Summary
Like a cover version of a favourite song, the latest live action remake is a technically proficient film – and the CG is dazzling – but the texture mapping ends at the computers in a film that somehow gets flatter with the added dimensions.
When the first character posters were released for Jon Favreau’s THE LION KING, one Tweet summed it up perfectly: “These are literally just lions.” After all, in the pantheon of live action Disney remakes, this is the one that was always going to have the hardest time justifying its point of difference.
From the stylistically differences of Alice in Wonderland (2010), through the revisionist villainy of Maleficent (2014) to the dramatic departure of Dumbo (2019), most of these have at least attempted to do something new with the material. On the other end of the scale, there’s the more source faithful Beauty and the Beast (2017), a film that was reverential to the point of tedium at times.
Like that film or this year’s Aladdin, Jeff Nathanson’s script doesn’t stray too far from Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton’s 1994 screenplay. Young lion cub Simba (JD McCrary) just can’t wait to be king like his father Mufasa (once again James Earl Jones). Thanks to the actions of his evil uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Simba is exiled from the Pridelands. While he grows used to the life of doing what he wants (now voiced by Donald Glover), he must learn to embrace his heritage and return home to face his destiny.
The first thing you’ll notice from the opening sequence, a beat-for-beat recreation of the original’s iconic “Circle of Life” number, is how gorgeous the visuals are. Let’s be clear: on a purely technical level, this is the height of modern computer generated imagery. Take any frame out of the picture and you’d think it was a still from National Geographic or the latest Attenborough nature documentary.
Yet this technical perfection is a double-edged sword. In the pursuit of photorealistic animation, Disney have ironically sapped the life out of familiar numbers. There’s no expressiveness to the animal faces, meaning that the romance of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” is replaced by two empty objects circling each other against a lovely background.
The one exception to this malady can be found in the voice work of Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa respectively. While their shells are no more expressive, their unmistakable voice work – and possibly riffed, fourth-wall breaking lines – makes their time on screen a delight. It just a shame that their signature tune “Hakuna Matata” was the prevailing attitude when putting this film together. Even Beyoncé’s new song “Spirit” is thrown in haphazardly between scenes rather than getting a sequence of its own.
While one can’t necessarily begrudge Disney for continuing to exploit their most valuable properties, and there’s at least another half-dozen planned over the next few years, the strength of their ready-made fan culture seems to have them in a bind. Until they find their place on the path unwinding, they continue to be compelled to attract exciting talent to these projects but are duty bound to change as little as possible.
2019 | US | DIR: Jon Favreau | WRITER: Jeff Nathanson (Adapted from a script by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton)| CAST: Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Billy Eichner, John Kani, John Oliver, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, James Earl Jones | DISTRIBUTOR: Disney (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 118 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 17 July 2019 (AUS)
