5/10
Hamlet meets David Attenborough in this reissue of a Disney 'classic' from 1994. The excuse for this is that it is now in 3D, a justification that fails to justify itself in the cinema.
Disney-wise, I'm old school. Give me Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi or 101 Dalmatians and I'm happy. Anything from 1960 onwards is an afterthought (yes, including The Jungle Book). Anyway, as well know, Pixar is the new Disney. And while I remember that The Lion King was slightly better than its contemporaries, I'm not a fully paid up member of its fan club. Something to do with the mix of Elton John songs and the worship of a patriarchal monarchy never quite sat easy with me. So I ventured along as much out of a sense of curiosity (why was it No 1 in the USA 2 weeks running?) rather than a burning desire to revisit an earlier pleasure.
What I found was pretty much the same as what was there 17 years ago. Lion is king. King Lion has jealous brother, who schemes to overthrow the good king, and disposes of the son, who has to go off and find himself, before returning to claim what is rightfully his. There are all the standard Disney tropes. Kid loses parents. Kid is exiled. Creepy campy villain cackles and gloats. Comedy friends prance about for easy laughs. Songs get sung. The good prevail over the bad. Jeremy Irons, Rowan Atkinson and James Earl Jones are among those who take the easy pickings of providing voices without having to dress up.
So why has it been dusted down, 3Ded up, and brought back to the cinema? Answer 1. The money they can make by reissuing this exceeds what it costs to retro fit the 3D. Answer 2. Disney are good at recycling old material. If this works, it could go on for several more films. Answer 3. There aren't a lot of decent films for kids around, so why not?
While I don't share Kermode's deep seated loathing for the 3D technology, I have to say that in 98.67% of the films I have seen, it fails to add anything to the experience, apart from a slight murkiness. I was also aware that some of the animation looked a bit ropey - especially the fight between Scar and Simba at the end. Mangy, even. So by all means take your kids along if that's what they, rather than you want (though preferably not is they're as young as the 2 year old that was there today. Parents??!!!/ But don't go imagining that you're going to have a whole new experience. This is just the same film as it was 17 years ago, and animation has moved on a long way since then.
