Disney has finally released the first trailer for Jon Favreau’s CGI computer animated remake of the traditionally animated 1994 film The Lion King. Given the glowing legacy of the original, one would have expected the reactions to be overwhelmingly positive. The reality is anything but.
For example many have noticed that the new trailer is, shot-by-shot, too much like the 1994 original.
The most memorable scene from The Lion King—one that I’m pretty sure everyone has engraved on their hearts—is when wide-eyed Simba is held up in front of all the animals of Africa so that they can see their future king. This famous scene is recreated in the new trailer, right down to the music. The trailer re-treads ground that is far too familiar. It has no surprises, and many have reacted badly to that.
Another problem some people have with the trailer is that the CGI makes the animals looks too realistic. The original version includes many stylised, even expressionistic, musical numbers, meaning that it mostly foregoes realism in favour of fun. It’s difficult to imagine all these hyper realistic animals dancing around and singing the way they did in the first film. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how that turns out.
But don’t get me wrong, not everyone has reacted badly to the trailer. There’s a lot of excitement on social media as well, from people who like the way it brings back echoes of the film they loved so much, and yet also reinvents it. Personally, I can’t wait to see it.
