Download Example of a film review and more Study Guides, Projects, Research English in PDF only on Docsity! JENNEFER B. LEE SEPT. 3, 2019 12 STEM A1 EAPP EXAMPLE OF A FORMAL FILM REVIEW Young Simba (JD McCrary, later Donald Glover) is destined to become king of Pride Rock like his father Mufasa (James Earl Jones). But his uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) plots for the throne, and Simba ends up alone in exile. Can he ever regain his kingdom? By Helen O'Hara | Posted 12 Jul 2019 Release Date: 18 Jul 2019 Another month, another Disney remake of an animated classic. There are two reasons that this film exists, and neither is because anything was missing from 1994’s furry Hamlet. The first is to show off genuinely dazzling visual effects, technological marvels that give us photo-real animals in an absolutely convincing setting. The second is to showcase the ability of Disney and director Jon Favreau, following 2016’s reimagining of The Jungle Book, to assemble a world-class voice cast. But it’s still not enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the great king of the past. It doesn’t seem right to describe this as "live action", when the visuals were created in the London offices of visual effects wizards MPC. Whatever its category, the immediate and overwhelming impression is so life-like that you expect David Attenborough to start narrating at any moment. Every hair and whisker is in place, every footprint raises a puff of dust. You'll believe that Pride Rock is a real place somewhere in Africa, watching over a landscape kept in careful balance by the stewardship of its great lion king, Mufasa. He is voiced, once again, by James Earl Jones, because some things are sacrosanct even in this mixed-up age. Our hero, Mufasa’s son Simba (JD McCrary; replaced in adulthood by Donald Glover, is just as cute and clumsy as ever as he takes his first steps into the big, wide world. Beautifully crafted and carefully conceived, without ever entirely justifying its existence. The big problem with this photo-realism, however, is that animal mouths are not designed for words, and their faces do not express human emotion. What we gain in
