This is a parody of rom-com and a good parody imo will maintain genre. it's stupid easy to make a comedy parody of everything. See things like Epic Movie and Date Movie. But a good parody of horror films will also itself be a horror film see Scream and Happy Death Day both excellent horror films that lampoon aspects of horror films. I think what sets this movie apart from other parodies is that it does a very effective job at being a romcom. It doesn't take itself seriously which is what you expect but there's a level of sincerity that you don't expect.
It's super hard to pull off a song and dance number in a movie and not have it be super cheesy. Few films do this that aren't all about singing or dancing (Step Up, Pitch Perfect). But the number in this movie manages to be legimately fun which surprised me. Rebel Wilson is Rebel Wilson most people hate her I find her charming enough. Hemsworth plays a one note character that's on screen enough to be funny with his constant "You're beguiling" but not so much that you get annoyed with him. If I had known Priyanka Chopra was going to be in the movie I might have skipped it. I'm not a fan of her as a person. Also I learned she looks terrible in extreme close ups. When you pull out just a little bit she shines. She's a good looking person, a mostly decent actor and she has a top notch voice.
If I cared about Adam Devine personally I'd be scared for his career becoming one note but here he's pretty toned down. Which helps him a lot.
Plotwise I have a big problem with the opening scene after the prologue where Nat has to get a note off her door and give it to her neighbor. It's filmed so badly you can barely tell what's going on. WHich is that he's hot and girls are constantly leaving note for him but they don't know which door is his so she ends up with notes on her door. It's a weird problem that makes no sense but at least they do a callback to explain it at the end. But beyond that the plot doesn't try so hard to make sense. Which is a good thing. It's just walking the path of the romcom you the audience (more than Nat) try to figure out which tropes are going to make it in and which ones will get left out.
It was a fun ride that didn't overstay it's welcome. A light airy movie that didn't leave you empty. Congratulations we have a date movie.
oh well, what can I say? It's not bad as critics say, at all.
The CGI animation needs to be really talked. It's groundbreaking for real, the way it was "filmed" and choreographed in Virtual Reality, giving a sense of real freedom on the gorgeous computer sets created. There are scenes where The Lion King simply throws at your face the ability of building scenes and shots that could easily be taken from a BBC Earth documentary.
But we need to talk about the elephant in the room, that every critic smashed, that is the bland voice animation in favor of the realism in the animals. It's not that bad for real. In fact, the movie conveniently hides some of the "would-be weird" mouth animation in some of the musical parts because of that carefulness and takes some risks with other scenes.
In terms of voice acting itself the real winners are Timon and Pumbaa, voiced by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen respectively. They completely steal the show even with lines from the original and blends super nicely with the animals, especially Timon, because a meerkat is simply as funny real as animated. Chiwetel Ejiofor's Scar was more "villain" and less "cunning" like the original, putting a sense of danger with his plan and therefore the movie is a little darker because of that. The Be Prepared was transformed into a drama and suspense "song" revealing more the horrible plan that is to kill his brother and king.
Donald Glover and Beyoncé were a surprising combo, especially, because I thought I wouldn't be able to separate the superstar level, especially with Beyoncé, and pretend I wasn't seeing a lion being a world-star diva. But it works, most of the times. There are times where you say "oh that's so cute look at them" and there are times when you just imagine Nala belting in Coachella vibes for a hundred thousand people :sweat_smile:.
In terms of music production, it still maintains the quality associated with the original's soundtrack. Just from the beginning with Lebo M. returning with his full power for Circle of Life, but also passing with the obvious star vocalist Beyoncé creating a beautiful rendition of Nala's Can You Feel The Love Tonight with Donald Glover as well, showing that she has a trained and connected voice, using mostly the riffs and runs in head voice mixed with that Disney's touch to it. Also the new music from her, Spirit, was a nice surprise connecting two parts of the world of The Lion King. (Also keep for the credits to hear a new song from Elton John which was a nice addition as well).
These are the main parts of the movie. Some will like it, some will love it and some will prefer the original afterwards. But there's no denial that it wasn't just a bland remake. There were talent involved, from the CGI animators to the music producers and performers. It's a great tribute to one of the best animated movies of all time, showing a new modern light to it and introducing a beautiful story to the younger audience.
