For me, the movie Lion King was always, all about the music. The movie itself never impressed me much. While it did explore themes of friendship and loyalty, it was also an undeniably feudal and undemocratic story. So to my mind, one Lion King was plenty. The remake seems a little superfluous; particularly considering how it seems to be a slavish copy of the original.
King Mufasa’s solemn voice introduces the trailer and talks about ‘our kingdom’ that stretches as far as the eye can see. The voice then gives way to that lovely evocative music which, for many is the best part of Lion King.
I am not sure what need there was for a remake. The new version seems to be a frame by frame recreation of the old one; albeit a photorealistic computer-animated remake in 3D. So why make it? Well the remake of the 1967 classic Jungle Book in 2016 made a lot of money, Disney decided to make some more.
While people loved the fact that Beyonce voices Nala, that James Earl Jones once again gives voice to Mufasa and John Oliver voices Zazu, many said that they would sorely miss Jeremy Irons as Scar.
For many who grew up with the movie, the music and all the Lion King merchandise, this is a chance to revisit a precious childhood experience.
Others are steeling themselves to relive the traumatic scene where Mufasa dies and the impact it has on young Simba. Some are even convinced that they will need therapy to get over the trauma of it all.
There are reports that Scar’s song, Be Prepared is axed to make way for a song by Beyonce or by Donald Glover. Some fans are furious about this.
The teaser garnered over 224 million views in just 24 hours, making this the most viewed Disney trailer on debut.
Disney is calling this a ‘live action’ remake but many disagree with this description. To clarify, the movie is mostly animated re-imagining or something called “virtual production”.
As one twitter user pointed out, this shot of the trailer is suspiciously similar to the famous, meme- inspiring Baahubali scene.
That cute lion cub in the teaser inspired others to create their own Simba-moments. So everyone was posing with their cats; those that don’t have cats did this.
Suddenly everyone was holding up cats and dogs of all shapes, sizes and hues!
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