Disney really has been killing it lately. They have all the Marvel movies. They have all the Star Wars movies. They have all the Pixar movies. And for the past couple of years, they’ve had all the live-action remakes that anybody’s shown any interest in.
Although the House of Mouse has dabbled in the prospect in years past, since 2014, when the company released Maleficent, a dark deconstruction of the familiar tale of Sleeping Beauty, live-action remakes or latter-day continuations of their stable of animated features have become a staple of the movie studio’s annual slate of releases. Since then, we’ve seen live-action versions of Cinderella (2015), The Jungle Book (2016) and Beauty and the Beast (2017). We’ve also seen (or are about to see) continuations of Winnie the Pooh (in Christopher Robin) and Mary Poppins (in Mary Poppins Returns), as well as a whole slew of classic films reimagined for the 21st century.
Although these movies have been almost unilaterally excellent, the long-promised live action remake of The Lion King has understandably caused more than a few heads to turn. The film would be, after all, based on a movie with no human characters. It would necessarily feature completely computer generated characters in only nominally live-action environments, in effect making it something closer to an animated film in its own right than a truly live-action one.
But the director was excellent. The cast was excellent. The astounding CGI in The Jungle Book served as a convincing proof of concept. And the company’s track record speaks for itself. And now, at long last, we have a trailer to back up the background levels of optimism that have miasmically enveloped this project since it was announced.
Despite my skepticism, I have to count myself among the converted. From the first piercing note the first film’s opening music number to flashes of the film’s cataclysmic stampede to the simply sitting back and watching Simba’s tiny paw step into his father’s sizable footsteps, I was transported to that far-flung first film again. Rather than a tentpole summer feature, it looks like an honest-to-God nature documentary, its iconic moments blown up with all the pomp and circumstance that live-action implies, and the chilling return of James Earl Jones to the role he made famous more than two decades ago.
So, yeah, this movie looks good. Whatever misgivings I had (and may still even had) are at least momentarily assuaged by just how downright spectacular the whole thing looks. Summer can’t get here soon enough by the sound of it.
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