OldBoy

More tomorrow...

DJariya

T-Mobile Tuesday had a $5 Atom tickets code, so I used it to buy a ticket to see it at a Harkins theatre this Saturday. It will be on a Cine screen, which is their equivalent to AMC's Dolby. I debated going for a cheaper screen, but I figured this one deserved seeing it on the best screen possible.

So I will probably be one of the few who actually see it this weekend from this board.

Mabuse

TomOpus

Using my Alamo Season Pass, this is free to me (except $1.70 convenience fee). Going at 6pm tonight to a pretty​packed theater.

Bluelitespecial

Wow you got the Alamo Season Pass? I put my name in for consideration but never heard back about it.

TomOpus

Took 2 months but got it last week. I posted about it in the Season Pass thread.

Red Hood

I liked it but the original is much, much better. The second half of the film felt rushed, with a very disappointing Pumba and Rafiki fight scenes, which the original handled with much better humor than in the remake. And the cloud scene in this remake felt as bad as when Ryan Reynolds was fighting a yellow cloud in Green Lantern.

DJariya

Just got back from seeing it. Full house with lots of families. I liked it, but for the most part it was identical to the animated version. But, I thought they did a really good job creating the CG characters and backgrounds. They looked really good and almost photo realistic

Interest in this forum appears to be very lukewarm, but it looks like it was a massive hit opening weekend. Early estimates are between $180-200M this weekend.

I did love Eichner and Rogen as Timon and Pumba. They were pretty funny.

If you got small children, the lion attack sequences might be a little scary.

Defiant1

If the 1994 version didn't exist, this would have been amazing. Great story, visually stunning, photorealistic animation and great voicework overall (especially from Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa).

But unfortunately, the older movie does exist and the 2019 version doesn't really do anything to differentiate itself other than the new animation. It's still going to make a ton of money, so Disney will be very pleased. It appeals to young kids who may have never seen the original and will hit adults in the feels who were kids and saw the original over and over.

RichC2

This wound up with an A cinemascore, and well this:




Should leg out pretty well.

E Unit

You confirmed what I was hoping it wouldn't be. I feel no need to take my kids to see this. For one, they've seen the commercials and haven't really reacted to it (say like seeing the Frozen II trailer), and two, for me I see zero need for a nearly identical remake. At least Jungle Book changed it up a little. At any rate, these will continue to make money, which I guess remains to be the bottom line for justification on all the remakes.

joe_b

It's a technical accomplishment, but the novelty of that wore off after "Circle of Life" and all I was left with was an inferior version of something that already exists. The movie is a decent time waster and should play better to folks who never saw the cartoon, but almost all the voice acting was lacking "oomph" (particularly Chiwetel as Scar, who I normally love). Billy Eichner's Timon voice reminded me of the guy narrating that honey badger viral video.

Mini rant: This was by far the worst theater-going experience I've had in my entire life. I thought I'd avoid the crowds by catching a weekday matinee, but the stay at home moms with their screaming ADHD pre-schoolers were out in full force today. The little brat behind me (or her mom?) kept kicking my seat HARD, while the one to my left (who moved to sit next to me AFTER the movie started) stayed standing the entire runtime and loudly asked "Can we GO?" every two minutes. He looked to be about four and apparently it was his first trip to the movies. I even heard the mother say "Wow, he did better than I expected!" when the credits started rolling. If that's what she considers good behavior, I pity anyone who sits next to him on a bad day.

And no, the parents didn't do jack shit to stop any of this... not one single reprimand. I didn't want to get into an altercation by shushing at them or asking that they keep their kids in check, though it certainly would have been justified. Clearly I'm more polite and considerate of others then they are. I was stuck in the smallest auditorium (about 70 seats total) and it was fairly packed, otherwise I would have just changed seats.

RichC2

Yeah, Summer is tough with popular family flicks, and this is the king of em (it pulled like $21m yesterday (a Monday), which is monstrous) today would have been an even bigger nightmare due to discount ticket days.

joe_b

I really thought I was in the clear. When I pulled into the parking lot this morning (twenty minutes before the 10AM showtime) there were only six cars -- and that was with a 9AM showing having already started. God, I wish I'd gotten up an hour earlier and went to that one. They started rolling in like cattle once the previews began.

My aunt came in on Friday and my dad went with her and her grandson to see it. Same theater, same showtime. He said there were about thirty people total and all the kids were quiet and well-behaved. Too bad I wasn't able to join them.

Hokeyboy

Beyonce is so fucking bad in this. Ugh. Her line readings were pitiful.

3.25 out of 5, but rounding down. It lacked the emotional heft of the original, but it's hard to truly screw up when making a basic remake of a classic without too much diversion.

windom

Does this have a shot at winning the best animated picture Oscar this year? I don't think there's been many high caliber animated movies this year, except maybe Toy Story 4. I guess Frozen 2 will be in the running too.

RichC2

Not really, I think the nominees will be Lion King, Frozen 2, Toy Story 4, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and maybe Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon, but Lion King wouldn't be favored in that race.

Dan

Is there any reason to see this in terms of changes to the story (even fairly minor) that make it unique enough to pay to see?

I'm not concerned about spoilers, hence why I posted in this thread... just curious what's different.

Mabuse

Noonan

Sadly, kids are FAR more desensitized now than they were in 94, which was basically pre-internet for the majority of people.

TomOpus

See it for the nostalgia factor and the groundbreaking visuals.

Story differences were very very minor. Like at the beginning, after Circle of Life, Scar is trying to capture the mouse. He does deliver the "Life's not fair" line but he's not holding the mouse like in the original.

Little Simba and Nala still visits the Shadows where they meet the hyenas but it's just done a tad differently.

Things like that are sprinkled throughout the movie. Depends on how familiar you are with the original if they're even noticed.

Dan

I think a big part of that is that "dead parent" has become such a staple in so many Pixar/Disney stories. It's not just a surprising or unexpected element of the stories at this point.

Thanks! I might go for it on a cheap Tuesday with my daughter. We'll see.

Big Boy Laroux

Definitely worth seeing for visuals, i agree. In terms of new stuff, what stuck out the most was new (updated) dialogue with Timon and Pumbaa - that overall was pretty successful/funny.

Additionally, the hyenas are presented as a much more ominous threat in this movie vs the original, which I enjoyed. Still humor with them, but definitely scarier.

Mabuse

tanman

Finally caught this. I hate to say it but it was pretty terrible compared to the original. This is coming from a huge Disney fan and one that even likes a lot of the remakes. I even liked the Jungle Book and other movies from Favreau. It was like if they decided to remake the Lion King scene for scene but take out all the emotion, all the creativity, all the color, all the whimsy and what you have left is this film. Unlike the other live action remakes that we at least have the performance of a human, or they take it in a different direction this scene for scene remake doesn't justify it's existence. Other than the billions it's made.