{"id":18753,"date":"2019-07-17T15:44:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T22:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=18753"},"modified":"2019-07-17T15:44:44","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T22:44:44","slug":"the-lion-king-is-visually-impressive-but-feels-logy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=18753","title":{"rendered":"THE LION KING Is Visually Impressive, But Feels Logy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This week’s big release is Disney’s photo-realistic take on\nthe 1994 animated classic, The Lion King<\/em>. Fans of the original film may\nbe happy to learn that the primary story hasn’t been changed a great deal.\nInstead, the selling point are the CGI\nanimal creations backed by an impressive Africa savanna.\nOn a technical level it’s a marvel, with stunning visual effects and imagery.\nUnfortunately, the extended running time drags events out, resulting in some\nlogy pacing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story follows Simba (Donald Glover), a kind-hearted lion\nforced into self-banishment after an incident orchestrated by his power-hungry uncle,\nScar (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Scar attempts to take control of the kingdom by\nplotting to end the life of Simba’s father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones). Feeling\nresponsible, Simba permanently leaves the Pridelands and befriends carefree\nwarthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) and meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner). Years later, Simba’s\nchildhood friend Nala (Beyonce Knowles-Carter) discovers Simba living a care\nfree existence. She begs him to return and take the throne from the tyrannical\nScar. The protagonist is forced into facing his past as well as his place\nwithin the animal community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This adaptation reuses many of the same images and jokes, although\nthere are a couple of minor alterations. The hyena Shenzi (Florence Kasumba) has\nbeen given a more prominent role and position of authority within the\nantagonist’s group, acting as a leader of the pack. This has clearly been done\nto give Nala a foe to face off against during the climax. Additionally, some of\nthe conversational interactions between characters seem to have been extended\nin this version. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Glover acquits himself well in the role of Simba and the\ntalky approach works to the benefit of some performers. In particular,\ncomedians Rogen and Eicher, who add energy and a hint of improvisation to the\nproceedings. These goofy characters are charming, but some of the other ones come\nacross as stiff (or perhaps too reverential of the source material), resulting\nin a lot of jokes that fall flat. And the unfortunate side-effect of a movie that\nhas had its running time extended by thirty minutes without a lot of new plot\nmaterial is that it drags. Perhaps the filmmakers were so enamored with the\nvisuals that they felt that the stunning images would carry the picture through\nits slower sections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Admittedly, the movie looks phenomenal, with incredible\nphoto-real animal creations and spectacular vistas. The impressive digital crafting\naffords director Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book<\/em>, Iron Man<\/em>) the\nopportunity to pull off some elaborate shots, including a lengthy sequence\nfollowing a tuft of Simba’s hair being released and moving across the country\nvia birds, little insects and nature itself before eventually finding its way\nback home to the Pridelands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the animals look just as remarkable thanks to latest computer\ntechniques that have been employed. In some scenes they literally look like their\nreal-life inspirations. There can be no doubt that this movie represents a new\nhighpoint in the technology. Unfortunately, the lions and other animals are so\nrealistic at times that one aspect does stand out as distracting and decidedly\nstrange. To put it gently, it seems as if all of their private parts have been\ndigitally removed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Obviously, this wouldn’t matter at all in an animated\nfeature, but when near perfect looking animals are captured with low-angles and\nnary a nipple or set of testicles are present, it stands out as being…\nwell… slightly odd to witness. There must have been numerous meetings at\nDisney about the subject (I would have been amused to be a fly on the wall for\nthose talks), but it seems as if the final choice adds a certain phoniness to\ntheir otherwise incredible digital creations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lion King<\/em> is a stunning technical feat that\nincludes plenty of striking images. However, with the exception of a few\nwarthog and meerkat related moments, the events presented don’t offer anything\nnew and little that tops the original animated classic. The visuals will likely\nentertain children, but even the tykes may get a little squirmy by the time the\nend credits roll. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week’s big release is Disney’s photo-realistic take on the 1994 animated classic, The Lion King. Fans of the original film may be happy to learn that the primary story hasn’t been changed a great deal. Instead, the selling point are the CGI animal creations backed by an impressive Africa savanna. On a technical level […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,829,2656,2765,4232,4268,5873,5922,6123,7283,7678,9515,10223,12467,12535,13618,16068,16847,17716,18073,21379,21380,21381,21382,24003],"class_list":["post-18753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-aftica","tag-beyonce-knowles-carter","tag-billy-eichner","tag-childrens","tag-chiwetel-ejiofor","tag-digital","tag-disney","tag-donald-glover","tag-family","tag-florence-kasumba","tag-hyenas","tag-james-earl-jones","tag-lion","tag-live-action","tag-meerkat","tag-photo-real","tag-remake-of-animated-film","tag-savanna","tag-seth-rogen","tag-the-lion-king","tag-the-lion-king-film-review","tag-the-lion-king-movie-review","tag-the-lion-king-review","tag-warthog"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}