The Lion King is one of the most popular animated movies Disney has made to date. It's almost a foregone conclusion it will be one of the studio's most popular remakes. A brand new trailer for the CGI spectacle is now here, and while it contains a lot of epic moments you'll remember from the original, it also provides us with some laughs, in the form of fan-favorite sidekicks Timon and Pumbaa. Check it out.
The trailer gives us a couple of new voices compared to the last one. Previously, the only voice we heard was James Earl Jones' which, considering he was in the original film, was something of a cheat. Now we hear Chiwetel Ejiofor for the first time as Scar. It's certainly a very different voice than that of Jeremy Irons, but no less menacing. We also get to see, but not hear, other characters like the hyenas, Nala, Zazu, and, of course, Simba himself.
Then, at the end, we hear Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen for the first time, as the voices of Timon and Pumbaa. The pair are performing a chorus of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which I guess means this is our first chance hearing any of the music in The Lion King, even though this probably wasn't the song people were waiting for.
Timon and Pumbaa sang the same song in the original Lion King as well, and seeing what we've seen before is pretty much what this trailer is all about. While some of the dialogue that we hear in the trailer isn't identical to lines from the original, many of the images are. We see Scar telling Simba to run away, and the hyenas chasing him as he does. We see Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa, walking along together in single file profile, one of the most iconic images from the animated classic.
While people certainly have fond memories of the original version, and are going to want to see their favorite parts in the remake, I certainly would like to see a little something different in the remake that will set it apart from the original, not simply have it be a complete retelling of the story as we already know. There's still plenty of space for such things to fit in between the scenes we love, and the classic moments are going to be what draws in a lot of the audience, but it would be nice to see something a little new in the trailer.
Either way, The Lion King is almost destined to be a hit. It will be the third Disney remake of 2019 following the recently released Dumbo and the upcoming Aladdin, but with a movie as popular as this one remake fatigue seems highly unlikely.
The new Lion King arrives in July.
