“The Lion King” (2019) Movie Review

    One of my favorite Disney movies growing up was “The Lion King”.  It had great music and was just an entertaining animated feature.  The film also came out when I was around nine years old so it was a newer Disney film compared to movies like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” or “Cinderella”.  When I heard they were doing a live action remake, I was intrigued, especially since it was going to be directed by Jon Favreau.

    For the few people who haven’t seen the original Disney film, “The Lion King” tells the story of Simba, the young son of King Mufasa, as he learns about the circle of life from his father.  Unfortunately, Mufasa’s brother Scar wants to rule and he will do anything to be the new king, even if it means killing his brother and nephew.  Simba manages to escape Scar’s wrath and is raised by Pumbaa and Timon.  After growing up, Simba’s old friend (and new love interest) Nala runs into him and persuades Simba to return and reclaim his rightful place as king.

    For the most part, this is a pretty faithful remake and plays out pretty much beat for beat.  I really enjoyed the film and thought it was pretty well done.  Most critics have trashed the movie and the general consensus among them seems to be the film ‘lacked heart’.  I, for one, felt the movie had plenty of heart and while the movie looks more realistic, I don’t feel like that takes anything away from the film as a whole.  I am not the biggest Disney fan ever but I really enjoyed this film.

    Now, one thing I do want to discuss really quickly is the fact that this is being labeled a live action remake.  The phrase ‘live action’ is being used very liberally here since the film is mostly computed animated.  Yes, it is meant to feel real and the characters are modeled after real animals, but that doesn’t change the fact that the label of ‘live action’ is a bit false.

    While the film is largely computer animated, it does feel awfully real most of the time.  There are a lot of shots that feel straight out of a National Geographic or Disneynature documentary.  It’s these moments with small details that really help sell the movie and set it apart from the original animated version.

    The voice cast all did a great job.  Casting Donald Glover, also known as Childish Gambino, as Simba was an inspired choice.  I was a bit surprised how small Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s part was but she did well with what she was given.  I loved that James Earl Jones returned as the voice of Mufasa.  James Earl Jones has such an iconic voice that it would have been nearly impossible to replace him.  Lastly, Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner knocked it out of the park as Pumbaa and Timon.  Timon and Pumbaa were easily my favorite characters in the movie.

    Ultimately, “The Lion King” doesn’t have much new to offer besides it’s new realistic look and feel but would anyone really want them to change the classic film too much anyway?  Just sit back, repeat to yourself ‘hakuna matata’, and just enjoy the film.

Grade: B+

“Neighbors” (1981) Movie Review

    Before the Seth Rogen and Zac Efron film “Neighbors” and it’s sequel, there was a little known 1981 film which was also titled “Neighbors”.  It’s hard to imagine why the film isn’t more well known especially considering the history behind the film.

    Comedic legends John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd star in this film about, well, neighbors one year following their successful turn in the comedy classic “The Blues Brothers”.  “Neighbors” was the last film performance of comedic legend John Belushi.  The film had a troubled production.  Belushi and Aykroyd switched roles during pre-production, the pair clashed with director John G. Avildsen and tried to get him removed from the project, and Belushi’s drug use proved to be a problem during production.

    One thing I was extremely curious about was how John G. Avildsen would handle a comedy.  For the most part, I am a fan of Avildsen’s work.  While there were comedic moments in his work like “Rocky” and “The Karate Kid”, they were primarily dramas.  I almost feel like Belushi and Aykroyd might have been right on wanting to remove him from the project.  While I feel like the movie had elements that worked and were funny, I feel like tone was a major problem with the film and has kept it from being remembered as a classic.  The film felt very rushed with most of the events taking place within a day’s time span.  I also feel like it either doesn’t go over the top enough to be silly or doesn’t make it realistic enough to relate to.  All that being said, there were a lot of parts I chuckled or laughed at which is the important part of a comedy.

    Aside from the comedy, I felt the incidental music took away from the film some.  The music cues felt straight out of “Looney Toons” and I personally thought it felt distracting.  Bill Conti, Academy Award winning composer of “The Right Stuff”, typically delivers strong scores but I did not care for his work on this project.  On the positive side, I really liked how the houses in the film felt real and lived in.  I appreciate attention to detail in films like that.

    My late parents had this film on a CED (Capacitance Electronic Disc) years ago.  This particular cover on the retro VHS blu-ray cover was the same cover on the CED so it brought back some fond memories.  I really appreciate the effort Mill Creek Entertainment put into this release.  I am also thankful to Mill Creek Entertainment for providing me a review copy.  They are one of my favorite home video distributors out there now and they are a very kind business.

    As far as the home video release, I adore the retro video cover.  As Heath at the YouTube channel Cereal at Midnight stated, I prefer the retro covers to movies that were actually old enough to have a VHS release over newer movies like the remake of “It” which came out last year.

Grade: C+

Buy “Neighbors” on Blu-ray with Retro VHS Slipcover Here!!!