Lion King (1994) vs Lion King (2019 - a critique.
It’s 2019, and you’ve been waiting months and months for the Lion King remake to arrive in theaters. You and your friends go to see a live action remake of one of your favorite animated movies. You go into the movie excited, and then the next thing you know you leave just disappointed. But how? The original lion king was so good, and this remake was essentially shot for shot, not changing much of the story. So why did this one feel so dull? Well the answer is just plain and simple. The freedom and power of animation over live action. The Lion King (2019) is an amazing spectacle, showing just how far technology and CGI in movies has become, but still it just doesn’t have that same energy, vibrance and heart that the original had.
Now this is not a direct attack on the Lion King (2019), but rather just a perfect example of why traditional animation can easily top live action in terms of vibrance and emotion. When you compare key scenes from both the Lion King movies, it’s so easy to see how animation takes the easy victory. Just look at Mufasa’s death scene. The 1994 version had kids crying their eyes out, begging their parents to take them home. So how did the 2019 version fair? Well, let’s just say that a death as impactful as Mufasa’s shouldn’t have kids in the audience giggling. This was a scene that was supposed to be impactful and emotional, but yet it just ended up dryer than a pair of lips in the winter. The fact that the lion’s facial expressions didn’t change, hurt the emotional depth of the scene. When Scar said his famous line “Long live the king!” in the live action version, it just didn’t hit me like it did in the animated version. The animated version sent chills down my spine, it was like someone was standing behind me saying “Mufasa.” in my ear. (Oooooh say it again!) The voices actors killed it, but it was the expression behind it that made the difference. Scar’s expressionless face in the live action version just made me feel like “Oh no! This is easily the most devious lion I’ve ever seen!”. Sarcasm aside, the animated rendition of this scene had an entirely different feel to it. The other version had me in the theater like “Yo, this dude really about to off his brother, thats crazy..” Now of course, when I first watched the Lion King (1994), I was just a little kid and those words didn’t flow through my head. But now as an adult watching that scene, all I can think of is how devious this animated lion looked. Expressions aside, there was also one other place where animation dashed across the finish line, taking first place over live action.
Animation has always had this sense of freedom that comes with it. There’s so much you can do with animation since it’s obviously not real. Just look at the musical number “I just can’t wait to be King. Which is easily the best song on the Lion King soundtrack, next to Hakuna Matata of course. Right as Simba slaps his paw on the ground, the whole scene changes color. It’s so vibrant and colorful and it just helps to convey the colorfulness and playfulness of a young Simba. Throughout the musical number Simba goes around singing and dancing with other animals. By the end of the musical number he gets giraffes, elephants, zebras and all these different animals to work together to create an animal mountain where he stands on top. Not only does this symbolize Simba’s future dominance over the pridelands, but it makes for a beautiful musical number the lends itself to infinite rewatches. So once again we ask, how does the live action version fare? Spoiler alert… Not that well. The colors don’t even change for the musical number. Rather having Simba play around in his colorful surroundings, the live action movies just had him running around. If I wanted to see a lion cub running around, I would have just went to the zoo, for free. Besides the point, animation clearly wins here again. Not only does the animation allow for the animals to express themselves, but it allows for the backgrounds to really pop. The animation allows for all the vibrant colors of the sunset to dance off the screen, and while the live action movie does contain beautiful imagery of nature and the sunset, it pales in comparison to the power and beauty of animation.
Both films have aspects that make them unique in their own way. But animation just seems to present so many more advantages to live action. It’s fluidity, and freedom allows animation to trespass the realms of reality and create worlds that are not only colorful and vibrant but expressive as well.
written by: Tyrell Jordan