The Lion King - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Lion King



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Of all the beloved Disney animated classics, I don’t ANY has been as wildly socially popular as the 1994 film, The Lion King. It’s been made into a musical, had countless soundtracks and scores releases, had a successful TV show spinoff with Timon and Pumba as the leads (Disney’s side characters were usually their strongest points from the classic era), and it has been labeled the #1 Disney movie of all times in both sales and popularity. Part of that could be because the film was so heavily shakesperean in nature (seriously, this is “Hamlet” with lions if you think about it), so you can bet your last red cent that Disney was chomping at the bit to get it remade into a live action film like they have been doing with all of their others lately. Sadly, this suffers the same fate as Beauty and the Beast, having lots of pomp and flair, but lacking the soul and heart that made the original animated film so widely loved.

A new prince is born to the African pride rock lion clan. A little boy named Simba (voiced JD McCrary as a child) to King Mufasa (James Earl Jones reprising his role) and queen Sarabi (Alfre Woodard). Everyone is ecstatic to meet the new prince, except for one long figure. Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the weakened and bitter brother to King Mufasa. You see, with the new prince on the throne, his right of succession is pretty much nonexistent, especially since he has no hope of physically overpowering Mufasa either. Craftily and cunningly, Scar watches the young prince grow, only to slowly try and wheedle him into more and more dangerous situations, hoping nature will take it’s course. Unfortunately nature is a bit slower than necessary, so Scar teams up with the conniving hyenas to lure Simba and Mufasa into a death trap.

Despite his best efforts, Mufasa is the only one dead, while Simba is left for dead after falling down a ravine. Thusly he can take his “rightful” place as King of the Lions, leaving Simba to slink off into the night after watching his father die. Luckily for the poor cub, he’s taken in by a kindly warthog named Pumba (Seth Rogan) and his wise cracking Meerkat friend, Timon (Billy Eichner). There they teach the young prince to live life one day at a time, carefree and without any responsibility in their seclusion. But as these things always do, fate comes a knocking, drawing Simba back to Pride Rock to take vengeance upon his uncle for Mufasa’s death and take his place as the rightful ruler.

The Lion King is a decent movie, but it just lacks the soul and heart of the original. The movie works as a national geographic set piece, with gorgeous visuals of African landscapes, but the movie (much like Beauty and the Beast) can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be it’s own thing, or be a clone of the original. Which means that you’ll have entire scenes that are near word for word from the 1994 film, only for others to be completely reworked and done differently. Many times only cosmetically, as they would take a specific scene from the original and just alter the wording slightly, usually just enough to NOT be the same thing, but still be so similar that long time fans will easily see the similarities.

The best part of the entire movie is probably gawking at the visuals. Disney out did themselves this time, as they blended CGI and live action so seamlessly that you can’t tell where the CGI ends and real life begins. Or even if the movie IS CGI, or just live action? Or no live action at all! To put it mildly the animation and CGI is so incredible that I had a really difficult time trying to discern whether some scenes/characters were actually animated or not. There’s some seams and chinks in the digital armor here and there, but this is just lovely to look at from any angle.

The voice acting is well done, with James Earl Jones reprising his iconic role as Mufasa once more. The only thing is that he’s gotten a bit older and he’s having a hard time having that powerful commanding voice he once held as a result. Still, it’s great to see the guy back in the saddle 25 years later, as his voice is recognized worldwide for this role. Everyone else does a good job, especially Seth Rogen as Pumba. My only disappointment here was Nathan Lane not being Timon and Jeremy Irons not being Scar. They hammed their roles up so magnificently that it’s REALLY hard to replace them. Chiwetel does a solid job as scar, but he’s a bit less menacing here I noticed.




Rating:

Rated PG for sequences of violence and peril, and some thematic elements




Video:

Finished at 2K from a 6.5K source, the 1080p Blu-ray disc for The Lion King is absolutely fantastic. The rich coloring the savanna desert is jaw dropping, with deep oranges, hot earth tones and rich blues and greens for the watering hole areas. Blacks are deep and inky in the shadows, showing off great shadow detail at places like Pride Rock while Nala escapes. As does the amazing CGI and live action blending of the animals themselves. The individual hairs and lines on the animals are absolutely incredible. You don’t know where the CGI ends and the live action begins at times! There are some mildly soft spots throughout the film, and it’s a bit brighter than I would have liked (the 4K UHD dims the image ever so slightly and looks a bit more natural when comparing side by side), otherwise this is a near perfect disc.







Audio:

Like usual, Disney puts the Atmos track on the 4K UHD disc, while leaving the Blu-ray with a slightly lessor 7.1 DTS-HD MA track that has the typical Disney problems as of late. The track’s dynamics are a bit squashed as is the volume level a bit low (no worries there, a quick uptick of the receiver by 4 Dbs fixes that). The track is by no means a bad mix at all, but rather a mildly muted one that isn’t as tip top as others in it’s weight class. The dialog reproduction is really well done, with songs flowing from one end of the sound to stage to another. Surrounds get a hefty workout throughout the movie, with the stampede and end battle on Pride Rock being the most notable, but bass is a little bit anemic and really doesn’t punch as well as it’s Atmos brother on the other disc. It’s a solid enough mix, but one that is every so slightly hampered and not as demo worthy as it could be.







Extras:

• Perfecting the Pride – Join the filmmakers on their research trip to Africa as they immerse themselves in the real world of "The Lion King." From the animals in the pride, to the smallest of insects and the grasslands in the savanna, experience the attention to detail that brought the film to life.
• The Journey to "The Lion King" –
-- The Music – Go inside the studio with the cast and crew as they work to honor and elevate The Lion King's beloved music.
-- The Magic – Discover how the filmmakers blended the traditional filmmaking techniques with virtual reality technology to create amazing movie magic.
-- The Timeless Tale – Filmmakers and cast reflect on the story that has moved generations and share how this Lion King carries a proud legacy forward.
• More to Be Scene – Recording studio and layer-by-layer progressions of some of most iconic moments in "The Lion King."
-- "Circle of Life" – Peel back the layers of effects and go behind the scenes of this iconic musical moment from the film
-- "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" – See all the effects, talent and fun that went into creating this vibrant version of "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" for the movie
-- "Hakuna Matata" – Join Donald Glover (Simba), Seth Rogen (Pumbaa) and Billy Eichner (Timon) in the studio for the making of this memorable scene.
• Music Videos
-- "Never Too Late" (lyric video) by Elton John
-- "Spirit" performed by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
• Filmmaker Introduction
• Audio Commentary – By Director Jon Favreau.
• Song Selection
-- "Circle of Life"
-- "I Just Can't Wait to be King"
-- "Be Prepared"
-- "Hakuna Matata"
-- "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
-- "Spirit"
-- "Never Too Late"
• Digital Exclusive - Pride Lands Pedia —Dung beetle shares the importance of his "roll" in the African Savanna in a fun, bug's eye view of the land and its inhabitants.

Final Score: ​

The Lion King is not a bad movie, or a great movie in reality. It’s simply going to be a movie that most Disney fans will remember as just being an “ok” experience. The movie is gorgeous in it’s visuals, sumptuous in its scope, but just a little lacking in heart and soul as it has an identity crisis over whether it wants to be a clone of the animated movie or not. The Blu-ray is a very nice Disney release, complete with solid extras, great video and good audio. Both the Blu-ray and the 4K UHD are more similar than not ,but in this case I'm definitely giving the nod to the 4K release due to some pretty decent upgrades in both video AND audio. That being said, this is an entertaining watch for fans of the classic movie, and while not an IDEAL remake, is still fun enough.


Technical Specifications:


Starring: Chiwetel Eijiofor, John Oliver, James Earl Jones, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Donald Glover, Beyonce
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Written by: Jeff Nathanson (Screenplay), Brenda Chapman (Story By)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Disney/Buena Vista
Rated: PG
Runtime: 118 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 22nd, 2019

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will stick with the original.

 

[jdubs75]

Thank you Michael! I really wish Disney would address the audio issues. I don't understand why the leave Atmos to the UHD only?!

 

[Michael Scott]

Thank you Michael! I really wish Disney would address the audio issues. I don't understand why the leave Atmos to the UHD only?!

Fox and Sony do the same thing. If I had to make an educated guess it's the good old "carrot in front of the horse" as a reason to upgrade to 4K.

 

[jdubs75]

Fox and Sony do the same thing. If I had to make an educated guess it's the good old "carrot in front of the horse" as a reason to upgrade to 4K.

Exactly what they are doing! Unfortunately I'm stuck with Blu-Ray. The picture from my Sony 55ES in my theater just looks so good still that I cannot convince myself that i need to spend the $$$s on a 4k projector.