Lion King Teaser, My Thoughts

Like I have said in my blog entry about my thoughts on the trailer for the upcoming remake of Dumbo, Disney has been on a bit of a kick of remaking their classic films from the Animated Canon. Well, another classic is getting that treatment. Which one? Well, The Lion King.

The 32nd film in the Disney Animated Canon, the original Lion King was released in 1994. Influenced by Shakespeare's tale Hamlet, it told the tale of the young lion cub Simba, who fled into exile after he was convinced that he was at fault for the death of his father Mufasa at the hands of his power-hungry uncle Scar. After spending years with the free-living meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa (they call him MR. PIG), he must return to the Pridelands and take back his rightful throne.

The film was a big hit with critics and the box office, becoming the highest-grossing release of 1994, the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time, won two Academy Awards for its music, got a Golden Globe, and was even inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2016 because it was considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Yup. The Lion King has become a bit popular. Even spawned its own little franchise, like a Broadway show, TV shows, and even a couple of direct-to-video sequels.

Considering that unlike much of the films that Disney is remaking, The Lion King has no human characters, they have to take a new approach to remaking it. How? Well, CGI. Yup, this film is getting the CGI treatment. But enough of my yakking, let's look at this teaser!

Ahhh, another beautiful day in the Pridelands. The sun is shining, the temperature is comfortable, and nothing can ever go wrong.

Heh. Only appropriate they got James Earl Jones back to voice Mufasa again.

Those wildebeests gotta hurry! The breakfast buffet closes in 30 minutes!

And there's the African chanting I know everyone had tried to imitate.

Aww, baby Simba looks so cute.

"What's going on? Who woke up from muh nap? Why's everyone looking at me?"

That's right, bow! Bow to the cuteness of the baby lion!

That's quite a cast there.

Well, its not much, but I have to admit, it looks rather interesting. I know some people get up in arms about remakes these days, but hey, the original still exists, you can still watch it. As for me, I'll give it a chance. Might be fun! Although based on what I saw of the reception so far, a lot of people are not ready to endure the trauma of Mufasa dying again...