*“A lot of attention is paid to the technology but really these are hand made,” said Jon Favreau (Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast), director of the Walt Disney Studios’ presentation of The Lion King, about the film’s animation.
The Lion King, which arrives in theatres on July 19, is on the brink of futuristic cinema. It uses virtual reality tools with motion capture and VR/AR technology. It offers something we have not seen much, if at all, in film animation.
“The animators were working on every shot, every environment you see in the film, except one-shot is a real photographic shot. Everything else is built from scratch by artists.”
The storyline of The Lion King is the same but the virtual cinematic technology, the funny script line deliveries by the cast and the adlibs – especially those by Primetime Emmy winning Seth Rogen (Steve Jobs), who plays warthog Pumbaa and Emmy nominated Billy Eichner (“Parks & Recreation”), who plays meerkat Timon – set this version apart from the 1994 version of The Lion King. Let us not forget this version of The Lion King as the voice-over work of global superstar Beyonce’!
“We did a lot of improvising,” said Seth about him and Billy working together. “We were actually together as we were recording it.”
All those scenes in the original Lion King are there, with slight changes to only enhance what we all have grown to love because of the inspiration the film provokes. The Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture presentation is Rated PG and is produced by Favreau, Jeffrey Silver and Karen Gilchrist. It is a Walt Disney Pictures, Fairview Entertainment production. The Lion King takes place in the African savanna following the life of a young lion cub called Simba played by JD McCrary (“K. C. Undercover”) who wants to be so much like his father King Mufasa played by Tony Award winner James Earl Jones (The Lion King) it gets him in to trouble. The suspense comes as King Mufasa’s jealous brother Scar played by Academy Award-nominated Chiwetel Ejlofor (Doctor Strange) takes advantage of the young cubs mischief ways by executing a plan that kills his brother the King, then he tells a young Simba to run away – making him believe that he, not Scar is the caused of his fathers’ death. What happens to Simba and how he survives is the climax of the classic tale of Simba – The Lion King.
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“The cycle of life,” said Golden Globe-winning Donald Glover (Spider-Man: Home Coming) is the reason he was attracted to the role of the adult Simba. “It’s good to make a movie that’s global and metropolitan in a sense – citizens of the world. He (Director Jon Favreau) made sure to talk about how connected we are. He was really good in talking about that upfront with the beginning of it. He kind of did that in the Jungle Book 2. The Jungle Book story is the same…I think the same…happens in this one.”
Other characters and cast members included in The Lion King are lion cub Nala, Simba’s childhood best-friend played by Shahadi Wright Joseph (Broadway’s The Lion King) and adult Nala played by 23-time Grammy Award winner Beyonce’ Knowles-Carter (Dreamgirls); Prideland Queen Sarabi is played by Academy Award-nominated Alfred Woodard (“Luke Cage”); the wise grandfather mandrill is played by South African actor John Kani (Black Panther); the red-billed hornbill who acts as Simba’s babysitter and King Mufasa’s adviser is played by multi-Primetime Emmy winner Jon Oliver (“The Daily Show”), and the spotted hyenas who are Scars’ henchmen include Florence Kasumba (Black Panther), Eric Andre’ and Keegan-Michael Key (“Key and Peele”). www.Movies.Disney.com/The-Lion-King-2019
SYNDICATED COLUMN: Eunice Moseley, has an estimated weekly readership of over ¼ million with The Pulse of Entertainment. She is also a Public Relations Strategist and Business Management Consultant at Freelance Associates, and is Promotions Director (at-large) for The Baltimore Times. www.ThePulseofEntertainment.com. EVENT: Eunice is founder of the annual “Uplifting Minds II” Entertainment Conference (ULMII), into its 20th year, held in Baltimore Saturday April 20, 2019 in partnership with Security Square Mall and The Baltimore Times and in Los Angeles Saturday, November 9, 2019 at the Los Angeles Convention Center (511) offering Entertainment Business Panel and a Talent Showcase and Competition (vocal, songwriting, dance and acting) with over $15,000 valued in prizes. Celebrating 20 years! Log onto www.UpliftingMinds2.com for more info or to participate as a panelist or talent.
www.GoFundMe.com/Uplifting-Minds-II-Entertainment-Conference
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