The Lion King 3D

With all the animated features that Disney has produced, I'm not sure why they chose "The Lion King" to implement a 3D format. As it turned out, It was effective and just seeing those characters again was just a hoot.

A young lion prince, young Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is born in Africa to parents, King Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and Sarabi (Madge Sinclair), thus making his Uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons) the second in line to the throne. Scar plots with the hyenas, Shenzi, Ed, and Banzai (Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Cummings, and Cheech Marin) respectively to kill Mufasa and Prince Simba, thus making himself king. The King is killed and Simba is led to believe by Scar that it was his fault, and so flees the kingdom in shame. 

After years of exile of living with friends, Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella), adult Simba (Matthew Broderick) is persuaded to return home to overthrow the usurper and claim the kingdom as his own thus completing the "Circle of Life".

Others to round out the cast are Moira Kelly as adult Nala, Rowan Atkinson as Zazu, Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, Zoe Leader as Sarafina, Nala's Mom, and Niketa Calame as young Nala.
This was effectively directed by Roger Allers ("Open Season" '06) and Rob Minkoff ("Stuart Little" '99, "Stuart Little 2" '02, "The Haunted Mansion" '03, "The Forbidden Kingdom" '08, "Flypaper" '11). And It was written with such ease by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton with Brenda Chapman as Story Supervisor.

How could anyone not like "The Lion KIng"? It has it all: a sound story, good directing, great characters, original songs by Elton John and Tim Rice that simply ROCK and marvelous animation. The only negative thing I could say about this would be that Disney, who created Disney Digital 3D, opted not to use their 3D process, but used Real 3D instead. This was clearly a mistake considering their digital process is superior next to Real 3D, because it is so much more eye-popping. The 3D version definitely helped, and that's a stretch considering I'm not completely sold on the 3D process generally.

If you liked this film when it released back in the 90's, you'll love this version enhancement. As I said, you'll love the characters all over again humming with the great original songs all the way to the end.

Out of 4 stars: 3.5                         Rated: G                           89min.