Disney’s The Lion King Brings The Animated Original To Life
“Everything the light touches is our kingdom.” In the 1994 animated The Lion King, Mufasa and Simba looked out over the Pride Lands and it was a glorious glowing orange landscape. While you got the feeling of the territory, in the end it was still a fictional animated version. Now with Disney’s The Lion King, the beauty of Africa is brought to life with the help of photorealistic computer-animated animals.
With a few exceptions, the 2019 update is fairly close to the original, as the movie is close to a shot by shot recreation. Knowing the original so well frankly helps makes those memorable gut-wrenching scenes a little bit easier to handle but not much, as tears will still likely fall. Spoiler alert: RIP Mufasa.
The voice cast is spectacular, the stand-outs being Chitwetel Ejiofor’s relentlessly foreboding Scar, and John Oliver’s overly protective Zazu. Props must be given to the hyenas, Keegan-Michael Key along with Eric Andre made those villanious beasts almost likeable, but Florence Kasumba’s terrifying Shenzi quickly brought you back down to earth.
Of course Donald Glover and Beyoncé’s Simba and Nala were what the audience was looking forward to most and their rendition of “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” didn’t disappoint. Composer Hans Zimmer along with producer and composer Lebo M and lyricist Tim Rice, faithfully recreated the same magic they had made over 25 years ago with the original score and music.
But in the end, the real stars of the show were Pumbaa and Timon. Seth Rogan and Billy Eichner gave such great performances that most of their lines weren’t even able to be heard as the audience was constantly uproaring in laughter whenever the duo hit the screen. Their onscreen antics were so magical, it made me want a Pumbaa and Timon buddy comedy ASAP.
The memorable songs and heartfelt scenes of the original were lovingly recreated, giving the viewer a real sense of the heart that director Jon Favreau put into the project. Disney’s The Lion King is a faithful ode to a classic and one that will leave you humming if not outright belting the chorus to “Circle of Life” for the rest of the day.
Disney’s The Lion King opens in theaters today!
Like THE LION KING on Facebook
Follow THE LION KING on Twitter
Follow THE LION KING on Instagram
