The Lion King

http://www.disney.co.uk/lionking/index.jsp

I have long been a fan of Disney, from classic Disney when I saw Bambi at the cinema as a child, all the way through to their recent collaborations with Pixar. But one of the Disney films I had never seen was The Lion King. This has shocked a lot of people I know as The Lion King is not only regarded as one of the best Disney films, it's also all about lions. Which I love.

So when I heard that The Lion King was being re-released at the cinema in 3D I knew I had to take the opportunity to finally see it.

*synopsis contains spoilers*

The story, for those unfamiliar, is of Simba, a lion cub born to the lion king Mufasa on Pride Rock in Africa. He is a mischievous cub, always getting into scrapes, until one day his father is killed trying to save him from a wildebeest stampeed. Convinced by his uncle Scar that he should leave Pride Rock to avoid the shame of his actions, Simba runs away vowing never to return. He soon collapses from the heat in the wastelands and is rescued by a meerkat named Timon and a warthog named Pumbaa who teach him their philosophy of 'hakuna matata' which means no worries. All is well with the three of them until one day when a lioness called Nala tries to kill Pumbaa. Simba soon realises this is the lioness he grew up with and she convinces him to return to his homeland and face up to his uncle who has run the kingdom into the ground.

I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed with The Lion King. I wanted to see it for so many years and I really wanted to love it. I thought the animation was excellent but the story left something to be desired. And considering my love of lions I feel that says quite a lot. I thought the middle section with Timon and Pumbaa was the most aimed at children and as such, the least enjoyable for me. I couldn't help but feel if I'd seen it when I was younger I might've liked it more.

I also found the voice actors very distracting. Whereas Disney/Pixar tend to go for unknown or character actors now, it seems back then they went for the most recognisable voices possible. *If you don't know who the voice actors are and don't want to know, don't read the rest of this.* The most recognisable of all the voices is James Earl Jones as Mufasa, the whole time I was waiting for him to say "Luke, I am your father". I mean who casts Darth Vader as a voice in a Disney film? The next was Rowan Atkinson as Mufasa's advisor Zazu, a very odd choice for a mostly American cast. And of course, the villain of the piece had to be English didn't he? Jeremy Irons seemed to relish his role as Scar, and did a wonderful job, but again, he has a very recognisable voice. *Okay, now you're safe to read on.*

Aside from playing spot the voice actor I just found the film to be a little on the boring side. Knowing that Elton John wrote the songs for the film I was also a bit disappointed that there weren't that many songs in it. I'd expected there to be lots more. And finally, I don't think the 3D really added anything. Even my friends who were fans of the film said the same. 

Having said all that, I think if you're already a fan, it will be nice to see on the big screen again. If you haven't seen it, try to keep your expectations low. And if you don't like it, well then why are you reading this? 6 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 8th October 2011

UK Release Date - 7th October 2011

Cast Overview:

(If you don't want to know, don't scroll down!)

Young Simba ~ Jonathan Taylor Thomas

Adult Simba ~ Matthew Broderick

Young Nala ~ Niketa Calame

Adult Nala ~ Moira Kelly

Mufasa ~ James Earl Jones

Timon ~ Nathan Lane

Pumbaa ~ Ernie Sabella

Scar ~ Jeremy Irons

 Zazu ~ Rowan Atkinson

Shenzi ~ Whoopi Goldberg

Director(s) ~ Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff

Writer(s) ~ Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton (Screenplay),

Brenda Chapman (Story Supervisor),

Burny Mattison, Barry Johnson, Lorna Cook, Thom Enriquez, Andy Gaskill, Gary Trousdale, Jim Capobianco, Kevin Harkey, Jorgen Klubien, Chris Sanders, Tom Sito, Larry Leker, Joe Ranft, Rick Maki, Ed Gombert, Francis Glebas and Mark Kausler (Story),

J.T. Allen, George Scribner, Miguel Tejada-Flores, Jenny Tripp, Bob Tzudiker, Christopher Vogler, Kirk Wise and Noni White (Additional Story Material).

Tangled

http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/tangled/

Ah, the first Disney movie of the year, and who doesn't love Disney? *Cue everyone to leave a comment badmouthing Disney!* Well me personally, I LOVE Disney. Pixar have recently taken over in my animated affections but Disney movies still hold a place in my heart. The last 'pure' (see below # for definition) Disney film I saw at the cinema was The Princess and The Frog which really surprised me. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did as I'd been watching and loving Disney Pixar for so long.

Unfortunately this meant that I put quite a lot of expectation onto poor Tangled and I'm sorry to say that it did suffer a little under the strain.

Tangled is a re-jigging of the familiar fairy tale 'Rapunzel' and indeed features Rapunzel (and her abundant flowing locks) in the lead role. Rapunzel is a princess who was kidnapped as a baby and locked away in a tower. Her kidnapper, an old hag who has discovered that Rapunzel's hair contains magical powers that can make her young again, locks her in a tower and tells her frightful stories so that she will never leave. The hag, Mother Gothel, tells Rapunzel that she is her mother and is keeping her in the tower for her own good. Rapunzel grows up never knowing of her real heritage, and although she loves her (fake) mother, and would never defy her wishes, she longs for the outside world. In particular she longs to see the lights which appear in the sky every year on her birthday. Unbeknownst to Rapunzel, the lights are lanterns released by Rapunzel's parents, the king and queen, and of the inhabitants of the kingdom. They release the lanterns every year on Rapunzel's birthday hoping that one day, they will bring about Rapunzel's safe return. 

Through a series of events which I won't go into, Rapunzel meets handsome thief and general scallywag Flynn Rider, who agrees to lead Rapunzel to the castle so that she can watch the lanterns on her 18th birthday. Of course, this being Disney she meets a whole host of unlikely friends and dastardly foes along the way to her destination. 

I said earlier that Tangled suffered under the strain of my expectations of it. And it did. Please don't take this to mean that I didn't enjoy it and wouldn't recommend it. As I did, and I would. I just wouldn't necessarily rush out and buy it. For me Tangled felt like it lacked something? I have a feeling this was the lack of a real villain. Don't get me wrong, mother Gothel is far from a kindly old lady, she kidnaps baby Rapunzel and locks her in a tower for Pete's sake, but she isn't really evil? She takes care of Rapunzel for all of those years, doesn't overly seem to mistreat her and Rapunzel loves her as her own mother for most of the movie? This leads me to think she can't have been that bad? It's only when facing the loss of her secret youth that she strikes out. To me, this just ain't old school Disney. The villains used to be truly evil and strike fear into the hearts of small children. And I don't think Tangled's Gothel would scare a mouse, let alone the hardened youth of today.

As usual I digress. Tangled is as well made as you would expect from Disney's standards, the 3D is excellent, especially in the beautiful lantern scene. The characters have all been brilliantly brought into the 21st century (Gothel aside as she should have been scarier), the songs are good and not too annoying or too frequent for non musical fans and it's a movie that all ages can, and probably will, enjoy. 7 out of 10.

#'pure' Disney meaning the old style animation - although I appreciate Tangled is CG - and not in conjunction with Pixar

Viewing Date - 6th February 2011

UK Release Date - 28th January 2011

Cast Overview:

(If you don't like knowing who the voices are DONT SCROLL DOWN! ;0)

Rapunzel ~ Mandy Moore

Flynn Rider ~ Zachary Levi

Mother Gothel ~ Donna Murphy

Stabbington Brother ~ Ron Perlman

Director(s) ~ Nathan Greno and Byron Howard

Writer(s) ~ Dan Fogelman (Screenplay)

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (Fairy Tale)