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FILM REVIEW:
THE LION
KING
So, the 2019, Jon Favreau-directed edition of one of Disney’s greatest late-period traditionally animated classics. There are surely only two broad ways to interpret this one: it’s either a new milestone in aesthetic sophistication for animated films on the big screen, or too much of a daunting technical extravaganza to remember to inject that allimportant idiosyncrasy and soul. Evidence for the prosecution of this photo-realistic, but not remotely ‘live action’ epic – every last detail of the on-screen animation instead being rendered in dazzlingly intricate CGI – comes in the form of animal mouth movements that aren’t always in synch with the words they’re speaking, together with the largely slavish manner in which the familiar classic is recreated, scene by scene. But of course, the rather cautious shot-for-shot reconstruction does at least bring the benefit of preserving much of the power of the original story. Oh, and it would be fair at this point to concede that the new Lion King does incorporate a few new helpful scenes and two, albeit forgettable new songs in a manner that scarcely leaves any visible seams
for those somehow unfamiliar with, or scarcely able to remember, the 1994 original. While rather more dramatic change can naturally be observed in the voice cast, another sign of Favreau’s sometimes overly respectful deference to the original – although, for sentimental reasons as much as anything else, perhaps not so much on this occasion – is the return of James Earl Jones as the voice of the elder lion king, Mufasa. Otherwise, the new-for-2019 cast is a tastefully chosen one for the new era, with JD McCrary and Donald Glover taking on the roles of the young and grown Simba respectively, and Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner impressing – albeit, stopping just short of show-stealing – as slow-witted warthog Pumbaa and his rather sharper-quipping meerkat companion, Timon. Any appraisal of this new Lion King, however, must surely always return to what is presumably this version’s selling point: the annoyingly persistent religion in 21st-century cinema of utterly exacting realism being the greatest of creative virtues. This notion just doesn’t quite work in the case of an overly diligently produced remake that remains, after all, animated; a striving for immaculate photorealism that is also at once resoundingly unreal. Nonetheless, for both kids and ‘big kids’ of any age who simply don’t care for such a fundamental contradiction and the on-screen flaws that consequently arise, Lion King-2019-style does still offer its own charms.
Gavin Lenaghan | Content Manager 40 | IN&AROUND