Reviewing - The Lion King Collection
If you know anything about me, you know that I love The Lion King. But what about it's spinoffs? Here, you can dive headfirst into the Pride Lands with this collection. From the 1994 classic to the newest TV show, each film shows a new side of the African Savannah and the creatures that inhabit it.
The Lion King 1994 (*****)
In which a spoiled kid accidentally gets his dad killed and then comes back a few years later to kill his uncle too
A brilliant, massive yellow sun surfaces over a deep red horizon, its light shimmering through the heat of the Serengeti. From the silence bursts a mythic Zulu cry – a lone voice heralding the dawn of a new day. Within moments, the voice is joined by a chorus of additional singers, their voices harmonizing in a deeply resonant chord. It is morning, and the animals of these African plains arise with purpose.
The new King has been born.
The Lion King is my favourite movie, and I also whole-heartedly believe it's the greatest film ever made. I've already reviewed it here on my blog - and I have a million and one things to say about it. I'll give you the short version so we can move on.
• The voice actors infuse the story with charisma and depth – and perfectly perform the characters to which they were assigned.
• Though The Lion King is a traditionally animated film, the filmmakers integrated complex live-action cinematographic techniques to great effect.
• The Lion King is a stunning blend of traditional animation and CGI, taking the best of both to deliver the story with astounding efficacy.
• Those who label this as a “kid’s movie” have tragically missed so much of the symbolism and multilayered imagery that Disney’s animators painstakingly wove into the movie.
• The award-winning music of The Lion King does more than set a mood or get you tapping your toes – it develops and enhances the themes and ideas of the film like a second storyteller.
• The Lion King presents a morally edifying story that tackles themes most ‘kid movies’ would run from, from self-sacrifice to spirituality.
The Lion King 1 ½ (***1/2)
In which Timon and Pumbaa have full access to their own lives on DVD
It’s not often that the third film in a franchise improves upon the sequel (especially if the sequel was direct-to-video to begin with).
First and foremost, this movie is genuinely and consistently funny. Using Timon and Pumbaa watching the original film as a frame narrative was a terrific idea, as we get to watch them heckle and comment on their own story. The jokes come fast and land pretty much every time, all while delivering a story that actually has a bit of heart to it. The fourth-wall breaking is too good not to love – I particularly liked the bit where Pumbaa accidentally changed the channel in the middle of a suspenseful moment. I’ve never seen someone pull off self-parody as well as Timon and Pumbaa do here.
Believe it or not, even the music is an improvement from the last film. Timon has a brief musical number “That’s All I Need” that was originally written for the 1994 film, and it’s cool to see how they continue taking the unused bits of the original and making something neat with it. “Diggah Tunnah” is an absolute BLAST. The remix played at the end credits is impossible to get out of your head. It’s so much fun. Lastly, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” makes a reappearance in the franchise, this time by using the cover of the song from Lebo M’s “Rhythm of the Pride Lands” album that was released alongside the original film. It’s a soulful and beautiful rendition of a song that really was only used for a gag the first time around. On the whole, the music seems so much more alive than it did in The Lion King 2.
Lastly, the animation is beautiful. There’s a shot parodying a scene from the original film, where Timon’s mom is showing him the world ahead. It may be a spoof, but they still made it look amazing, and I respect that. Timon and Pumbaa are filled with zany and creative expressions throughout the film, and the scenes with all of Timon’s relatives are jam-packed with movement. It was really cool to see the iconic scenes of the 1994 flick recreated for this film without compromising on the quality of the original animation.
I would whole-heartedly recommend skipping The Lion King 2 and going straight for this one after watching the original film. You’ll have a much better time.
The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar (***)
In which Simba upends the patriarchy by declaring his daughter as his heir instead of his son
There’s a difference between entertainment for families and entertainment for kids. This is definitely entertainment for kids.
Being the Lion King fan that I am, I figured I’d be a fraud to not watch through this new animated television show “The Lion Guard”. The first two episodes serve as a sort of TV movie, so I figured I’d at least watch that much and then make my decision. While I have nothing but good things to say about the movie, I definitely will not be going any further into the series. The plot and design of the show is incredibly kid-friendly, but to the point where there’s really nothing for me as an adult to enjoy. The questions and morals being tackled are ones that kids will find value in, but they’re just too young for my taste. I would show this to my future kids in a heartbeat, but there’s really no sense in me watching this on my own.
Even though this is for kids, I want to say that I liked the animation style. This show is firmly rooted in the animation of today’s era – CGI is the order of the day. That said, they’ve styled it in such a way that makes it look 2D as much as possible. I really admired that creative decision – although this show does look a bit different stylistically from its predecessors, it doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb. It fits, and that’s nice. I also thought the idea of our protagonist having a sort of superpower was pretty neat. They grounded it within the world of The Lion King by attributing it to the ‘great kings of the past’, and I’m sure as the series goes on they’ll get more into what this power is and what Kion’s capable of through it.
So this isn’t for me, but that doesn’t make it bad. As far as kid’s entertainment goes, this is just fine – but this is finally where The Lion King and I must part ways.
The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (**1/2)
In which Kovu is definitely not Scar's son because that would make his relationship with Kiara really messed up
The Lion King is my favourite movie of all time, and I always look for opportunities to talk about how great it is. I’m so passionate about it that one would think anything Lion-King-related would instantly earn my approval.
This film proved that this wasn’t the case.
I’ll admit that there were parts of this movie that I thought were pretty cool. The character design was great (Kovu and Zira were real stand-outs), and the lion battle at the climax of the film was boss. It was raining and the evil lions were covered in mud and everyone charged into each other like it was something out of Lord of the Rings. Some of the musical tracks were pretty good too. “He Lives In You”, the opening song, was originally written for the first film. Although it didn’t make the final cut, it’s included in the Broadway musical – and the quality shows. The villain song “My Lullaby” was pretty sweet (did you know Joss freaking Whedon wrote that??), and “One of Us” – as stupid as it sounds – is so catchy.
“Deception...disgrace...evil as plain as the scar on his face...”
There was one real thought-provoking moment where Kovu and Kiara were stargazing. Kiara mentions how the great kings of the past live up there, and Kovu asks,
“Do you think Scar’s up there?”
That’s a pretty bold question for Disney to ask. I have to give them credit for voicing the question, even though they never really answer it. It’s basically a question of two different faiths. Kiara comes from the ‘good guy side’, where she’s learned how all the good kings make it to the stars. Kovu comes from the ‘bad guy side’, and he learns here that his role model and icon might not fit into the new belief system he’s gradually becoming a part of. When someone becomes a Christian, they first have to deal with the fact that a lot of their long-gone relatives might not be ‘in the stars’. That’s a hard pill to swallow!
But for all of that, the dip in quality overall was too noticeable for me to get over. The screenplay is overstuffed with cheese – some of the dialogue between Kovu and Kiara is almost as bad as Anakin and Padme’s conversations. And why does Kovu shout “Yee-haw”? How many Western movies has he seen? The animation also feels a bit lackluster at times. Where the first film worked hard to make a lot of the animals look authentically lifelike, the sequel seemed content with having background animals appearing more cartoon-y in nature. I don’t know – the animation just looked less vibrant to me.
If you want to see more of the Pride Lands, this is a good way to make that happen. But honestly, this film may not be worth its runtime.
Timon and Pumbaa (**1/2)
It’s the stereotypical Saturday morning cartoon, but I guess I was just hoping for something a bit more ambitious.
First and foremost, it’s great that Pumbaa’s voice actor Ernie Sabella returned. Disney’s had a pretty good track record of retaining the original voice actors when producing a spinoff series of an animated film. Unfortunately, Nathan Lane wasn’t as easy to keep. He stuck around to do a few episodes from Season One, but that’s it. His replacements aren’t bad, but it’s still clear that it’s not Nathan Lane anymore.
One of the big differences between this show and “The Lion Guard” (which would be released way way later) is that The Lion Guard really stuck to the world of the Pride Lands. Animals were animals and stayed in the wilderness. For Timon and Pumbaa, they were cartoons before they were animals. They pulled objects out of thin air, made references to human stuff, and generally acted more like Bugs Bunny than diegetic characters. That may not bother some people, but it was a little disappointing for me. It felt cheap. They could’ve grounded these guys in the world we’d come to know and love, but instead they just made them full-on cartoons. In many instances, Timon and Pumbaa encountered humans and human environments, which is so non-Lion King that it’s hard for me to deal with.
That’s not to say that the show sucks. In the few episodes I watched, there were several jokes that really landed, and judging it merely as a cartoon, there wasn’t anything embarrassingly incompetent. I was just hoping for more from this show, which is why I have to leave it with the rating that I did.