Marval Movie

As Ray and I walked into the theater, Ray overheard a kid say to his mom, "I'm excited. It's going to be tough to not sing out loud."

Well, it wasn't that hard actually. Hakuna Matata is darn catchy. Circle of Life soars.  But I'm going to place The Lion King movie (live action CGI version) third behind the original animated version (first place), and the Broadway show (second). This movie version is good, but a bit slow, a bit ponderous, and just lacked that super wow factor I felt when I watched director Jon Favreau's version of the Jungle Book.  Kids were getting restless in the audience, and I admit I checked my watch.

The CGI filming is awesome. It's quite amazing and I appreciate that part of the movie magic. The voice acting is good - you can't go wrong with James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Chiwetel Eijofor is evil as Scar, Donald Glover is good as Simba, and Beyonce rules as Nala. Seth Rogen cracked me up a lot as the warthog, Pumba.

I was entertained, glad I saw it on the big screen, but there was just something missing - maybe I set my expectation kafe a tad too high. I'd watch the original again in a heartbeat, this version - maybe not.   The Lion King did not ROAR in capital letters in my opinion.