Lion King is a franchise that has always meant a lot to me, my favorite Disney movie of all time (and given the current climate, I doubt that's gonna change)
Now, if you didn't know, they're making a new move. Mufasa The Lion King, which promises to be the next introduction in a sprawling franchise of hyper realistic Lion King CGI movies, likened to Star Wars by Disney employees. It will be a prequel focusing on Mufasa's (and to a lesser extent, Scar's) origins.
Now, I could rant about how unfitting the animation style is, how souless and cash grab-y the whole things sounds, and how they go against pre-established Lion King lore (not even in cool ways) BUT, that's probably been discussed a thousand times since the movie was annnounced way back when, I wanna criticize (and poke fun at) a recent article.
"The first Lion King was criticized for being too close to the original." -CBR
Yeah, among other things. I think people would be a lot more forgiving if it was a good unoriginal remake.
"The latest prequel pushes the boundaries and tells a new story and Disney's live-action department can learn a lot from its performance."
Now this, THIS is the line that got me heated. Lemme just repeat the important part.
"The latest prequel pushes the boundaries and tells a new story."
THE LATEST PREQUEL PUSHES THE FUCKING BOUNDARIES AND TELLS A NEW STORT! (Paraphrased)
That is a demented sentence, holy shit. I don't think I need to spell it out, but it isn't boundary pushing to tell a new story, that's the default form of telling stories.
"Oh, but they're just saying it's an improvement on what the departments been doing."
Fair, but take this into account. Does Captain Assaultman deserve praise when he does the bare fucking minimum and stop assaulting people every time he does anything?
Anyhow, some other bits stuck out to me.
"Disney is in a fascinating position as it gears itself up for a potential Renaissance era anew."
Huh? Buddy, HUH?
Don't get me wrong, Disney's a century old, they've made movies bad and good, they COULD absolutely bounce back and make the greatest movies- nay the greatest stories ever told. But what have they done to imply a Renaissance? Make mediocre-at-best movies?
"renew them with original ideas and a live-action edge."
Did you have to say that? To my face?
"Disney strengthens its image and, more importantly, improves upon its storytelling again."
Yeehaw partner, that's right, yet another fat Disney win. Dear Mickey, this company doesn't know what failure means!
Seriously, this article is so shill-ish, it feels like a Disney bigwig wrote it themself.
1: I don't think Mufasa The Lion King being made strengthened Disney's image in anyone's eyes except, apperantly the goober who wrote this article. The movie has to fight an uphill battle to prove itself to audiences, and that is a GOOD thing.
2: What improvement on its story telling? Were you part of the test audiences? The movie could be an insult to the very idea of storys, like you watch it and just keel over from sheer bad writing. All you know they improved on is actually telling original stroies, which is hardly something to praise, as I've said.
Anyway, just wanted to rant about it. I'd like to close off by saying something nice though, the CGI used in the new Lion King remake and its upcoming prequel is genuinely gobsmacking, that stuff rocks. I just wish it was used in a good movie, and that instead of invading a franchise better suited to other mediums, it had a new IP (or an old one that didn't work so welll with the tech of the time) to really push the visuals to their fullest.
I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on Mufasa The Lion King!
