Instead of an animated remake next summer, Disney is giving us a movie based on one of their theme park rides. Check out the new trailer and poster for Disney’s Jungle Cruise.
While films based on Disney theme park attractions have been somewhat hit or miss (Eddie Murphy’s horrible Haunted Mansion movie and that weird Country Bears film come to mind, not to mention how the Pirates of the Caribbean films overstayed their welcome), this one looks like it could be a lot of fun. Let’s hope so!
There are four more Turner Classic Movies (TCM) Big Screen Classics films left in 2019. Go see them! For the latest information and to find a theater near you, visit the Fathom Events website at fathomevents.com/tcm. Here’s the schedule.
Alien (1979) – 40th Anniversary — October 13, 15, and 16
I am drowning my sorrows from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ NLDS loss last night with this fun new trailer and poster for Pixar’s next animated feature Onward.
And check out this fun trailer reaction video with the film’s stars Chris Pratt and Tom Holland.
Some serious marketing started today for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 58th animated motion picture Frozen 2. A new poster along with a new “special look” video have been plastered all over social media.
And this “special look” video includes some of the new song “Into the Unknown” written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez and sung by the voice of Elsa herself, Idina Menzel.
Fancy technology and new CGI tools can’t save this dull, uninspired remake of Disney’s beloved animated musical The Lion King.
Photorealistic CGI Pride Rock in THE LION KING (2019)
Directed by Jon Favreau [Iron Man (2008), The Jungle Book (2016)], this new photorealistic re-telling of The Lion King is mostly a shot-for-shot and almost word-for-word remake of the 1994 original animated film from Disney Animation. The filmmakers have provided us with a beautifully-shot nature documentary-style of film (with animals that speak English, that is…) that sacrifices art for realism.
Scar and the hyenas in THE LION KING (2019)
The realism, while very well done, strips the story of one of the things that made it great in the first place—the incredible art and animation created by the artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Without the art and heightened interpretation of the natural world as done by the Disney Animation team, the film just becomes an impressive but lifeless technological shell of its former self.
Young Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa in THE LION KING (2019)
A major disappointment in choosing to follow the original script so closely is that the new vocal and musical artists brought on board (namely Donald Glover, the voice of grown-up Simba, Beyoncé, the voice of grown-up Nala, and music producer Pharell Williams) weren’t given anything new or interesting to do (Beyoncé gets half a new song near the end of Act II and is also involved with a Lion King-inspired album soon to be released but that’s it). I hate to be prescriptive here, but I was hoping for at least some new songs or some new material for these incredibly talented people to participate in that would make this re-telling more unique (think of what Disney did with the Broadway production of The Lion King).
The comic relief characters Timon (voiced by Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (voiced by Seth Rogen) are funny enough and, thankfully, get a new line or two that actually made me laugh, but still should have been given more to do as well. And, sadly, the great actor Chiwetel Ejiofor’s interpretation of the villainous Scar can’t compare with the campy and scary performance of Jeremy Irons from the original animated film.
Every five minutes during the screening, I just wanted the projectionist to roll the 1994 original instead of this needless, uninventive rehash. I know that Disney is probably not going to stop with these remakes, at least not in my lifetime, but I sure wish they would just appropriately honor and re-release the original animated films on the big screen and focus their tremendous creative and financial resources in more original ways.
Nala and Simba feeling the love tonight in THE LION KING (2019)
