But first he endures some extremely scary action scenes, including one in which the vicious hyenas chase him and Nala, his friend and future love, into a tunnel. Like in the original, he doesn’t have to wait long. The music usually flows into the action so gracefully that it’s jarring when it doesn’t – when Simba prances around singing I Just Can’t Wait to Be King, the film seems too in love with its National Geographic backdrop.Įven if young Simba doesn’t realise it, that song is about a boy wishing for his father to die. Like Ejiofor, Oliver talks his songs more than he sings them, which works perfectly well. John Oliver tells deliberately hokey jokes as Zazu the hornbill, flying around and hovering protectively over Simba. Jones reliably brings credibility to this larger-than-life character, as Mufasa teaches a young Simba (JD McCrary) about the cycles of nature, the duties of a king and the way his ancestors will look down from the stars and guide him. James Earl Jones, the only actor returning from the first film, was apparently irreplaceable as Mufasa. Ejiofor speaks his lines in a sinister growl that is almost too subdued and real for this outsized production. The new Scar has gaunt flanks, a ravaged face and a mangy coat. Then, Jeremy Irons’s Scar, emerald-eyed and gloriously black-maned, delivered lines in such a withering, sly tone that he remains one of Disney’s most indelible villains. This Scar still schemes to kill Simba and inherit the throne, but he is the character most radically changed from the original. “Life’s not fair,” he says, setting off the rivalry theme – both in the animal kingdom and between siblings. That distraction soon falls away, as the power of the story takes over.Īs in the original, the first words are from Mufasa’s resentful brother Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor), spoken to the mouse he’s about to catch and eat. The animals’ words are not perfectly in synch with their mouths – the one conspicuous flaw amid all the technical wizardry.
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But if the new Lion King is not as seamless as the earlier versions, it is full of adventure and is just as sweetly engaging. Some actors have a more realistic delivery than others, which makes the tone a bit erratic. This film, however, is a cautious remake which takes its cue from its life-like visuals. There, director Julie Taymor brilliantly added more African-infused music, masks and fantastical giant puppets. This is not a visionary, artistic reimagining as the Broadway version was. For all that, it doesn’t stray far from the classic. It adds a couple of helpful scenes and two ordinary songs. Jon Favreau’s film is funnier than the original, even while it enhances the story’s dark themes. Elton John and Tim Rice’s original songs are so buoyant and stirring, they are now as familiar as anything from The Sound of Music. It has adorable animals and rivals Bambi in its moving death of a parent storyline. It doesn’t take a detective to see why that film quickly became a classic. The opening scene echoes the start of the 1994 original almost shot for shot. It may all be CGI, but The Lion King feels more life-like than Disney’s many recent live-action remakes of its animated classics. With The Circle of Life soaring in the background, this majestic scene draws us into the film’s enthralling world before a word is spoken. But the new film leaps into naturalism, with dazzling authenticity as computer-generated herds of zebras, elephants and antelope stride across the screen against a wide African vista, toward Pride Rock, where King Mufasa stands waiting to hold up his cub, Simba. With its mythic story of life and death, not to mention a cast of lions and hyenas, The Lion King was an unlikely candidate for a photo-realistic treatment.
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