346. The Lion KIng; movie review

THE LION KING
Cert PG
118 mins
BBFC advice: Contains mild threat, violence

If the animated version of The Lion King had not existed, then I would now be raving about this CGI movie.
Indeed, I would probably have rated it 10/10.
But the 1994 film was one of our family favourites when our children were growing up. We know its story inside out and back to front. Ditto the great songs, written by Tim Rice and Elton John.
So, while Mrs W and I were hugely impressed by the lifelike images conjured up by director's Jon Favreau's team, our interest waned because we knew what was coming.
The tale is much the same as that of the animation - Scar (voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor) tries to manoeuvre himself to be king of jungle despite being third in line to the throne behind his brother Mustafa (James Earl Jones) and his baby son, Simba.
Let's just spin back a moment. Yes, that it is correct - James Earl Jones, the original voice of Mustafa, is back... at the age of 88.
There are also a few comedy characters who add a tad of levity to this family crisis - notably Zazu (John Oliver), the officious red-billed hornbill and Poomba (Seth Rogen), a warthog who helps nurture Simba.
I would have said satirical chat-show host Oliver was a curiosity if he hadn't had form in Wonder Park and The Smurfs franchise (how is anyone who appeared in The Smurfs allowed to mock others?).
Rogen, meanwhile, is so much funnier as a computer-generated warthog than he is as the dope-addled character he plays in most of his films.
As anyone who has seen the original Lion King will know, the future of the pride lands depends on Nala (Beyonce Knowles-Carter) persuading Simba (Donald Glover) to take on Scar and his army of hyenas.
His path is difficult but the result is inevitable.
Meanwhile, there is always time for an uplifting song with favourites such as Hakuna Matata being supplemented by The Lion Sleeps Tonight which I haven't been able to get out of my head since watching Favreau's film.
They gave bounce to a movie which, despite its clever CGI, is predictable enough for me to question what the point was.
And then I looked at the box office figures.

Reasons to watch: One of the great Disney stories
Reasons to avoid: Adds little to the original animation

Laughs: One
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? There are a total of 86 different species to be found in this version of The Lion King.

The final word. Jon Favreau: "I knew that with the tools that we had and what the technology had to offer and the team that had done such a great job on ‘Jungle Book’ that there was an opportunity here to show the naturalism of that world." Variety

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