THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – WHY NOT
Among the many Disney productions, one cannot help but be fascinated by the evocative power of Lion King (1994), the studio’s most profitable animated film, and by the constantly renewed loyalty of the public in the face of the various variations that have been produced since: a musical comedy (quite prodigious), which has been played on a loop since 1997, as well as an adaptation in live actiona mixture of live shots and computer-generated images, released in 2019 and immense public success. Let’s try to outline the recipe for success. First, this intense Shakespearean plot which replays Hamlet in the middle of the African savannah: fratricidal war, power struggles, betrayals. Some of the most catchy songs in the Disney repertoire (There is no problem). Finally, a gallery of characters (Simba, Zazu, Timon and Pumbaa) with whom the public is invited to forge an almost indestructible emotional bond.
We suspected that, determined to exhaust the vein of nostalgia to the limit, the studio could not not think about a prequel going back to the origins of the saga. It’s done with Mufasadirected by the American Barry Jenkins (Moonlight2016), which revisits the legend of Simba’s father, tragically killed by his evil brother, Scar – the height of childhood trauma, standing shoulder to shoulder with the death of Bambi’s mother. This story of origins is supported by the friendly baboon Rafiki, telling Kiara, Simba’s daughter, about the life of her grandfather.
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