SPOILERS: New movie chat

[KanuTGL]

At this rate it really will be Pride, just with more CGI xP

^ I called it, didn't I? I freaking called it

Man, I've been trying so hard not to hate this movie since it came out, but the more time I spend thinking about it, the more angry and bitter I get.

This could have been good. This could have been so good. All the fancypants tech is there - they could have made a stunning, colourful, expressive epic, and they chose not to. I will never forgive Jon Favreau for his utter idiocy and will not watch another of his movies again. This mess is all his fault. Because the more concept art for TLK'19 I see, the angrier I get. Everything is in there - the realistic expressiveness, the lighting, the colour, the soul. And in the final product they have chosen to take all of that away. I just cannot wrap my head around why someone would make such a completely moronic, harebrained decision. They picked shiny technology over what actually matters and I am getting so sick and so tired of this trend. If I hear another "But it was so pretty and photorealiiistiiiic (and that's good enough 8DD)" I'm gonna lose my freaking mind.

I also have many of the same issues that have been mentioned here - off story beats, Simba and Nala's reunion being extremely rushed, CYFtLT in daylight, Beyoncé's unfitting song, etc etc. There was one time I physically cringed in my seat, and that was Simba's flashback at the end when Scar confesses. Oh my goodness that was embarrassing @__@ And there were many times that I only knew what the characters were supposed to be feeling because I know the original movie, because I sure couldn't see it in this version. They talk about body language? What body language?

A pale, soulless and colourless copy, that's what this is.

*deep breath*

Now that I got that out of my system, there were a few things I liked too

The cues they picked from Broadway and fanfics to expand the story were cool, the music is still amazing and John Oliver makes the best Zazu I have ever seen. I also thought Shenzi was awesome (kudos to her animation crew for managing to sneak just a tiny bit of expressiveness into her) <3

But, what I really like the most isn't the movie itself but what's happening around it. The communities reconnecting. For example, I've seen several old faces pop back into TLKFAA lately thanks to this film and that is amazing. The nice new merch is a plus too :P

[Aphelion]

^ I called it, didn't I? I freaking called it

Man, I've been trying so hard not to hate this movie since it came out, but the more time I spend thinking about it, the more angry and bitter I get.

This could have been good. This could have been so good. All the fancypants tech is there - they could have made a stunning, colourful, expressive epic, and they chose not to. I will never forgive Jon Favreau for his utter idiocy and will not watch another of his movies again. This mess is all his fault. Because the more concept art for TLK'19 I see, the angrier I get. Everything is in there - the realistic expressiveness, the lighting, the colour, the soul. And in the final product they have chosen to take all of that away. I just cannot wrap my head around why someone would make such a completely moronic, harebrained decision. They picked shiny technology over what actually matters and I am getting so sick and so tired of this trend. If I hear another "But it was so pretty and photorealiiistiiiic (and that's good enough 8DD)" I'm gonna lose my freaking mind.

I also have many of the same issues that have been mentioned here - off story beats, Simba and Nala's reunion being extremely rushed, CYFtLT in daylight, Beyoncé's unfitting song, etc etc. There was one time I physically cringed in my seat, and that was Simba's flashback at the end when Scar confesses. Oh my goodness that was embarrassing @__@ And there were many times that I only knew what the characters were supposed to be feeling because I know the original movie, because I sure couldn't see it in this version. They talk about body language? What body language?

A pale, soulless and colourless copy, that's what this is.

I've not yet seen the film (I know, spoilers, bad me! )

But this is exactly what I was afraid of. As soon as Disney started making these "live action" remakes of all their films, I knew that they'd be remaking TLK at some point, but I really hoped that they wouldn't, because I knew that it'd just be a soulless, low effort, cash grab and that to me seems very disrespectful to Disney's heritage.

I will get round to seeing it eventually, it is still The Lion King after all, and I may yet be surprised, but from the sounds of things it is pretty much exactly what I feared it would be.

[Amaryllis]

Okay so I've been enjoying reading a few of the reviews on the Lea facebook page and I've been itching to write my own. Mostly because everyone around me (family and stuff) heckle me with questions and my opinion on the new film because they know I love TLK.

First things first:
- Why a remake? I get the main reason: new generation to influence with a beautiful movie, but TLK has had so many special re-releases over the years compared to other Disney movies that I'm just like "meh..". Can't deny that the graphics are beautiful but it did not make up for any of my dissapointments.

- My biggest pet peeve was the mixed use of original/non-original voice actors. WHY oh WHY not "force" all of the living original voice actors to return for the remake?! It would have made it much, much better for me. Every time Mufasa spoke I was just like "yeah, this fits and feels like it's supposed to be". All the other voice just didn't do it for me, except for Seth Rogen whom I did NOT expect to be as funny/good as he was. The timbre in his voice really goes well with Pumbaa so I enjoyed pretty much only his contribution as a non-original.

- Speaking of the voice-acting: Beyonce being cast was not my cup of tea, but I can't deny she's one of the biggest stars around now, and her singing speaks volumes whenever I hear it. Which brings me to my next big no-no: Oversinging the CYFTLT song. Whenever she sang very quietly, slowly and with a softness IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. But then she started over-singing some of the notes in that Christina Aguilera way which I really, really hate. WHYYY??? Would've been much better without all of that showing-off.

- What the hell happened to Shenzi?! The "new" hyena wasn't bad in any way IMO, but-it-just-wasn't-Shenzi. Same thing for Banzai and Ed really, as fas as I'm concerned they failed hugely with the new take on this memorable trio.

- And finally the well-know facial expressions/emotions opinion: If you're going to go with reality, have reality to a max. (which they did very well when it comes to graphics). However, if you're going to have the animals move their mouths to simulate the talking, you could at least have them use more eyebrow movements. That would have helped at least a little bit if you won't add eyebrows to the animals.

So all in all: ditch Beyonce, keep Seth Rogen (and original voice-actors), add a sprinkle more emotion and we would've all accepted the movie a bit more. To top it all off they could have also dedicated a big part of the credits to the crew of the original movie since they really made the story. This movie is pretty much a frame-to-frame remake so give credit where credit is due.


(did I cry though? Absolutely. Any time the movie starts or any song starts I bawl my eyes out, this movie was no exception so I'll give them that..)