The Lion King is a computer animated musical film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, directed by Jon Favreau and written by Jeff Nathanson. This is a new version of the homonymous film of traditional animation of the year 1994 and contains the same elements of the work Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
Sorry, I left the cinema and an invisible force baited me with the Wikipedia copy paste. Can you consider "new version" or remake something so true to the original? Re-versioned Disney products will always have detractors, from those who complain about the changes to those who complain about not changing. And perhaps guided by this dichotomy, without wanting to go to the black and white extremes, director and screenwriter preferred to go for the grays: not to alter the material of the original too much, maintain the Shakespearean spirit, update dialogues and put all the chips to the technological . Sly move ... and warm.
Since before going to see the movie and knowing that I was going to write the review, I was saying to myself: "Do not write about the differences with the animated version", but being so faithful to the 1994 is like they forced me.
Almost everyone knows what the Lion King is about. It tells the story of Simba that after the death of his father Mufasa in the grip of his uncle Scar, he eats it with guilt and young lion escapes the kingdom forever. In exile, with new friends and his father's teachings, he will soon return to face Scar and regain his kingdom. Betrayal, revenge, uprooting and moral corruption are the strongest themes of this free adaptation of Hamlet.
The construction of the characters remains faithful in most. And as for the performances many I find them bordering on the approved one, but without particularly standing out. Obviously, James Earl Jones making the voice of Mufasa makes your hair stand on end and moistens your eyes rolling back 25 years ago when you saw her at the cinema (the only one that was in 1994), especially when she explains how the life cycle. Mufasa as the moral compass of history is intact.
The new Timon and Pumbaa in the voices of Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen are another high point, from the freshness of the dialogues, many improvised, that give us new moments of the meerkat and the wild boar. Also, Beyoncé playing adult Nala did a good performance, surprising even. I would like to say the same thing about Donald Glover as an adult Simba, but he lacked something in the voice that conveyed emotion being relegated by the charisma that JD McCrary put in that of the small Simba. Compared to Matthew Broderick (Simba in 1994), it feels colder, but it is something that happens with other characters: for example, the toucan Zazu (John Oliver) in the current version loses color with respect to Mr. Bean Rowan Atkinson's Zazu . Another character that changes some aspects is Rafiki (John Kani), he is no longer the wise and crazy mandrill we knew. He is wise but done with more solemnity, with a greater geographical representativeness, making most of his words in African dialect. He is not that crazy anymore, but he lost the wisdom he left in his dialogues, being the phrases of Mufasa and Rafiki the most remembered 25 years ago.
And perhaps the biggest loss is noticed in Scar, who in the animated film had a great performance with the voice of Jeremy Irons. Although now, bent by Chiwetel Ejiofor won in darkness, added to the aspect that was given to that mane that loses color and volume, this new Scar lost his irony, a fundamental tool that made him one of the most remembered antagonists of Disney.
I want to go back to the script, not to be too unfair and just say that they made copy paste. There were changes that added to the plot and the universe of this narrative. They gave more relevance to the home of Timon and Pumbaa, we see more life and interaction with other animals that gives a new color to that space. In fact, you could quietly do a spin off at that location and with those characters.
Nala was also rewritten to not be the flat character of the 90s. With the world shouting gender equality, we now have a more rebellious and combative Nala. A lioness trying to organize the lionesses to rebel against the tyrant and his hyena soldiers. In this rewrite he was given more minutes to see what happened to the lionesses in that kingdom. Eye, it's Disney, so Nala's rebellion and combativeness is no longer there, she needs Simba.
The soundtrack remains the best of this work, repeating author: Hans Zimmer. One of the best composers of the cinema looks better improving the song during the stampede, printing more drama. With respect to his work in 1994, he maintains the two songs that are emotional axis: the one that sounds when something has to do with Mufasa, in the moments between father and son, which is having a progression throughout the film. It doesn't sound the same at first when he teaches Simba lessons that when his ghost dies or appears in the clouds. The other great song is the one that sounds only with Simba, which also has an escalation throughout the film. At first it sounds very soft, with flutes and sweet winds that mark Simba's fragility and innocence, same as the song that sounds when he regains the throne, with majestic winds, marks all the power that the moment deserves.
The song The cycle of life at the beginning and the end, with those scenes of the celebration of a new heir to the throne, marks the subtext of the film, because we all need to discover our place in the cycle of life, our reason for be. Simba found his place by being his father's heir. As Mufasa implied, life is circular, and that circle led Favreau to 1994. But he did not get the emotion and sensibility of the original made by Rob Minkoff and Rogers Allers. So much realism lost the humanity of the characters. And as a friend told me, it may be because with a cartoon you empathize more, but I don't think so. There are films with real animals that do not gesture that are a direct blow to the heart, such as Chatrán (1986), by Masanori Hata, or El oso (1988), by Jean-Jacques Annaud, including the long documentary The Last Lions (2011 ), by Dereck Joubert, who generates empathy with the carnivore that breaks you towards the end.
The biggest mistake (from my ignorance and knowing that I am learning) is in the direction of Mufasa's death. This scene is a milestone in terms of the emotionality of the rest of the film. He left so much for the grandiosity of the stampede (it looks spectacular, no doubt) that he missed touching the heart fibers with Mufasa's inert body. Are the setting and the shots similar? Yes, but not time and form. In the original, Simba stretched his father's teeth, hit him with his leg to wake him up and then, he lies down in his arms while the music envelops the moment. In this version, Simba tries less to wake up Mufasa and lies down in his hugs until Scar appears. They are seconds apart, but seconds that build and reinforce a feeling.
Anyway, I went with the idea that I was going to be disappointed, it didn't, but it didn't fill me up either. Visually spectacular, but lost the soul in part. Each unx will have to see and feel their experience, I wanted Lisa Corazon de León but they gave me the Stacy Malibu ... but the hat is new.