Review of the movie "The Lion King" - a beautiful, nostalgic, but completely empty remake of the classic

Another "live" adaptation of the Disney cartoon has been released on Russian screens. The studio launched a trend for such remakes a long time ago: "Beauty and the Beast", "The Jungle Book", "Dumbo", "Aladdin" - these are just some examples of classic Disney stories, retaken with modern technology and real actors in recent years.

Now we have reached a real legend - a cartoon that many consider the best creation of the studio, and even the world's animation in general. The director's chair was taken by Jon Favreau - the creator of two parts of "Iron Man" and, most importantly, "The Jungle Book".

This decision seems quite logical - the same "Dumbo" and "Aladdin", directed by Tim Burton and Guy Ritchie, were received ambiguously. The original authors turned out to be too close within the framework of an almost frame-by-frame reshoot of the classics.

And Favreau is used to working in production projects, especially since he already has experience in creating "live" animations of animals and birds - "The Jungle Book" looks much better than the creepy "Mowgli" from Andy Serkis.

But still, even taking the great classics as a basis, the authors could not avoid exactly the same problems that plagued previous similar projects. Moreover, the specificity of The Lion King only exacerbated them: there is no way to hide graphic flaws behind the acting - there are simply no living artists in the frame.

According to the tradition of such films, the plot does not carry a single important new line. This is exactly the same story familiar from childhood, rooted in Shakespeare's Hamlet: the king's brother kills the monarch, and the rogue heir needs to restore his good name, regain power and save his subjects.

In general, retelling the content of "The Lion King" is meaningless - either those who already know the plot or their children will go to watch it. For the first, the authors have in store a large portion of nostalgia, for the second - modern animation, allowing you to see the "acting" of realistic animals. But there are problems with both.

Literal but slow repetition of the classics

All fans of the original "The Lion King" will surely experience the amazingly enjoyable flashbacks from the very first frames. The very scene with little Simba and his parents accompanied by great music will involuntarily make you smile and remember the first viewing of the classic cartoon.

But then this nostalgic approach becomes a problem. After all, those who are familiar with the original will not see anything new. And it's not just about the main bends and the roundabout. Despite the fact that the timing increased by half an hour, the creators of the remake could not add anything from themselves. The story was simply stretched to fit the format of modern cinema.

In "Aladdin" and "Beauty and the Beast", the authors had at least a little room left to adjust the plot to the current trends. Therefore, Jasmine and Belle have become more independent and more active.

But in "The Lion King" there is simply nowhere to add such themes. This is a complete and very simple story that had to be lengthened. And they did it in the simplest way: many scenes and dialogues were delayed, common plans, songs and jokes were added. But all this went only to the detriment.

First, the inserts have greatly reduced the dynamics. After all, judging objectively, even the original "The Lion King" is not too loaded with events: after the tragic introduction, a significant part of the time Simba is just having fun with Timon and Pumbaa. The cartoon was based on emotional moments associated with Mufasa, Nala and other characters from the past.

The extra minutes of timing only "blurred" the plot even more, and now there are much more pauses between bright scenes that cause nostalgia, which means that the viewer has time to relax and stop rooting for the heroes.

Secondly, such moments are too noticeable, because they are knocked out of the general pace. This is clearly seen at the very beginning: after the opening scene in the original cartoon, a fussy mouse appears, which Scar catches after 10 seconds. In the new version, this rodent was devoted to about a minute and a half. Just to show the beauty of filming and wasting time.

The comedy duo Timon and Pumbaa were given jokes, Scar talks much longer about the unfairness of the king's choice, Nala and Sarabi were given more time to show the tragedy of their life during the reign of the villain. But all this does not enhance the dramatic effect, but simply drags out each scene.

You can also feel the difference in the soundtrack - the classical compositions fit into an integral concept, while the new ones look foreign and therefore are less remembered. Here, by the way, another problem arises - Russian dubbing. Of course, since the film is also intended for children, it makes sense to duplicate the songs. But the original voices are lost at the same time - then it is better to listen to them separately.

Too lively cartoon

As for the visual component of the film, it is even more ambiguous with it. On the one hand, this is truly a triumph of modern computer technology. On the other hand, it is precisely excessive realism, oddly enough, that prevents the characters from being perceived alive.

With the remake of "Aladdin", which the audience liked, everything was easier. There, most of the characters are just people, it was only required to choose the right actors. And even in "Dumbo" the computer elephant existed among the real artists who pulled over many important scenes.

The Lion King can be called a film only conditionally - it is almost entirely created on a computer, and no live actors appear in it. In fact, this is also animation, only modern and realistic as opposed to classic drawings.

And at first, its level will delight not only children, but also the most sophisticated adults. The fluffy lion cub looks completely alive, he has a cute face and fur that you want to stroke. The animals move so naturally, as if they are showing not a feature film, but a documentary from Animal Planet. Sometimes it's even hard to believe that all of this is rendered, and not filmed somewhere in Africa.

Such liveliness attracts attention. After all, no matter what they say about the ageless classics, today pictures from old 2D cartoons sometimes seem insufficiently detailed to many, especially children. You can simply compare the visuals of the modern "Spider-Man: Through the Universes", where there are hundreds of small elements in each frame, and the schematic characters of the classic "The Lion King", which children in the nineties easily copied from the inserts.

But still they were made so for a reason. And in the new film it becomes clear as soon as it comes to the dramatic part, especially the conversations.

The whole story just starts to fall apart.

It is not for nothing that in the Disney classics, animals have always had human eyes, mouth shapes and teeth. This made it possible to convey fear, fun, surprise and other emotions that are understandable and familiar to us. Even the painted animals often moved, rather like people, retaining only the most important features from the originals.

If you force a realistic lion or a warthog to speak, it turns out that he simply opens his mouth, without conveying any emotions and without changing the expression of his eyes. And in the voice acting, you can hear joy, sadness or anger. But imagine a person who speaks very emotionally, but at the same time looks completely calm - the same feeling is created by the heroes of the film.

There is no "humanity" in their appearance now. And a recent funny thread, where the faces of positive and negative cartoon characters were swapped, simply would not have worked - the faces of the lions look about the same.

Already in the "Jungle Book" by the same Favreau one could notice similar problems. But there animals at least often behaved like people, as in the original cartoon. Here, they changed their habits to beasts, and made their appearance completely naturalistic.

Therefore, the characters have lost much of their charm. Yes, many people love real lions. But what about Pumbaa? The funny and cute character has turned into a rather creepy creature. Simply because, in reality, warthogs are not very pleasant.

Simba and Scar in The Lion King, 2019

Simba and Scar in The Lion King, 1994

At the same time, in the cartoon, even the villains looked more funny than scary. In the film, Scar became not mean and quirky, as evidenced by a sly smile and movements, but simply shabby and angry. The appearance and behavior of hyenas is not entertaining, but repulsive. You have to forget about jokes on their part.

It's generally difficult with the comedy component, because in the original it was built just on unrealistic moments and grotesque. Suffice it to recall a funny scene from the cartoon, where Scar tries to eat Zazu, and he talks, sticking his beak out of his mouth. Or Timon's shocked face when the adult Simba meets Nala.

Timon in The Lion King, 2019

Timon in The Lion King, 1994

All this had to be abandoned for the sake of the same realism. Emotions, humor, love, fear and hate have all been replaced with text. Heroes now voice their thoughts and so make the viewer understand them. But can words convey Mufasa's fear of falling?

Nostalgia for the maximum

But even with all of the above, you need to understand that the Disney studio employs professionals who probably foresaw such reviews. Therefore, the entire advertising campaign and the film itself are built according to a proven working scheme: a minimum of innovations, a maximum of emotions and nostalgia.

Critics can scold the film as much as they want, but viewers will go to the cinema and get exactly what they want. At first, everyone will let out a mean tear during the introduction, then they will openly cry during the tragedy and will laugh when Timon and Pumbaa appear. Just because such moments defy rational explanation, they are designed for emotions in children and memories in adults.

After all, even documentaries about lizards and snakes from Discovery are often catchy - they just need to be beautifully removed. And if you add to this text, music and nostalgia - tears and laughter in the hall are guaranteed.

There is no reason to doubt that the film will be excellent at the box office. He will be watched, praised for his cutting-edge special effects, and talked about being completely immersed in the animal world. Kids will love cute animals, and adults will remember their youth.

Still, "The Lion King" is a kind of apotheosis of "live" remakes of the Disney classics. This is a very high quality, but sterile and soulless retelling of a familiar story.