The Lion King has always been one of the most important names in the field of animation but not only: books, stories of all kinds and even timeless plays, carry on an unchanged story, capable of answering the thousand questions of man. The story of the little lion is unchangeable in time and substance Simba and his family has accompanied the whole world for generations, to the point that it will be very difficult not to meet someone who, at least, does not know the names of the protagonists of the story, even though they have never seen the film directly. Let's see how he fared Jon Favreau director of this photo-reality movie.
The circle of life
The film opens with the dawn kissing Africa as it happened back in 1994: well let's get our teeth off right away, know that the plot has not undergone any changes compared to the original work, the reason is soon said, we are facing narrative and cinematic perfection, what could they have done to improve it? Well there have been some tweaks here and there, the title has got a little something, but nothing to cry out for a miracle. Simba is a little lion who faces life and tries to show (naively) to everyone that he can be more than just a puppy. Mufasa, Simba's father tries to teach him how a King should act rather than do as a King would like: the concept of family and common respect, which connects everything and everyone, that is the circle of life, is something Simba will learn very soon, as in the shadows Uncle Scar aims for the throne of the young prince. We cannot know if going further it leads to the spoiler, so it is better to give a brake to the continuation of the events to avoid revealing the plot beyond to those who have not yet seen the original film.
Live-action or Photo-reality
Jon Favreau stated that his version of The Lion King is actually a Photo-reality movie, where there are only two "real" scenes or physically shot in Africa by the production, all the rest of the time it is the computer graphics that make it as a master and we feel obliged to say: thank God! The implementation of the animated characters is perfect, with a realism that borders on perfection: at impact, the film is a real feast for the eyes, to the point that you may never realize which scenes were shot in Africa. The adaptation this time was sublime, to the point that the half hour that distinguishes today's film from its predecessor enriches and does not deny anything of the past: not being able to tell you anything about the events that lengthen the story, know that the enrichment although not necessary, it is like the aesthetic icing on the already very good cake, that is, it is appropriate to say "the eye also wants its part ”.
Hakuna Matata
If the motto of Timon e Pumba it hasn't changed over the years, either The Lion King he did it: powerful concepts like family, betrayal and redemption are always there, unchanged, so as the little meerkat and the fat warthog would say, Without Thoughts (hakuna matata) thus face the upcoming film. Mistakes? Not that they can be called such, but certainly what is out of place in the European version are the choices of the dubbing: Elisa who plays the role of Nala, she is perfect in singing (God forbid, she is an award-winning artist and with good reason) while perhaps her tone is too adult to play a lioness in her prime; Marco Mengoni, that is ours Simba he is to be rejected in terms of dubbing, while he is also very good at singing and it is a pleasure to listen to him in his natural element. The real problem with the European version is that professional voice actors lack singing, for example Scar masterfully voiced by Maurizio Popolizio, barely mentions the song "I will be King" while in the 1994 version the song had a strong impact, here the "sung" is not in the strings of the talented voice actor and the film suffers a bit. The only criticism that can be leveled at this film is precisely the lack of distinction of roles: who sings should be a singer and do not force him to dubbing, while who dubbed should not be forced to sing, it is not their job and you can feel the difference, in both senses.
