THE LION KING

Image Source - IMDb

It’s only fair; I compare this film to Aladdin. I liked Aladdin better and Skip, The Lion King (his reason being cute Simba). The visual effects though are far, far superior in the Lion King. I was captivated in the first 5 minutes. The Lion King is a live action film with photo-realistic animals. The intricate details of the flora, followed by the appearance of lifelike animals would in the words of R3 (my cousin sista) give you a realistic experience of being on a safari. In certain scenes that pan across the forest landscape, if you observe carefully, you can even spot tiny balls of seed hair fibres floating in the air.  If you thought The Jungle Book was impressive (which also happens to be directed by Jon Favreau, the director of The Lion King), be prepared to be blown away with the graphics in this film. The characters have been rendered digitally using photo and video references of real animals.

In case you’re wondering who Jon Favreau is (tsk tsk). Here’s a picture of him, do you recognise him?

Image Source - IMDb
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Following the footsteps of Aladdin in being inclusive and racially diverse, the live action film seeks to undo the criticism faced by its predecessor of having an all white cast. Here’s the list of the voice cast:

Young Simba – JD McCrary

Simba- Donald Glover (more popularly known as Childish Gambino)

Mufasa – James Earl Jones ( who voiced Mufasa in the animated film as well)

Nala- Beyonce

Timon – Billy Eichner

Pumbaa – Seth Rogen

Scar – Chiwetel Ejiofor

Zazu- John Oliver

Shenzi – Florence Kasumba

The actors were a perfect fit as the voice-overs considering the film is set in Africa. I particularly liked Timon and Shenzi. Timon is hilarious and Shenzi gave us all the chills.

I’m glad that they retained certain iconic scenes from the animated film and it was refreshing to see them in live action.

It is a film that can be enjoyed by both adults and children, alike. A word of caution for parents with younger children: children who aren’t used to non-animated films or those younger than 5 may find the film a bit frightening.

The film features songs from the original soundtrack plus a few new songs and ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ which had us all humming and singing along (thank you subtitles).

As in all Disney films, this film too had its share of inspiring messages for all. Here are some of my favourite quotes from the film:

“Everybody is Somebody, even a Nobody”. - Rafiki

“To change the past is a big order, but you can change the future”. – Timon

“I may run from Hyenas but I always fight a bully”. – Pumbaa

A must watch film and one to be watched in the theatres.

A question for all you Disney fans – Do you prefer the original animated films or the present live action ones?

While I enjoyed watching the animated films as a child, it’s nice and refreshing to see the same being recreated as live action and more so as the creators haven’t diverted much from the original script and storyline.

And now repeat after me – “Hakuna Matata”

Skip manages to keep himself entertained on most days. But on some days (days when I'm too tired to even move a muscle), he decides he needs his mommy dearest to play with him and that's when we try our hand at Origami (courtesy YouTube videos)