor so CGI'ish that it feels contrived, the makers have absolutely nailed the correct balance to draw you in and hold you for the couple of hours that the film runs for. The story we all know and this is enough of itself to carry us with it as the film progresses. The music does what the music should and in the right places (akuna matata or how ever you spell it) and all is well........but........

What is it that is wrong here - it's hard to put your finger on it, but somehow the film lacks the heart of the cartoon. There is an obvious problem that presents itself as soon as the warthog and his sidekick are introduced - that comedy and the live action medium just don't sit well together in the same way that they do as in a cartoon. Is it just because it's animals, I don't know? But somewhere the marginal distance that the cartoon medium gives us from the characters allows them much more freedom to act out of, well, character than the CGI generated live action allows for, even when telling the exact same story frame by frame. As I say, in the non comedic parts this is okay - but as soon as the slapstick of the two jokers is introduced it becomes much more problematic.

But in the main I have to say I enjoyed the film. A bit sappy in parts it ain't nature red in tooth and claw, but somehow the world depicted without a Macdonald's or a freeway inserted to screw it up appeals to my misanthropic nature and allows me for a minute to think about how things could have been, how they might be again actually if what I suspect turns out to be correct.

[samrw3]

I really enjoyed it for the most part. I too think something was a little missing.

Here are my guesses as to what was missing for me. (I am guessing because I cannot quite put my finger if I right about what is missing, just the fact that something was missing)

I have changed and have seen the animated version a few times. So I knew the movie pretty well. Since it was so similar to me it did not change enough to become a new experience a new enjoyment.

I don't know if it was the voice actors, how they did the live action or how the director directed the movie or combination of all three. However, I felt in some ways this was just like - ok we have to do this scene...ok roll through it capture x, y z...ok captured...move on...almost like a college version of a play...caught the scenes...and some emotion...but not the pow and wow..just lets act out this scene because it is required type of thing.

However, I fully concede my reaction #2 could be result of reaction #1 seeing animated a few times.

Shrug...that is the best I can describe it...

[High Lord Tolkien]

I was bored 5 minutes into it and stopped watching 30 minutes later.
Unless there is a big change after the halfway mark there is little difference from the animated one I've seen a dozen times.
Except that the animated one has better music imo.