Lion King; Where I Learned About The Circle of Life
It’s my daughter’s 9th birthday and just in time for the new The Lion King movie remake. What a perfect gift!
The Lion King is one of my favorite movies. I’ve seen it least for at least 20 times. The first three times, because I wanted to see it, and the rest because my kids watched it in continuous loop during the summer vacation. They love and have memorized the songs – from Circle of Life, to Hakuna Matata and of course, Can You Feel the Love Tonight. It doesn’t end there because we all love the next two installments equally.
So what’s the experience of the movie like?
First, we didn’t have to wait long to buy a ticket, aiming for the 3:30 show but it was sold out. By the time we finally got our tickets (not a good one since we are on the left side) all seats in all 4 cinemas in that mall were all taken.
So we buckled up and waited until the screen went blank and safety announcements were made.
The opening scene was impressive. The Circle of Life is indeed a classic and will never be forgotten. So here’s my general view to the movie as a whole;
The story was rarely altered, keeping the same feeling we had when watching the animated version. There were few changes in some short lines or dialogues but they were made to make it more appropriate I guess. The minor alterations were easily noticeable for avid fans but they were proven effective in the movie. Timon and Pumba duo was an efficient comic relief.
The songs remained true to the classic versions although some songs were added but didn’t make much difference. And the setting was incredible; the Pride Rock was fascinating and convincing as a Lion’s den and fortress, the elephant’s grave eerie and mysterious. One would think these places really exist somewhere in Africa.
However, the hyper-realistic effect was too realistic if there’s such a thing. As said by my 7 and 9-year old kids, there were parts where the original version was better, if for the effects and visuals. Hats off to the people behind the movie. The lip and mouth movements were still a bit problematic but hey, the characters were animals after all! But looking closely, was a real-life action really necessary? It wasn’t too different from watching Animal Planet, only the animals were talking! And how do we call these movie adaptation? Live action? We all know it’s the magic of technology and no single human acted in the film.
But to give a rating, I’ll say 8.5/10. The missing points are for the lines they changed, although fitting to the movie, but we miss nevertheless.
The Lion King is an incredible movie that portrays how everything and everyone is connected, that’s why we should respect it to maintain the balance and order. The film also shows that the struggle for power has been eternally existent in different forms; the good versus evil.
But if there’s a line I can personally relate from the movie, it’s the conversation of a father and cub, of Mufasa and Simba;
Simba: So I guess even kings get scared, huh?
Mufasa: More than you’ll ever know.
So relive your childhood and feast your eyes with the magnificent Disney offering this month.
Next on our watch list: Maleficent, Mistress of Evil and Frozen 2 coming out later this year and Mulan live-action adaptation next year (where one of my favorite lines came from).
