Here kitty, kitty. The Lion King is back for another romp across the pride lands of Tanzania. Disney rolled the dice with Oscar winning director Barry Jenkins (Moonlighting) and this film is as realistically animated as it comes. We were impressed with the quality of the animation, termed photorealistic. Even in closeup, the eyes, the mouths and teeth show every emotion and expression. Even the way the hair moves with different shades and hue, make it easy to distinguish each character.
Unfortunately, Jeff Nathanson’s script fails to deliver the emotional punch Disney is known for. Lion King’s characters are beloved, but the story meanders and falls flat. The one character that stands out is not any of the lions. It is the magical mandrill Rafiki, (young Kagiso Lediga and elder John Kani) who narrates this film and keeps it together. He’s a skilled storyteller charged with explaining Mufasa’s family history. The film starts with a memoriam to the deep, in charge, voice of the late James Earl Jones as Mufasa. Aaron Pierre does a credible job using his deep voice with aplomb as the noble lion in this film.
Rafiki starts the story with the relationship over time between Mufasa, who got lost in a flood as a cub, and his adopted brother Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Throughout the film, the Mandrill explains all of the characters and their relationships to Mufasa’s granddaughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) who is the daughter of, Nala (Beyoncé) and Mufasa’s son, Simba (Donald Glover). To make it even more interesting, Blue Ivy is the real life daughter of Beyoncé.
Jenkins incorporates plenty of action as Rafiki explains the exploits of the prides.The lions experience elephant stampedes, rushing rapids, dangerous trips up snow covered mountains, all while trying to fend off dangerous challenges from Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen), the malicious and vicious ghost-like white lion. Warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) and Meerkat, Timon (Billy Eicher) play the sidekicks with comic shtick commenting on Rafiki’s storytelling. They provide some light relief from the more serious parts of the story, but it seemed like they were doing their own standup act that did not quite fit with the narrative. One bright comedic light in flight is supplied by the smallest character, Zazu (Preston Nyman).
The photography of James Laxton (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk) of the terrain, challenges and action encountering raging rapids to animal stampedes is very well done. But also in the more serene settings with the colorful overhead shots in the vibrant gardens of Milele.
No Surprise. Lin Manuel Miranda does it again. Several of his memorable songs you may find yourself humming as you leave the theater since he is responsible for much of this music. Among the songs we liked are the cute, “I Always Wanted a Brother,” the hip hoppy, “We Go together,” and even the love song, “Tell Me It’s You.” Nicholas Brittell and Dave Metzger provide the score and were to work with Hans Zimmer, but Zimmer was not involved this time. Still, his themes from songs “Under the Stars” and “King of Pride Rock” were retooled for this film.
Despite the stunning visuals and music, this film explains the generations of this pride with silly banter and an uneven script. Now that we’ve seen the prequel, we’d like to see the next Circle of Life sequel with a story that can roar once more.
Walt Disney Pictures. 2 hours. PG
