The Lion King (2019)
/“The King has returned.”
Filmology Rating: 1.75 out of 4
“The Lion King” is the latest installment in the "remember this?" series of Disney films. It was directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Jungle Book, Chef) and is voiced by an ensemble consisting of James Earl Jones, Donald Glover, Beyoncé, Keegan Michael Key, Eric Andre, Seth Rogen, John Oliver, and many others.
When Disney approaches these "live-action" remakes, you look at films like 'Christopher Robin' or 'The Jungle Book' and go, "You know what? That was a different take on an older story that just missed its mark or has dated poorly since its release, like 'Dumbo.' However, you approach 'The Lion King', a relatively newer Disney cartoon, and wonder what they're going to do? What will they change? Well guess what... it's the same film. Almost line-for-line, shot-for-shot the same film. Same music, same beats.
The consensus that everyone has come to is that the CGI looks incredible and the voice acting is great. This is quite an accomplishment in computer animation and sets a new standard for a film of this visual caliber. Favreau shot this film in a virtual-reality setting to allow him to get a layout of what he was shooting and allow him to move the camera in a realistic way. The lions, animals, grass, all look photo-realistic.
However, that's all the praise this film can be given. At this point, Disney can do whatever they want. They can, literally, remake a film and release it again. It's a challenge as to how to grade a film like this because it does work. But, it only works because the 94 film worked so well. It's simply a preference of hand-drawn animation or "live-action." The magical thing about animation, especially hand-drawn, is that you look at it and you're able to suspend your disbelief that you're not watching something real. Your imagination can fill in the gaps and make you appreciate something like that while the characters work on a emotional level. When you do a "live-action" version of that same film, part of the magic is lost because the gaps in your disbelief are filled. And watching photo-realistic animals sing and talk is quite odd. Especially when its Seth Rogen singing and doing fart-jokes.
There is one new song. You have Beyoncé, so might as well use her. It's not memorable.
It's very tempting to call this film a cash-grab because this feels very hollow; there's no soul or artistic vision to this film. It feels like nine thousand animators sat at their desks for two years and did a brilliant job at remaking 'The Lion King.' It almost feels like the people who remade the Darth Vader and Ben Kenobi fight from 'A New Hope.' It doesn't add anything to the original film. It's just "look at what we did." The wonderful thing about animation is that you're able to exaggerate facial expressions and emotions and the film would still work. In fact, there's a charm when animation does that. However, a "live-action" depiction of that same emotional moment limits what you can do. When Mufasa dies, Simba does not look horrified and sad, like in the 94 film. In this, he looks like a baby lion who slightly bows his head because that's the extent of "sad" that can be portrayed.
This is just a fairly banal remake of a film that was okay to begin with. Let's remake 'Psycho' next! Oh wait...
Rating: Rent It
-Nolan
While many have spoken about the needlessness of the Disney live action remakes we have been getting over the past six years you cannot question that they are box office gold for the company. When learning that Jon Favreau, director of Iron Man and The Jungle Book (2016), would be tackling the retelling of the classic animated film The Lion King it gave me a reason to be hopeful. Favreau has proven before that he could take the clay from previous projects and mold it into something completely new. Within seconds of The Lion King starting those hopes for a unique new telling of The Lion King are quickly dashed and a hole of despair starts.
The credits for the film would lead you to believe that The Lion King (2019) is directed by Jon Favreau but I must adamantly disagree. This film is directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, the directing duo behind the 1994 animated classic The Lion King. Let’s not mince words about this, this 2019 film is basically taking a grainy old piece of film and modernizing it for the high definition age. The film is still animated and most of the film’s scenes are composed exactly the same way that the 1994 films were. If you put the two films side by side it would be like looking in a mirror, it’s frightening how closely the two lineup. The film I kept having flashbacks to while watching this was Zack Snyder’s 2009 film Watchmen. Snyder basically used the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons as storyboards and literally turned those panels into moving images. While I found that film to overall work more than it didn’t, I also recall the backlash to Snyder doing a literal translation of the award winning comic to the silver screen. Even if the film did work for you that backlash was deserved and I feel like for The Lion King (2019) the backlash should be enough to make most of the creative team question the projects they have been picking. Personally I find films that are creatively bankrupt to be abhorrent and assuring in the slow death of film.
To further help cement this film being a clone of the 1994 film you have the same team coming back to do the songs and score. It just screams that this is the same film and that we have no actual idea how to be creative anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the songs from the film, even though I’m greatly saddened by the butchering of “Be Prepared”, I just wish this new film could have tried to distance itself from its predecessor. If all you can truly rely on are the memorable songs from the 1994 film then your mind will just go back to that film. Even adding in some of the songs from the Tony winning Broadway show like “They Live in You” or “Shadowland” would have greatly helped distance this film. Keep in mind that I don’t think having a completely out of place motivational song “Spirit” helps distance itself enough. The placement of that song feels entirely out of place and seems to be crafted only to help Beyoncé add another couple of 0s to her paycheck.
Let’s get this out of the way, the animation on this film is spectacular and if you didn’t know better it could feel like you were watching Planet Earth. The digital animation team from the film needs to be commended for their amazing work, the film looks lifelike which will either send you into an existential crisis wondering what is real in your reality and what isn’t or it will do the more simplistic and give you a sense of awe and childlike wonder that only a good film can provide. Your entire reading of the film will be based on how you interpret the animation of the film but once you have decided how you feel about that you have another massive issue with the film that cannot be overlooked. Since the animals are more realistic in this version of the film they cannot have the facial emotion that will help most audience members empathize with them. It honestly felt like you could simply watch Planet Earth with the classic Elton John and Tim Rice music playing and you would have just as an enjoyable time.
While the physical emotions on display or lack thereof helped create a sense of emptiness, the film still could have been saved with some stellar voice performances. Most of the vocal performances fall flat in the film with some notable exceptions: JD McCrary as young Simba, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, and Billy Eichner as Timon. In fact I would argue that Eichner actually steals the entire film and every time that Timon isn’t on screen the film is in a more of a bore. Eichner understands the camp that comes with the animal telling of “Hamlet” and realizes that the performance should have some camp that helps lighten up the mood of the film. If you don’t fall in love with McCrary singing “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” then you will never be wowed by a young child performer singing a song that we all know. Sadly the names in which Disney was hoping would be the biggest draws for the film give near horrible performances: Donald Glover and Beyoncé. It seemed that the two actors were on an unstoppable track to provide great artistic value to the world, with Glover creating and starring in the show Atlanta and delivering one of the best performances in 2018 with his role as Lando in Solo; and with Beyoncé being one of the best selling artists and having the good documentary Homecoming on Netflix earlier this year. Hopefully all of the goodwill that the two have won’t be washed away with the one note performances in this film. Beyoncé in particular, who has already given horrid performances in films like Austin Powers: Goldmember and Obsessed, gives horrible line readings. Her cadence of the lines and tone in which she gives them are completely one note, like you set up a robot to read the lines at the highest volume. If you are going to try and do star casting at least attempt to get a good performance out of the stars rather than let them stride by simply on name power.
The fact that this telling of the story is twenty minutes longer than the animated film makes me want to bash my head against a wall. If the film would be engaging and offer something new, like perhaps a new character or song, then I wouldn’t feel as assaulted. However since this film wants to be as safe as it can possibly be, you are given nothing new, which begs the questions as to where the extra twenty minutes of the film actually are. Having just walked out of the film I cannot tell you an exact moment of the film that felt longer since the entire film felt like a drag. It seemed like most of the film just lingered longer on the nature on display, trying to send you into a state of awe with the technology on display while completely forgetting that an actual story needs to be told. The film features a sequence telling with fur from Simba that goes on for what feels like an eternity, it wants to give you every detail but Favreau never seems to realize that the details aren’t actually interesting. To say parts of this film felt like watching paint dry would be an insult to anyone who has killed time by doing such.
I know that this film is critic proof, many people are too blinded by nostalgia to realize that they are in the crosshairs of a world class hunter, but I hope to appeal to your better senses. Don’t see this film. When writing reviews I usually try to stay away from directly telling people whether or not to see a film, it’s not my job to tell people how to spend money but it’s my job to evaluate the art being displayed. The point that I’m attempting to make is that The Lion King is a special case. This is one of the wealthiest companies in the world regifting you a product that they have had tucked away in storage for twenty years. The Disney company could easily take a chance and craft a new project that would inspire many new storytellers but instead they resort to the same exact story that was told years ago. This is not my nostalgia for the animated film kicking in, this is about how lazy this company has gotten and how they don’t care about the products they release anymore. I often hear people complaining about how Hollywood doesn’t make any new films anymore and how they simply like to franchise everything. Let me be crystal clear, if you see this movie wither it be for your own self interest or to keep a child “entertained” for two hours then you never have the right to complain about the current state of Hollywood cinema. You are the problem, not the solution. Be a part of the solution, vote with your dollar, and actively avoid watching this soulless shell of a film.
Rating: Let It Burn
-Jonny G