I believe, but don't quote me as it's been yeaars since 1/2, Disney themselves said no, it's not canon. It's Timon and Pumba telling us a yarn. It's non-canon but canon to how Timon sees the story as happening(so if Kion or Kiara asked, they'd get that hell), but it's not canon at all. Meanwhile S.P, TLG movie, and TLG series are the accepted canon that will be implemented into future TLK materials and film works, but never 1/2 because that would be Timon as the main character and no, nope.
That explains so much for ½.
Gets iffy, calling it non-canon sort of goes to that "only the first movie is canon" mentality which I don't like, but loads of people do, even in series(first ep canon, everything else fiction) which is blah. Disney's confirmed TLG as Lion King Canon so it'll be appearing in books and merch as how Scar got his scar soon(rumored, but likely), so I'd not take it as fanfiction unless you want to say there's an alt canon, and that'd be the 2019 Mufasa gave him the scar in a fight over Sarabi.
I suppose it can break that thought process by calling it semi-canon. It’s amazing that the fandoms have abandoned semi-canon as a term.
I personally don’t consider TLK 1 ½ canon simply because of a grievous error at the end. But that’s just me.
There’s also the option to call it an alternate universe unto itself.
Can we talk about how Scar gets his scar from a snake shits on everyone's weirdo theories of his daddy did it, his mommy did it, his brother did it, his x, y, z relative did it. All those really really boring people who say a buffalo did it. I'm so tired of the "how he got his scar" theories they're my Kopa honestly. So I am delighted they gloss over it. But the implication eye scars are a mark of a certain kind of lion intrigues me more than him getting it.
It’s such a boring way. I imagined it was the result of having his power stripped from him for using the roar for evil, the mark of evil as it were. Guess I was wrong.
And in a way, isn’t The Lion Guard fan fiction too?
Ashwolf's theory could hold water, my best friends have been theorizing Ariel is black in the new movies for more than they decided to make her black. Disney seems to be doing odd things, and advertising their stuff in ways that provokes people to "talk badly" about it, but by doing that brings in more attention. TLK 2019 is great, but they advertised it so badly, now TLM is getting a similar treatment. Almost like they want people mad so they can spread it around more. Marketing scheme?
Well, Disney is no stranger to targeting the current market. And if it’s interest in Princesses of color, they would definitely jump at the chance.
I will admit, I was annoyed (to the point of being racist) with how they changed Ariel but after a couple friends pointed out my fault calmly it dawned on me that Ariel was the last white princess of the controlling white patriarchal era and likely why I was upset with the change(Meaning I grew up in a racist era without realizing it). Not helped with the fact that I don’t like change to begin with. It’ s unsettling at first before I adjust.
I had also heard that they changed Ariel’s orientation due to the setting of the story taking place in Jamaican territory. Making her skin important to the story unlike before. Ariel is also no stranger to having different orientation versions throughout history.
Back to the point of the ask, yes. Disney absolutely is banking off people’s anger. It worked with TLK. It worked with Aladdin. They most likely will troll its fanbase in the future with these types of changes just to make bank.
The Kimba vs Simba debate revived by this 2019 movie is kind of being glanced over in depth by people. Scrooge McDuck inspired a certain type of anime eyes(Disney), Bambi inspired more types of anime eyes and Kimba(Disney), Kimba supposedly inspired TLK, but Kimba was born from Disney inspiration. So nowadays anyone touching it is just asking for a circle jerk. Everything sort of revolves around and around and around.
I sort of predicted that with this movie release, that old debate would resurface.
I’ve been spending years digging for information on the situation ever since I discovered Kimba through the debate.
And recently I learned through a friend that Disney went to extreme lengths to shut down showings of Leo the White Lion in the states.
Of course, the monopolizing Disney corporation isn’t exactly a unicorn either. They’ve been known to try and appropriate culture by trying to copyright it from the phrase Hakuna Matata(not the song, the phrase), to Dia de Muertos, and even the sailing skiffs we saw in Moana.
I seem to recall them getting into a copyright battle with the author’s family when they wanted to animate Bambi at the time also.
Is Disney an evil corporation? Yes, it is. But they keep pumping us with stories that keep drawing us back.
So going off Mulan and other live action future projects, ignoring TLK live action song bitching(which is the biggest one), due to the fact remaking any song = people irate or rabid, as you said, over "it's not the same", songs are gonna be removed from Disney remakes as much as possible. Can't top original so why bother trying, nostalgia goggles kill the music.
Aye, and that’s why people snub Disney’s recent remakes.
The only one I ever disliked was Dumbo. That was a flop. A real box office stinker. Between the forced inclusion and the historic inaccuracies, Dumbo didn’t sound like a baby elephant. It’s like they took an adult’s sounds and just sped them up to chipmunk autotune. The classic is way better imho, anyways.
But, I've been told by friends now that it's being early access screened at theaters(I saw it yesterday, the 18th, it was out the 17th in some places), more and more people are rating it 4/5 stars so all the early negativity seemed to be blind fans or stans going ape over a life action Lion King. Oh, and for the cherry on top, the scenes being put on YT are so out of context and clipped weird they auto look bad because there's a lot of context around them before/after in the movie left out.
Ech… I hate that term stan. Whatever happened to calling them rabids?
But yeah, it’s sounding more like it. Maybe I won’t get my hopes dashed when I go see it next week.
I think half of it is people got mad because everything's so detailed and fine and yet the animals don't do wonky lip movements like most of Disney's stuff. I can find over a dozen weird things from the old, Shenzi especially(back when everything Whoopi voiced had to look like her) has some real wonky faces, and Simba half the time looks so smug or bottom jaw on the floor. Timon though, oof. But that's animation, on real animals it's terrifying and we'd all run and scream out of the theater.
Might be. If it wound up being animated like that Lion: Pride (2004) BBC Special, they’d be bitching about the horrible clipped edits and the bad mouth syncing.
If you grew up watching Animal Planet, Discovery, or just owned a damn pet, the movie is great, they are as expressive as animals are. While I could rant aggressively here, the 'lack of expression is because they put more effort into body language. Simba's ears pull back, a hyena cowers, a tail tucks, a gazelle jumps like a gazelle. The motions and feelings expressed are the same as actual animals, there, but not over-the-top animated. Which only fell flat in two scenes for me.
That’s good to hear. I plan on seeing it in 4D experience next week.
Keeping it spoiler-free best I can for now, but everything I took issue with in the original Lion King(Timon and Pumba taking over the spotlight, the songs dragging on for too long, never a fan of Can You Feel the Love or Hakuna Matata, Scar becoming a whiny mess after ruining the king thing) were fixed in the live action. Timon looking like a meerkat really makes him more likeable, and Scar shown actively doing things was great. Scar stayed strong the whole movie instead of slouching about.
So there’s hope.
What about the dialogue pacing and lip-syncing? Those are my two big problems with what I’ve seen thus far with the trailers and TV Spots.
