A few years ago, Walt Disney's company took up the re-filming of its own animated classics in a feature film format. The list of animated tapes considered for restart is rapidly shrinking. The remakes of “Alice in Wonderland”, “The Jungle Books”, “Dumbo”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Cinderella”, “Aladdin” and a peculiar transcription of “Sleeping Beauty” (film about Maleficent) have already been released on the screens. In the work now - pictures of Mulan and the little mermaid Ariel, the background of the 101 Dalmatians entitled Cruella and a number of other projects.
"The Lion King" - another tape among the remakes of the classic Disney animation by John Favreau. An animated story, familiar to many from childhood, acquired quite real features: Favreau, against the background of the commercial success of The Jungle Book, who continued to work in the field of photorealism, presented the characters with impressive detailing. It looks even more spectacular on IMAX screens.
Favreau treated the heritage of the original with great respect - an essential part of the picture was re-shot frame by frame. Surely, many mentally have time to compare the animated composition of the frame with fragments of fiction film. “Everything that the sun falls on,” from the vast expanses of savannah to the green jungle, is recreated with the tactile accuracy of a documentary.
In this section, the picture can claim to be a successful experiment from the point of view of those who, 25 years ago, imbued with a cartoon (unless, of course, animation fans obviously did not regard the remake as desecration of the original). However, virtually created characters naturally lost their animation expressiveness, and this is somewhat strange, since the realistic lion Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia series of films looked rather charismatic.
The creators were not going to make significant changes to the tape, as Favreau also warned in advance and did not lie. However, the original story significantly complemented. For example, the relationship between the ascended throne Scar (Chivetel Ejiofor) and the widow Mufasa (James Earl Jones), the lioness of Sarabi (Alfre Woodard), developed.
Alas, in spite of such an interesting addition - a strained emphasis on the almost decisive participation of lionesses in resolving royal conflicts. Nale (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) added weights, and now she is not an appendix to Simba (Donald Glover — he is Childish Gambino), but a lioness who has challenged the leader of the pride.
Perhaps the real success of the film was the realization of a charismatic couple of “Downshifters” by Timon (Billy Aikner) and Pumba (Seth Rogen). And let the warthog look a bit intimidating in comparison with the animation, the duet of Aikner and Rogen is a pleasant decoration of the film, almost as good as the characters of the animated version. By the way, the closest comrades of the hyena Shenzi (Florence Kasumba) turned out to be rather comical.
- Frame from the movie "The Lion King"
- © kinopoisk.ru / Disney
In fact, even the restarted "Lion King" literally from the first frame awakens a lot of associative feelings. To the credit of the soundtrack, it still causes pleasant nostalgia. Following the letter of the animated film, in the first seconds of the picture, as the sun rises, the amazing Circle of Life sounds. True, now it is performed not by the American Carmen Twilly, but by the African singer and actress Brown Mkhzi. Part of the composition, performed in the Zulu language, was once again dealt with by the African composer and producer Libo Em.
The musical accompaniment of the story is still the strongest side of the "Lion King". Twenty-four years ago, the animation tape received two Oscar statuettes and two Golden Globes for the soundtrack, not to mention a number of other nominations for soundtrack awards.
The new film preserved the immortal hits of Can You Feel the Love Tonight, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, I Just Can't Wait to Be King and the musical motto Hakuna Matata. Each of the songs has now acquired new performers - Elton John's single is sung by a duet of Beyoncé Knowles and Donald Glover, and he, along with Rogen and Aikner, was entrusted to "Akanun Matat".
The renewed musical hits of “The Lion King” is one of the promotional campaigns of the film, quite obviously aimed at, in addition to the fans of the original animation, to attract the attention of viewers unfamiliar with the story. It is important to note that dubbing naturally spoils singles with impressive African musical motifs, so it is advisable to find a session with subtitles and listen to the bonus track, recorded by Beyonce specifically for the remake.