The Lion King 3D (U) - Reviews - Films - The Independent

Can You Feel The Love? Disney are certainly hoping so with this 3D refit of the 1994 animation, which followed on the heels of the far superior Beauty and the Beast.

Three things I didn't notice first time around: 1) The plot is Hamlet in the African Wild, as young lion prince Simba witnesses the murder of his father by wicked uncle Scar. 2) Just how camp is Jeremy Irons voicing of Scar, more Liberace than George Sanders. 3) How insufferable is the portentous rumble of James Earl Jones as Simba's dad Mufasa. This last goes hand-in-paw with the film's rather pious circle-of-life soundtrack – Tim Rice and Elton John wrote the songs – against which the comic trio of hyenas and Nathan Lane's perky meerkat battle valiantly. Huge fun for the kids; some acceptable laughs for the adults.

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