The Lion King
Lion King was my main obsession/special intrest for YEARS. I found the Broadway show version of it an LSD inspired ass rape. I will never figure out why so many people practically worship it. I can't even wear my Lion King T-shirts anymore without people asking me if I saw the show. I tell them yes and then they're all like, "Wasn't it amazing?" I'm like, "f**k NO!" Everything I loved about the movie was ruined in the Broadway show and I'm convinced Julie Taymore has done acid at least once in her life. I could go on and on until the cows come home about how much I hate the Broadway show but for now I'll just state my main reason. I loved Lion King so much because there were no people or any traces of people in the story. The Broadway show went and put people everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. Even plants are played by people. If it's an African story, why are Timon, Pumbaa and Zazu played by white guys? Don't get me started on their costume desigins either. Go ahead and call me a racist but in a story that's supposed to be African and "timeless", I expect the main cast to be black. Oh and before you call me a racist because I think there are too many white people, I'm white myself. There's also too many references to the human world. At the end of the "I Just Can't Wait to be King", a curtian with a dull colored African design comes down and Zazu remarks "Looks like a shower curtian from Wallmart!" You think it would bother me that Rafiki is played by a woman in this version but it dosen't. If I had been the director, I would have had Timon played by a woman (a black woman by the way). Some people say that would ruin the "bachelor pad" feel of Timon, Pumbaa and Simba but too many people already seem to think Timon is gay and why couldn't a female Timon just be a hardcore tomboy and a "one of the guys" type? I would also have a costume and not a stupid puppet. The costume would even look more like that of a real meerkat but it seems as if they were too concerned with making the costumes facial features look like the characters from the cartoon? Why? They've already ass raped them by adding human faces and changing Zazu's color. Why couldn't they have been more creative and made them look more like realistic versions of the animals? I want to strangle all the critics who praise it for being so creative when it isn't. I also feel there should be more going on in the background. Watching someone standing there singing isn't my idea of entertainment. I would have had some Cirque du Soleil elements, espicaly to the "Hakuna Matata" sequence. I don't know, Lion King was my main obsession for years and as I said, the main reason I loved TLK so much as a kid was beacause there were no human characters; going around and putting people in it, and not even trying to hide their human features is blasphamey in my eyes. The only reason the Broadway show has so much praise is basicaly the "Emperor's New Clothes" phenomenon.
I was never really into Disney as a kid and even now still don't think Disney is as great as people say it is or used to be. Lion King was the only Disney movie I ever got into because it appealed to my intrests. Animals that talked and not having any stupid people in the story.
_________________
Spell meerkat with a C, and I will bite you.
"Overrated" is such a big word. Personally, I won't watch anything that is hyped. Films like "Titanic" or... various films with Johnny Depp. Even though I like him.
I have watched "The Lion King" over and over again. I love the aesthetics of the film, the plot and the dialogues. Of course, it was made for mainstream cinema, but I can enjoy mainstream cinema as much as independent films.
I absolutely loved the songs as well. Elton John and Hans Zimmer did so much for this film.
_________________
EXPANDED CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
"It's how they see things. It's a way of bringing class to an environment, and I say that pejoratively because, obviously, good music is good music however it's created, however it's motivated." - Thomas Newman
No. The story is an adaptation of Hamlet, which is the greatest English language play ever written IMO.
_________________
"Nice to meet you Rose. Run for your life!"
I like The Lion King, but it's not my favorite animated movie, not by far. I wouldn't say that it's overrated, because that's ultimately a matter of personal opinion.
The Lion King has a lot of aesthetical value to it - including its soundtrack, which I think is one of the film's best features, but it just doesn't entertain me as much as it seems to do other people.
I guess I just don't like animal-centric movies as much as movies featuring human beings. They don't capture my interest as much as the latter.
_________________
What fresh hell is this?
No. The story is an adaptation of Hamlet, which is the greatest English language play ever written IMO.
True. I never thought of the film that way.
The Lion King has a lot of aesthetical value to it - including its soundtrack, which I think is one of the film's best features, but it just doesn't entertain me as much as it seems to do other people.
I guess I just don't like animal-centric movies as much as movies featuring human beings. They don't capture my interest as much as the latter.
I think I tend to enjoy animal-centric movies more than ones with human beings, even though one of my favourite films is the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. I love "Finding Nemo" and "Chicken Run" because somehow animals seem to seem less cliché to me. You know, I don't focus on plot as much as the aesthetics. Animal-centric films do not bore me as easily.
_________________
EXPANDED CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
"It's how they see things. It's a way of bringing class to an environment, and I say that pejoratively because, obviously, good music is good music however it's created, however it's motivated." - Thomas Newman
