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The Lion King (2019) (1 Viewer)

Jason_V

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I'd argue there is creativity. The reviews are stating the movie is gorgeous to look at. This could very well be a step forward for photo-realistic CGI (or whatever you want to call it).
 

dpippel

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I'd argue there is creativity. The reviews are stating the movie is gorgeous to look at. This could very well be a step forward for photo-realistic CGI (or whatever you want to call it).

Technical creativity, yes. I was referring to the sum of the parts of the finished film.
 

Wayne_j

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Common complaints are that it is a shot by shot remake but without the emotion from the original. Both the facial expressions and voice acting flourishes are cut back extensively.
 

Jason_V

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Technical creativity, yes. I was referring to the sum of the parts of the finished film.

That's craftsmanship creativity rather than narrative creativity.

It's interpreting the story in a different and unique way. Snow White wasn't particularly ground breaking, story wise. It was groundbreaking technically.
 

dpippel

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I almost equate it to colorizing a B&W film. Hardly anything has changed in the narrative of The Lion King, it just looks different.
 

Chris Will

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If it is a shot for shot remake then why is it almost 30 minutes longer? 30 minutes is more then just a few extra shots here and there so, what has been added?
 

Jake Lipson

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If it is a shot for shot remake then why is it almost 30 minutes longer? 30 minutes is more then just a few extra shots here and there so, what has been added?

Luke Bonanno said:
The very next scene is perhaps the one that more accurately conveys the nature of this production. In the original film, there was a shot of a scurrying mouse who ended up in the paw of the evil Scar. It ran a few seconds. In Favreau's version, the same thing happens but it goes on for almost a minute as that mouse you struggle to believe is completely a digital creation winds up in the possession of Scar, giving him an opportunity to deliver a monologue on the way of the world.

https://www.dvdizzy.com/lionking-2019-film.html

If they similarly pad out every scene in the way that Luke's review describes, it shouldn't be too hard to squeeze an extra half hour out of the story without actually changing it all that much.

Snow White wasn't particularly ground breaking, story wise. It was groundbreaking technically.

The difference between Snow White and The Lion King is that Snow White did not have an earlier film rendition which included the songs, the characters and their personalities which we could watch for almost the same narrative experience. Yes, Snow White had been done before, but not in the way that Disney did it. Here, The Lion King has been done before and is basically perfect.

That being said, if they're going to do it again, at least they appear to have made something with care and respect. I'd rather have this than have them rejigger something that clearly works just for the sake of being different. I'm going next Thursday and am curious to see what they've done, but what is less clear is whether I will want to engage with the remake multiple times as I have done with the original. We'll see.
 

Lord Dalek

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If it is a shot for shot remake then why is it almost 30 minutes longer? 30 minutes is more then just a few extra shots here and there so, what has been added?
It may be conceptually following the plot beat for beat but there are certain plot points that can be elaborated on ala Beauty and the Beast.
 

Jake Lipson

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I think The Lion King, as-is from 1994, is one of the best movies ever made. It is essentially perfect and there was nothing in it that cried out to be remade, except of course for financial reasons.

However, if Disney had come to me and said "We're going to remake The Lion King with or without you and we would like your advice on how to proceed," this is what I would tell them to do.

First and most importantly, look at the stage production as a template. The new songs that are added for the show weave seamlessly into the existing score from the movie and would be an easy way to distinguish this movie version from its predecessor. The show is two and a half hours with intermission, and it follows the original film's structure closely, but it never feels bloated because the moments they added work for the characters and advance the story they're telling in a way that meshes perfectly with the original material. But, as has been the case with the other remakes so far, Disney has decided not to use the songs from the show in the new film, which seems like a real missed opportunity here in particular. For Beauty and the Beast, not using the stage songs made sense because some of the new songs they wrote for the 2017 film serve the same function so they didn't need both. But in the case of The Lion King, they took scenes that were dialogue in the original film and apparently made them dialogue again for this film, since there is only one new song, and I just feel like they could have taken more from the show successfully to give this more of a reason to be distinct from the original.

Some people may call this blasphemous because it involves acknowledging the direct-to-video sequel, but I also would have included Zira here. She is the villain from Simba's Pride, who according to that film is supposed to be alive and present during the timeline of the original Lion King movie as a loyalist to Scar, but isn't in the 1994 film because the character hadn't been invented yet. Since Simba's Pride is actually probably the most highly-regarded of Disney's direct-to-video sequel craze, I would absolutely be happy if they did a remake of it too. I don't expect them to do that, but if they did, seeding it in this film by retroactively inserting Zira into the narrative (where Simba's Pride says she was supposed to be anyway) would have been key. Again, I don't think there is a chance in hell that this will actually happen, but if they did manage to sneak in Zira without that information having leaked, I would absolutely lose my mind with happiness in the theater. That would be an even more pleasant shock than the post-credits cameo in Spider-Man, which was already a pleasant shock this month. If that were to happen, I would be absolutely stunned and delighted.

But, again, Disney didn't ask me for any advice on how to make this (not that they have any reason to ask me anything.) We'll see what they've actually done in a week.
 
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TonyD

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That never occurred to me.
So yeh the film looks very brownish/beige.

All earth tone colors. Very little bright colors in the previews that I’ve seen.
 

TravisR

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Yep. Disney isn't interested in creativity here, just formula, and this formula film will make a bazillion dollars. They'll only stop churning out this crap if people stop going to the theater to see it.
I don't "blame" Disney for giving the people what they want. Personally, I've liked the live action remakes (though I own none of them on disc but I have all the animated pictures) but if the remakes didn't make money, Disney would stop making them tomorrow.
 

Jake Lipson

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Has there been any discussion on the color pallet on this movie?


Very little bright colors in the previews that I’ve seen.

I found this quote in a review from Screen Crush that addresses the color palette:

Matt Singer said:
Favreau’s The Lion King feels like a bad Xerox of Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff’s; the colors aren’t as sharp, the characters aren’t as crisply performed, and everything feels a little fuzzier and more diffuse. While the traditionally animated Lion King ran a sleek 88 minutes, the update spreads the exact same story across two full, lifeless hours by adding a new song, more dialogue, and one sequence that follows a tuft of Simba’s fur through the wilderness as another illustration of the circle of life. The stiff, muted animal performances are matched by the general look of the film, credited to cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, which swaps all the vibrant emerald, ochre, and sapphire of the 2D animated Lion King for a palette of brown, tan, khaki, and additional brown. The new film is a lot less fun to look at than the old one.

https://screencrush.com/the-lion-king-review/

Also,

Luke Bonanno said:
Little gags that brightened up the original are mostly discarded here in a favor of a more unified and somber tone.

While this is talking about tone and not actual colors, it would follow that a movie that is going for somber would be darker lit than the bright and colorful original.

https://www.dvdizzy.com/lionking-2019-film.html
 
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Jake Lipson

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I just checked the listings at my theater, which is not usually a huge hub for advance ticketbuyers for whatever reason. My 7pm reserved seating Cinemark XD showtime a week from today has now sold 20 tickets, which is up from what Aladdin had sold at the same point in time (6 tickets.)

However, it's not an one-to-one comparison because the XD showtime for Aladdin was the first one at 6pm. For The Lion King, the XD start time is 7pm and follows a non-premium 2D 6pm show and a 3D show at 6:30, so there are other opportunities to start the film earlier than the one I am attending. Neither of those earlier ones are in reserved seating rooms so I can't see how well they've been sold.

How is it doing where you all are?

Given the residual affection for the original film, it's entirely possible that we could be looking at a gigantic opening. Beauty and the Beast started with $174 million two years ago in March. The Lion King has a much more high-profile summer release slot, but Beauty and the Beast had stronger reviews. We'll see what happens.
 
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Josh Steinberg

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This is not a film, like Aladdin, that requires a massive advance ticket buy.

In that NY Times article about the future of the movie business, the Russo Brothers (who direct Marvel films) discuss how the spoiler has become weaponized, and that box office for franchise openings can be driven by what’s almost blackmail - see it right away or someone else will intentionally ruin it for you!

The Lion King, like Aladdin before it, is exempt from that trend. I don’t need to buy my ticket for 6pm on Thursday now, because there’s no real consequence if I fail to do so. Worst case would be that one showtime sells out so I have to pick a different one. That’s very different from Avengers, where there was a legitimate concern that if you didn’t see it at 6pm on Thursday, by the time 9pm rolled around, ten years of investment in the storyline would be wasted because the end of the story would be revealed before you had a chance to make it to the theater.

Spider-Man did great business last week, but I was also able to show up at the movie theater during the trailers and purchase my ticket then and still have my first choice of seat.

Lion King wasn’t built to break an advance sale record. It was built so that a family audience could walk up to the box office and know that it was a safe bet. I’m sure Disney will take any advance sales they can get but that’s not the business model for this film.
 

Chris Will

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Finally listened to the OST and I enjoyed it. No real drastic departures or changes like Aladdin. The changes they did make weren’t too bad IMO. The score is still the same but with a fresh coat of paint. Of course I still like the original better in every way but, nothing bothered me with the new version.

My one complaint is the new song but, I’m not a Beyoncé fan and I don’t like her music. Spirit is a Beyoncé song through and through and it’s just not my cup of tea. If that is the version that is in the movie proper then it will stick out like a sore thumb. The style is just nothing close to what the other songs and score sound like. Others may really enjoy the new song though, again I’m just not a fan of Beyoncé.
 

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