,
11 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
Okay, y'all... so, "The Lion King". I just saw it, and I'll admit I just wasn't impressed, but it's not because the movie is bad. Honestly, it's a gorgeous film with a great cast. But there are things that keep it from being great: things it can help and things it can't. (thread)
If you were a kid growing up in '90s, you saw "The Lion King" about a thousand times. From '94 to '97 (2nd to 5th grade), I saw it in class, alone, a few dozen times. I distinctly remember kids my age (and myself) having most of the dialogue memorized a year after it came out.
The original, even in its 2D flattened nature, is just a damn good movie. Colorful visuals, superior voice casting, fantastic music and lyrics. Fun, poignant, gorgeous.
It's also a rip-off of "Kimba the White Lion", but that's another story.
It's also a rip-off of "Kimba the White Lion", but that's another story.
"The Lion King" was a landmark in tens of millions of Millennial childhoods. It's inextricable from our upbringing. Even kids who didn't like it know it pretty damn well. So, part of me feels like I wasn't going to be happy with a tame imitation, regardless. And this is tame.
I say all this because it wasn't ten minutes into this "live-action" film when I thought to myself: "Wow, this is definitely photo-realistic, but it's also boring."
The things that made the original great are muted in this remake, from the colors to the dialogue.
The things that made the original great are muted in this remake, from the colors to the dialogue.
For example, the dialogue is ridiculously halting. There are weird pauses and flattened delivery. Mufasa's death, in particular, was very poorly done. For some goddamn reason, the writers took out "brother" from his last words. Like... why?
When I saw this thread a few days ago from @DanaSchwartzzz, I was worried she'd be right, and as usual, she was spot-on in her analysis:
BUT FEAR NOT -- because even though I seriously contemplated leaving the theater 45 minutes in, I was overjoyed by the performance of Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumba. They are so damn good. Perfect casting and perfect delivery. I would argue they save the movie.
Much of their dialogue was rewritten, and the banter is just perfect. They're so good that I would pay a decent sum of cash to see a movie built around Timon and Pumba with Eichner and Rogen starring. They are literally the only thing that kept me watching for the rest of it.
Beyonce was also damn good in her voice delivery, which is hardly surprising, but it was strange, even knowing this is a story and it's what her character is supposed to say, to hear her plead with a male to come back, be her king, and lead her. That's... very much not Beyonce.
So, what can I say y'all? It's nice that computers can make realistic landscapes and animals, but maybe not everything has to be so hard in order to be good?
Definitely see it for Timon and Pumba, but the movie overall? Grade: C
Definitely see it for Timon and Pumba, but the movie overall? Grade: C
