| No Images? Click here   "The Lion King," as expected, shattered box office records in its opening weekend. The live-action, CGI version of the 1994 Disney film received lukewarm reviews, but that didn't stop folks from stampeding to theaters to see Simba take the throne 25 years later. The urge to remake classic films and TV shows is definitely a trend in Hollywood, with audiences often fondly recalling iconic on-screen moments of yesteryear. But did we really need a reboot of "The Lion King"? In a recent piece, HuffPost's Matthew Jacobs places the 2019 remake within the current rinse-and-recycle trend that pervades Hollywood today. Here's more from Jacobs about his piece.What are some moments of the new "Lion King" that you think didn't match the energy of the original?Everything with Scar especially. The villains are always my favorite Disney characters, mostly because their operatic menace is so over-the-top. But Scar was boring! He was too flat, too macho. So much of the new "Lion King" carbon-copies the original, yet Scar's edges got sanded down. He didn't even get to do "Be Prepared" the way it's meant to be. And in general, what's most jarring about the remake is how expressionless the lions are. It's hard to feel their emotions when their faces barely change.Do you think new parents who grew up on the 1994 version should take their children today?No! These Disney reboots do not need your money — except "Pete's Dragon." I love that one. Show your children the original "Lion King" and tell them that some things are best left undisturbed. If you want good family-friendly movies from the last few years, try "The Boxtrolls," "Paddington," "Wonder" and "Moana."You've been following this reboot cycle in movies for a while. How can Hollywood be better at these approaches?Repurposing classic stories is as old as time itself, and there are clever ways to do it that aren't as cynical as Disney's live-action (or pseudo-live-action) retreads. If contemporary popular culture's biggest currency is nostalgia and intellectual property, there's a chance to milk old cash cows without assuming audiences just want the same old thing. Why not show us what Simba's reign looks like after he's defeated Scar? How about a Rafiki spinoff? How about anything other than simply lifting the 1994 script, tossing in a few new jokes and making it look "real"? The business suits running studios assume audiences' sensibilities haven't changed, and that's insulting to us all. What studios are lacking is ingenuity. The idea that no one will see non-franchise movies simply isn't true. Look at "Get Out," "A Quiet Place," "The Greatest Showman," "Hidden Figures," "The Martian" and "Gone Girl." Or think about "Mad Max: Fury Road" and the recent "Planet of the Apes" trilogy, which took familiar properties and completely reinvigorated them. The fact is, Hollywood thinks we're dumb, and we go along with it.You've talked to a couple of the original "Lion King" animators for an upcoming piece. Can you give readers a little preview of what they said?Drama! I spoke to an animator who loves the new "Lion King" and another animator who loathes it. From what I gather, most are in the latter camp. A few said they couldn't talk to me out of fear that they would get in trouble, whatever that means. (Disney keeps a tight leash on its people.) I think, for someone who worked on the original, it comes down to how much you're impressed by the technology and what it means for the future of moviemaking. The animator who hated it worries studios could use the tech to invent digitized actors, which is a distressing idea, to say the least.
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