Overview: So much better than VHS!

Rating: 5/5

The era of 3D has truly arrived. Let us forget computer generation. Let us forget ‘cool’ actors. Let us forget ‘Made for 3D’. Let us instead delight in an hour and a half of songs, lions and pure animation genius, as now; thanks to the wizards at Disney, we can see The Lion King in 3D. I may as well put it out there right now that I am a fan of The Lion King. So I will admit that this review is going to be bias, but remember it is also all totally accurate…

For those who don’t know, The Lion King follows the young lion cub Simba, who is next in line to be the King (whether that is King of the jungle is never really made clear). However, after being tricked into thinking he killed his father Mufasa, he relinquishes his claim to the throne and runs away. The film includes the voices of Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Jeremy Irons and Whoopi Goldberg. For me, stepping into the theatre to see this re-release was like going back to the 90s, except with better clothes and better 3D technology. There are no more cardboard glasses with one red eye and one blue. The film, despite being converted from regular animation, is smooth and what you would expect from a 2011 3D movie. The film is the same as the original 1994 release; there are no added scenes or songs (although there is a giraffe that stays on the screen when the rhino is sitting on Zazu, does anyone else remember that being there?) However, the old classic songs are wonderful in the cinema. Who wouldn’t want to hear ‘I just can’t wait to be King’ in surround sound? If I’m totally honest I admit I hoped for a fuller and more lively audience who would sing along, I would have, but I’m not going to do it on my own.

The Lion King has one of the best opening sequences to a film, of all time. Now I believed that fact (because it is a fact) when I’d only seen the film on video. Imagine how I feel about it now! But seriously for a moment, Disney could not have made a better choice of film to re-release in 3D. The whole movie is so colourful and vivid that it makes a perfect transition, not only back into cinemas, but into 3D as well. There are also many scenes that fit perfectly so as to show off the features of 3D films, the stampede scene for example, for those of us who’ve seen it. If you decide to go and see any 3D film, go and see The Lion King. I know many people will decide against it, since they’ve already seen it, but I promise you, it is well worth seeing again. The Lion King will also be released on DVD on the 7th November, and guess who will be buying a copy of that…