have been an affecting fable in
the manner of Jean-Jacques An-
naud’s tales of the wild. There’s
one standout sequence in which
Favreau’s camera follows a clump
of hair that strays from Simba’s
mane and ends up going on its
own little journey, and at that
point it becomes clear that this is
the movie we should be watching,
a story of life in the natural world,
free of human interference. What
might Terrence Malick do with this
technology?
Sadly, when it comes to big-
budget filmmaking, Hollywood
appears to have adopted ‘Hakuna
Matata’ as its creed. Just knock it
out without much thought. For an
example of how little consider-
ation has been put into this film,
consider the voice casting. All
the animals speak with British or
American accents, all that is, save
for one who speaks with an African
accent. Can you guess what type
of animal it is? Yep, a fucking mon-
key. Old Walt would be proud.
w
The Lion King
1 ½ stars out of 5
Directed by:Jon Favreau
Starring: Keegan-Michael Key,
Donald Glover, Seth Rogen,
Chiwetel Ejiofor,
Alfre Woodard
James Earl Jones, Beyoncé
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 61
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