
[Image Source: Wikipedia]
Whereas once upon a box office, Disney strip-mined the works of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, J.M. Barrie, Lewis Carroll, P.L. Travers, Carlo Collodi, and A.A. Milne for their cinematic output (which was in itself then repurposed across theme parks, television series, video releases, toy stores, straight-to-home animated sequels, and so on), NOW CEO Robert Iger and team have turned to modern-day folklorists like George Lucas, Stan Lee, and Walt Disney himself to source and resource their intellectual property. Lazy? Maybe. Smart capitalism? Indubitably. All-American? You bet your a$$.
And like all good mythology, these stories bear repeating, whether around the campfire or the eerie glow of an iPhone. Hell, Shakespeare was just as guilty of the practice as any contemporary entertainment conglomerate. There’s a sucker born every minute. We lemmings have been ever guilty of plunking our hard-earned money at the ticket counter to re-view the shopworn and redundant.

[Image Source: Wikipedia]
As I’ve often said to fellow critics, reviewing their umpteenth community production of Oklahoma! or The Putnam County Spelling Bee, we aren’t critiquing the script or the music at this point, nor even the very choice to do one of these damn shows again (much as we might like to), but rather the intention and the execution.
That said, the 2019 Lion King is pretty darn flawless and sticks its landing, even if some are scratching their heads if it was needed at all. This film is a technological wonder, marrying the heart and horror of the animated film with a hyper-reality that makes all of the stakes disconcertingly real. It’s one thing to watch a James Earl Jones-voiced Mufasa trampled by a multi-colored two-dimensional stampede of wildebeest; it’s something else altogether to watch a photorealistic James Earl Jones-voiced Mufasa in the same harrowing circumstance.
I’m not sure how kids are going to sit through this thing, what with all of the National Geographic-style eat-what-you-kill royal court intrigue of Scar (a menacing Chiwetel Ejiofor, rejecting any of predecessor Jeremy Irons’ fey mannerisms in the role) and his grotesque hyena henchmen (a slithering trio voiced by Florence Kasumba, Keegan-Michael Key, and Eric Andre, offering very little of the comic relief previously offered by Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, and Jim Cummings in the original). Shudder.

[Image Source: Wikipedia]
(NOTE: one of the best and most original elements of this new Lion King roll-out is Beyonce’s spin-off album The Gift, not unlike how Madonna’s Dick Tracy-inspired I’m Breathless album had arguably more zip than the film that inspired it.)

[Image Source: Wikipedia]
I admit as comfortable as I am with Disney’s master plan to take over the world with reworked, utterly unnecessary versions of old movies still readily available at our Netflix’d fingertips, even I would have liked more Eichner-style anarchy and less safe familiarity in the 2019 Lion King. As brainwashed as audiences have become, marching steadfastly from one box office event picture to the next, mindlessly apathetic toward the tragic state of the real world, Eichner’s “meaningless line of indifference” is an apt and sobering description of us all.
_______________

[Image Source: Wikipedia]
In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan.
My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.
Nice work.
Thank you!
in spite of it’s failure to push the envelope, I really want to see this, and have already invited the grannies to go with me. your second paragraph about Disney stealing from the story tellers to the past to the more modern day story tellers, is a great point. same difference. I hadn’t considered that –
Thanks! I think people are missing the point of the entire exercise. You’ll enjoy the film. Be prepared in that “live action” makes the animal vs. animal elements a bit more intense
>
thanks and duly noted –
I may not be mature enough to see this, right?
Haha! I had to close my eyes a couple of times
>
I haven’t heard a single argument why I should watch any of these remakes. My kids have now seen Beauty and the Beast and now The Lion King remakes (grandma takes them) and their reactions have been somewhere between “meh” and “thanks for letting us eat popcorn.”
CGI doesn’t impress me anymore: computer art has been realist enough for a decade or so at this point. I’ve already memorized the scripts and music of these movies, some of them against my own will because kids love FastPlay ™. The artwork has been culturally ubiquitous continuously since their release dates: backpacks, lunch boxes, posters, alarm clocks, umbrellas, suitcases, dolls, and so on.
Disney can do whatever it wants with its own intellectual property. I’m not complaining about any of this. I just don’t really understand why they are doing it beyond the naked profiteering. No one I know, including my own kids who are ostensibly the target audience for these remakes, is very excited about any of it.
I like them 🤷♂️… i’m not sure how experiencing the film in this way is any different than going to a theme park and riding a ride that is the derivation of the original flick or buying those lunchboxes you describe. But maybe that’s just me
>