Just saw it. Wasn't sure I really wanted to but DS really wanted to go and we have AMC A-List so didn't hand over extra money for it. Prior to movie they let too much PR depend on Beyonce and of course as soon as it's ready to release she uses it to PR herself. The media they focused on her at the premiere which was a true disservice to the real actors who carried the movie. But I told myself that Nala is such a small part in the movie and hopefully there won't be much focus. Just don't understand why Disney felt the need to hire a "celebrity" for a part when they aren't even an actor for such a collaborative movie.
CGI was great, detail amazing, DH couldn't stop talking about it. If you are one to really look at it in detail a few scenes were not to my liking .. mostly large animal scenes where the perspectives were off, animals not in proportion to each other and surroundings. A few animals talking didn't work. But overall visually beautiful.
I was one who was NOT HAPPY that we didn't have original stars for Timon, Pumba and Scar. I didn't think they could make it work. Well Timon & Pumba were excellent, they made it their own, some new jokes and honestly they were the stars of the show. I really loved Simba, more than the original. He created his own style character, love his voice and it worked. Not sure why all hate on Scar .... while Iron's Scar was evil in a powerful way, this one was a beaten down struggling lion that became evil in different way, I was okay with the voice actor since his story was slightly different. They Hyenas were their own, they were scary as opposed to more comical, they were violent and they drew me in. Sarabi and Rafiki were well voiced, really felt the characters. And back to Nala, smaller part but wow ... so bad. Sounded like she was reading from a script. No feeling, no fluctuations, no acting ability. She was so far below the quality around her. If they really wanted her celebrity they should have let her sing but had an actor do the part. It was distracting, especially when we had all these wonderful voices and her talking voice didn't fit in with the others. It was like who let her in this party.
Because theaters mostly full and we decided to buy tickets last night we got stuck in 3D theater. I usually don't need that but it really did make the scenery pop out and think it worked great on this movie.
Off-topic: I love the Lion King Show at AK EXCEPT for the "Can you feel the love" with the birds and flying acrobatics. It's such and upbeat show and that is such a slow boring moment. Well I realized I hadn't seen original movie in long time and when it go to the scene with the song and just two of them .... I felt the same as the show, it was slow and boring. Even with a pretty song, it took away from movie too.
There has to be some different term to describe what this will be. How can they call it live when every single image is CGI? My son is a videophile and I’m sure he’d cringe at my ignorance but I just don’t get it.
Disney just seems to want to pretend that CGI is real (aka Soarin') film. Maybe there is an industry name or category for what it is and if so they need to call it that. Nothing on that screen was "live" so enough already.
) and will be looking closer at the effects.
