#again ignoring the lack of facial animation so much of his actual motion capture gets lost in first person it's a shame

[megamyceted]

ETHAN WINTERS resident evil village, 2021

[fandom-and-fantasy]

CAPTAIN FANDOM REVIEWS: DISNEY’S THE LION KING (2019) The newest anticipated release from the Walt Disney Studios, The Lion King (2019), a CGI remake of the Golden Globe and Oscar winning animated film of the same name, falls flat on audiences nationwide — a cheap and pale imitation of a Disney Renaissance Classic.

Another film in the seemingly endless stream of Hollywood remakes, The Lion King (2019) fails to deliver on the promise of a renewal of nostalgia or a reverent treatment of a film that was determined by the Library of Congress to be “culturally…significant”. With an all-star cast rounding out the film, it’s a wonder that the overall experience is somehow still lifeless and two-dimensional.

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) as Scar, James Earl Jones (Star Wars, Lion King 1994) reprising the role of Mufasa, and Donald Glover (Solo: A Star Wars Story) and Beyoncé as Simba and Nala respectively, the film itself could have been a great live-action film with a wonderful POC cast — but now it’s an animated film with an underappreciated POC cast in an underwhelming CGI film. Rather than bolstering the cast’s portrayals with stunning animation, the film puts too much of it’s focus on hyper-realistic visuals instead of characters with emotional range. Every line is hindered by lifeless expressions and stilted movement that feel more like a wildlife documentary than a cinematic experience.

With the entire emphasis placed on realism rather than characters, the story is lost in the spectacle of what current CGI animation software can do to replicate near perfect renditions of fur, feathers, grass, clouds, and water. The laser focus on visuals leaves the story out to dry — James Earl Jones still makes audiences’ hearts weep as the beloved King, but the death of Mufasa comes across as somewhat cardboard in the remake. When the audience knows what is coming and the cinematography and acting (or, in this case, animated facial expressions) can’t capture the depth of the audiences childhood horror at witnessing familial betrayal, is it truly worth it?

The differences in the depth of movement in the original animated film compared to the current remake are staggering. Everything in the CGI animation feels slightly off, as if the lions movements are only coincidentally put to words. It seems strange that if the studio was going to re-animate an entire Disney classic, the least they could have done was put effort into the cinematic experience. But rather than feeling like we are watching real, live, trained animals acting on cue, the entire experience reads like an episode of Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth. Perhaps it would have behooved them to put the cast into motion capture — like Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug in The Hobbit series. Instead, the animals feel lifeless and stagnant. Is hyper-realism truly “better” if the computer generated creatures can’t emote as effectively as live humans or hand drawn cartoons?

It is relevant to remember that beloved classics have iconic moments that audiences will expect to be given their due attention and respect. The Lion King (2019) fails to deliver on even the simplest of iconic moments. Scar, holding Mufasa at the edge of a cliff, is flat and emotionless as he delivers the sardonic and violent line that sums the entire theme of the film, “Long live the King.” And the vision of Mufasa in the sky (when Simba reaches the height of his character growth) is confusing, lacking heart or feeling, as the clouds rushed by formlessly in flashes of thunder. In a stunning turn of events, The Black Panther felt more true to The Lion King (1994) than The Lion King (2019).

The plot is wrapped up neatly in an anticlimactic fight between the Pride and the Hyenas, and it lacks the emotional buildup of the original. Where the 1994 version succeeded, the remake stumbles and leaves audiences unsatisfied and yearning for the days of Andy Gaskill, Rob Minkoff, and Mark Henn.

Overall: 2/5 — If you enjoyed this movie then you are the target audience. If you, like me, however, were dissatisfied and almost bored by the hollow and cardboard renditions of animals almost too hyper-realistic to enjoy, then I’m sorry you already lost an hour and fifty-eight minutes of your life plus cost of admission. If you’re debating watching in theaters, however, this is my cue to warn you to save your money if you’re tight on cash, and catch it when it hits Netflix or Disney+ (if you’re going in for that, but if your pocketbook is tight, you probably aren’t going to do that either and more power to you.)

Story: 2.5/5 — They tried.

Music: 2/5 — It almost felt… less full and robust than the original. The original score won Oscars for it’s soundtrack, but they couldn’t even bring something new to the table in the remake. Everyone knows Beyoncé can sing, but her original song addition didn’t fit the film setting, and bumped out an actual orchestral piece from the original that was better at hyping up the tension leading up to the climactic final battle.

Another glaring problem is that Can You Feel the Love Tonight took place entirely during the daytime; another point lost for ignoring the theme of the lyrics.

SPFX/VFX: 1/5 — They earned a single point for the quality of the CGI. Otherwise the entirety of the animation was bland, lifeless, and annoying. Why pay an entire animation crew to make something so poorly put together when you could have put them to work on a new and refreshing idea instead of butchering a classic for a little extra cash?

Production: 1/5 — I’m giving them a whole point here for the fact that yes the CGI was hyper-realistic and they really went with it — you can’t say it wasn’t consistent. But the color palettes were bland, the contrast was low, and the fact that I could barely see during the night sequences always gets a point knocked off from me.

Costumes: 0/5 — Should have done a film with real people. Yes, I know it would have just been an African Hamlet, but it would have been a far better sight than what we’ve been given. The costumes would have also been out of this world. Once again Black Panther rules in this department.

BONUS

Expressions: 1/5 — Redeemed only by Scar, who had pretty decent micro-expressions. Or maybe I was projecting in desperation.