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davidahallnum5
Sep 30, 202313 min read

The Lion King 3D Blu-ray Review

MOVIE REVIEW

Do I even really need to introduce The Lion King at this point? If you are currently alive, you've most likely come across this film at some point in your life. But if that's not the case for you though, which shouldn't be highly probable, allow me to fill you in. The Lion King is a 1994 Disney animated feature about a young lion cub named Simba who's next in line after his father Mufasa for the place as king. But when Mufasa's jealous brother Scar concocts a plan to kill him and his brother, and comes off half successfully, it forces Simba on the run and leaves the kingdom in ruin. Now, the young firstborn who was initially extremely excited for his place in royalty tries as hard as he can to avoid it. But as he grows up, he'll soon come to face to face with what being the king really means and whether or not he should accept responsibility for it and return to set things right.

Describing why The Lion King is an animated masterpiece only matched by incredibly few films of its sort is a lot like describing why a chocolate chip cookie tastes delicious: there are some things that most people just already know and to dig into it would virtually be digging into the self-evident. Those who have seen the film can tell you exactly why it works the way it does. And even those who haven't checked out this movie yet have probably heard about it from their friends and family. I'm only throwing my own two cents in on the matter because The 3D Dinosaur never plans to leave viewers without an idea on whether or not the movie itself is worth watching even in 2D. But honestly, you're not going to hear much from me you probably haven't heard somewhere else. For most people, that'll be reasonable cause to just skip this section and move onto the 3D review. However, if you've never even heard of The Lion King before, let me sum up for you what you've been missing out on.

The biggest thing I have to mention, of course, is the story itself. The film has a much grander scope than most of Disney's other preceding films such as Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. Its dive into royalty, responsibility, and standing tall against your past make for an engaging saga that feels almost as if it came out of Shakespeare's Hamlet (which it kinda did). However, it also takes time to explore the goofy, slightly more innocent side of things, especially when it comes to our main protagonist Simba, which could be argued makes the story's darker side feel all the more impactful. And the characters that the plot focuses around are all very likable and intriguing. Part of that is due to the impeccable vocal performances (all do a great job, but James Earl Jones is the one who shines the most). But the script is also excellent. It balances the plot, characters, tone, and emotion with such superb pacing that's brisk enough to make the story lean, but not breakneck enough to leave anything feeling underdeveloped. It's rare to see a film this dramatic and high in stake also be completely covered in ninety minutes, and it's even rarer that it feel even shorter than its already short runtime. But through brilliant and consistent storytelling, The Lion King manages to keep itself captivating through and through.

And following The Lion King's story, all other cinematic elements are handled just as splendidly. The animation, even by today's standards, is mesmerizing and vibrant with appealing character designs and stunning set pieces. The songs by Elton John and Tim Rice are all certified bangers and all fit the film perfectly. They can range from bouncy and fun such as with "I Just Can't Wait to be King" to big-scale and dramatic as with the opening song "Circle of Life." Not one song falls flat. And the accompanying score by Hans Zimmer is top-notch, as his work always is (it's The Lion King's time to shine, but on a side note, I will say that it's a real shame how Hans Zimmer's score in this film and The Prince of Egypt are about on par with one another, but of the two movies, only one of them seems to spark frequent conversation). But in here especially, it helps to sell the emotion and the high stakes story beats in its own unique fashion. The comedy also works very well when required, particularly with the personalities of characters like Zazu, Timon, Pumba, and the three hyenas. But even the main ones can sneak in a quotable one-liner or two.

I wish I could say more in this review. But quite frankly, I'd just be repeating myself. As always, it's one thing to describe something and another thing to actually see it. In short, The Lion King is everything you could want from an animated movie. It's funny, it's well-animated, it has likable characters, it's dark, it's engaging, it's grand, it's exhilarating, and it's inspiring. Not one of those elements seem downplayed for the sake of another element. This is one of those rare films where pretty much everything is executed exactly right. And that makes it especially rewarding with repeated viewings. I've seen The Lion King probably about a hundred times before and quite honestly, I'd be fine with watching it a hundred more. It's just that kind of movie. If you've seen the film before and only really read the review to see my thoughts on it, well first, sorry for my lack of anything new to say about it. But if you haven't seen it, here's me telling you to go and see it at the first opportunity.

You know, now that I think about it, I actually do have something unique to say about The Lion King. And that would be how it stands as a test to the shame that Disney doesn't re-release their classics on the big screen anymore. I know it used to be a novelty Disney would use when the Disney vault was still a thing. But even with the ability to watch films like The Lion King at home, I'd still pay good money to see it on the big screen, even in IMAX if Disney decided on it. The Lion King is definitely a film that deserves it.


OVERALL FILM RATING: 5/5


3D REVIEW

Back in 2011 when 3D was at the height of its popularity, Disney tried a strange experiment: re-releasing their classic cell-drawn animated films in the 3D format. And the first movie they tried out? You guessed it, The Lion King. After its release, the 3D aspect seemed to garner some mixed reviews. But it didn't really seem to matter to Disney as the re-release brought in over $170 million worldwide. That led to Disney doing 3D conversions of other films such as Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid (though the latter was subjected to only a limited release when the 3D format fell out of fashion). And it even encouraged Pixar to join in on the trend with Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo. Anyways, looking back on it, does The Lion King still hold itself as king of these 3D re-releases from 2011-2013? Well, probably not. But I still think there's a lot of good things to mention regarding the 3D than most people might have you believe.

I'll address the common complaints regarding this film's 3D in a moment. But for now, I want to focus on the positives. For one, the depth throughout The Lion King never holds back. And that's especially important for a film with sweeping african landscapes. Right from the start of the film, the iconic shot of the sun rising over the grassy plains retains a much more significant weight in the third dimension. In fact, the entire Circle of Life opening is real 3D standout, featuring everything from birds flying in flocks above the ground below, animals marching over hills and through water, a flock of small creatures rushing towards the camera as a herd of elephants behind them also walks towards us, and there's even a neat little shot of ants walking across a small branch carrying leaves over a herd of zebras rushing beneath them. The lyric "There's far too much to take in here" really speaks to the 3D in this scene. But Pride Rock, though, is where the most significant 3D takes place with the location's size and scale being greatly enhanced by the depth, and shots of cliffs, light rays shining down from the sky, and groups of animals bowing before the royal son. The final outward zooming shot reveals all of this in great 3D glory before cutting to the title of the movie, which even then, is still using the 3D by pushing the words "Lion King" closer to you than the word "The."

Does the rest of the movie hold up as good as the opening sequence? Thankfully yes, most of the time. Like I said, the vast landscape shots are often where the 3D stands out the most, giving you the feeling you can look out into the valleys for miles. Other great shots, though, that fully utilize distance involve long grassy plains that stretch far out, and sometimes in, with each blade of grass being apparent in its own 3D space. A couple of impressive scenes also include the night sky which has an abundance of stars that genuinely feel incredibly far away. One man at Cinemablend on his review the 3D version of this film stated how one effect he enjoyed was being able to take his 3D glasses off and see twice as many stars in the night sky as before. And I concur. Besides just those aspects though, the 3D also brings the environments to striking life, whether it's in caves, large or small, an elephant graveyard with bones galore, a lush jungle, and of course, Pride Rock.

The film manages to get in a few pretty fun moments in with the third dimension. The most notable I can think of, and the one many others tend to think of when recalling The Lion King 3D, is the wildebeest stampede in the deep gorge. The crowds of menacing, but ultimately just frightened animals along with the dust they kick up in your face make for some memorable composition, and a thrilling chase sequence. That also brings me along neatly to mentioning that The Lion King also has a few top-down cliff shots which don't last long enough to make you dizzy, but do last long enough to give you a sense of danger. There's a chase scene which leads us to a neat shot of two characters going down a slide consisting of ribs, some great views of fire and smoke, and the iconic slow-mo fight shot between Simba and Scar near the end of the film features plenty of sparks in the background, adding another layer of visual engagement to the scene. Another iconic scene that benefits well in 3D is when Simba, Pumba, and Timon are walking across a log in a brief montage in which we can see Simba growing up and the background changes behind him from a jungle to a waterfall to the Bruce Almighty moon. The musical numbers sometimes have plenty of bounce and energy to them that make their way for a 3D roller coaster ride. The two that come to mind include the songs "I Can't Wait to be King" and "Be Prepared" which feature character moving throughout the frame, moving quickly from one well-composed environment to the next, and especially in the former song, a striking color palette. I could write whole paragraphs detailing the excellent 3D shots we get in these two song numbers. But like I said before, it's best to just watch the film for yourself. But back on the more serious side, there's one scene in particular that involves reflections in the water, tall blades of grass, and some gigantic clouds in the sky that bring with it a heavenly light. All of it comes to together for one of the most notable character beats in the film. But the 3D also makes the scene feel more immersive and thus, more impactful.

As for pop outs, The Lion King isn't exactly known for them. But there are still a few to appreciate. The bird Zazu offers up quite a few of them as he flies around the scene; most notably, during the opening musical number "The Circle of Life" in which it feels like he circles your head and sticks his tail feathers inches away from your face. There's also a few fun scattered instances of sparks, smoke, fire, hyenas, rain, blades of grass in large plains, Timon's fist, and various characters' faces. One very notable pop outs, and it occurs during an important story moment, is in the final battle and is shows the main baddy jumping towards the hero, aka us, paws first. The Lion King is obviously more about depth than pop. But it isn't afraid to let something here or there enter our own world.

Now it's time to acknowledge the elephant in the room, which would be exactly how the 2D-drawn characters look in the third dimension. In my review of The Little Mermaid, I stated how even though the characters were drawn in 2D, they ended up coming out looking like true 3D people about 95% of the time. However, that was probably because by then, the 3D conversion team at Disney had enough experience on previous films and had thus perfected their craft. For The Lion King though, being the first 2D-to-3D animated film of theirs, that clearly wasn't the case. For a first time effort, it's really not that bad. For the most part, most everyone has volume and solidity. And in some shots, like the ones involving Simba and Timon, the 3D really helps to enhance the difference in size between two people in the frame. However, the main issue that comes up is that by their nature, the 2D characters don't really have that much texture, leaving the conversion to only working with the characters' outlines. Like I said earlier, Disney eventually cracked the code on how to work with those designs. But early on, though, one thing I've often noticed is that the characters looked somewhat off for good portions of the runtime, giving off the effect that someone took the 2D models and put them over a mold. It's understandable why some people can get easily turned off by this. While it doesn't distract too much from the otherwise excellently spaced out environments, in the year 2011 when films like Clash of the Titans 3D were still fresh in peoples' minds, it's no wonder why the 3D garnered some mixed responses. Besides that, a couple of other minor issues I've noticed is in several shots when characters aren't properly converted and look like a cardboard cutout (I'll give it some slack here considering the source material). Thankfully, though, they're pretty few and far between.

The Lion King is one of those 3D presentations I wish I could wholeheartedly recommend because quite honestly, it has a lot going for it. Many of the shots surprisingly work with the 3D and give us some stunning views of the African landscape that help the world of this film to hit differently and feel all the more stunning for it. It's in the foreground elements where the 3D falters. A lot like The Nightmare Before Christmas, there's a lot to love about the 3D. But the errors eventually build up to the point where I can only recommend the film to those willing to put up with them. If you're on the fence with whether or not to purchase The Lion King in 3D, there's no harm in not going for it. 3D certainly isn't the definitive way of watching this film unlike other movies such as Kung Fu Panda. But for those who are curious to check out how this 2D drawn masterpiece looks in 3D, you probably might find a thing or two to really enjoy about it. Right before the film starts, one of the film's directors, I believe it was Roger Allers, tells you that he feels the 3D version of The Lion King really hammers home what he, and the rest of the crew, intended from the beginning: to immerse you into the world of these likable characters. As you can see, I do have reservations regarding that statement. But what we get is still an honest to goodness attempt to do just that and more often than not, it still results in a worthwhile 3D presentation.


3D RATING: GOOD


OTHER SOURCES THAT REVIEW THIS MOVIE'S 3D:




FINAL THOUGHTS


The Lion King is a masterfully crafted, timeless feat of animation, story, and music. It was a huge success upon it's release and continues to enchant audiences 30 years later, and for good reason. It's one of those few films that not only transcends its genre (that being family entertainment), but cinema in general, becoming something that sticks with you long after you see it. Of course, with how many times everybody in today's culture has seen it, it probably doesn't need to. The point is, it's a film worthy of its hype throughout the years and it's a film worthy of its rightful place as king of Disney's library of groundbreaking, perfectly executed masterpieces. What more can I say? Ok, ok. You've heard me tell you what you've already heard and what you probably already know. Now, what about the 3D version? Is it just as superb as the movie it's supposed to enhance? Well, not exactly. But it's far from a bad presentation. This is probably the first 3D film to show us what a 2D cell-drawn movie can look like in 3D, and it demonstrates how mesmerizing it can be, offering stylized environments, incredible depths, and a new vision on the film we all know and love. That being said, it's still a first attempt, which means there's also a few visual distractions to put up with, mainly involving the characters and their off-looking shapes. That can understandably put some people off to checking out this presentation. However, it's not bad enough to distract from all the good stuff it carries. I've heard some people say this movie's 3D plays out more like a pop-up book than an actual 3D film. And while there is some truth to that, I think that if that's the case, than The Lion King still makes for a pretty good-looking pop-up book. Overall, the choice is yours. The Lion King is already an fantastic movie and the 3D doesn't make a notable difference to that. But if you decide to check it out, it's still an interesting 3D experience that more often than not delivers the goods. It's not the greatest 3D flick in Disney's catalogue. But I am glad it made back bank at the box office so Disney could perfect their craft and bring us better 3D films such as Beauty and the Beast 3D and The Little Mermaid 3D. And Monsters Inc. 3D, another conversion inspired by Lion King 3D's success, is one of my personal favorite 3D movies ever. For what it is though, The Lion King 3D is still a fun and visually engaging, if slightly imperfect, 3D film. It's by no means a must-buy. But if you want to check out this marvelous animated feature in a new light, I recommend the 3D version. And if you're a 3D fanatic, I'm sure you'll find plenty to like here.


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