Was expecting this to be bad, was not expecting this to be this tragically prequel-brained.
I do try not to fall into the same old conversation about these “live-action” Disney remakes and their followups, right, but, like, fuck, man. Consistently they’re worse, duller versions of all-time classics that cost all the money in the world to make and have nothing to say.
What does the director of Moonlight think his take on this world is? What does Barry Jenkins think he’s adding to the history of these stories?
Sigh. What’s good about this one is what’s always good about these, what’s bad about this one is what’s always bad about these.
But like. As an artist, I try not to ask art to justify itself — art inherently has value just for being made, just for you having made it — but when it costs half a quarter billion dollars to make, I don’t think it’s unfair to ask it to have a reason to exist.
Though I suppose at half a quarter billion dollars, from this company, it can’t afford to have something to say because it needs to appeal to literally everyone and their cat to be worth making… So imagine if it actually had something to say. The thought is genuinely unfathomable.
Any time Timon and Pumbaa aren’t on screen having a fight for their lives with the fourth wall, I’m sat here asking, where are Timon and Pumbaa?
Since Disney didn’t fucking bother making 2024’s Mufasa: The Lion King a new movie, either, my review is entirely compiled of bits from my previous reviews of modern Disney remakes. Also on Letterboxd.