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For more than fifty years, Chicago drummer Jimmi Mayes served as a sideman behind some of the...

A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination
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The questions have haunted our nation for half a century: Was the President killed by a single...

Creative Essence: Creatures
Brian Wynia, Andrew Baker, Aris Kolokontes and Ian Joyner
Book
Creative Essence: Creatures features private work from some of the best creature concept artists in...

Sir Walter Raleigh
Book
Sir Walter Raleigh was truly the Renaissance man of Elizabethan England: soldier and diplomat...

Hornblower's Historical Shipmates: The Young Gentlemen of Pellew's Indefatigable
Heather Noel-Smith and Lorna M. Campbell
Book
This book sets out the lives of seventeen 'young gentlemen' who were midshipmen under the famous...

Dumfries House: An Architectural Story
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On 18 July 1754, William Crichton Dalrymple, the 5th Earl of Dumfries, laid the foundation stone of...

MyThoughts+
Lifestyle and Productivity
App
"We become what we think about all day long" -- Earl Nightingale MyThoughts+ is a fun little...

Sarah (7800 KP) rated The Lion King (2019) in Movies
Jul 31, 2019
Visually it looks stunning, which shouldn't really be a surprise as it has been brought to us by the same guys that did The Jungle Book. However I'm afraid the visuals are pretty much all this film has going for it. This film is virtually a carbon copy of the original animation but with all of the heart, soul and humour taken out of it. The problem with these Disney live action remakes is they're unnecessary and stuck in a difficult position - differ too much from the original and people hate it, but sticking too close to the original and it begs the question as to why not just watch the original? It's more difficult for The Lion King as it's gone from being cartoon animation to CGI animation and apart from looking more natural, that's the only real difference.
They've lost virtually all of the magic that made the original great in the first place. The humour either falls flat due to the poor execution, or has been removed and replaced with something much less witty and funny. I mean, where was dress in drag & do the hula?! I dont think the voice cast helps. Other than Chiwetel Ejiofor and of course James Earl Jones, the rest of the voice cast just seemed ridiculously out of place and ill fitting with the film. I cringed every time I heard Zazu as Jon Oliver is definitely no Rowan Atkinson! And dont even get me started on Beyonce. We really didnt need her horrific versions of songs thrown in too. Although the rest of the songs did at least make the rest of the film more bearable.
Altogether despite the stunning CGI, this is a very poor copy of the original and definitely one I wont be watching again - just stick to the original.

Elizabeth I and Her Circle
Book
This is the story of Elizabeth I's inner circle and the crucial human relationships which lay at the...

True History of the Kelly Gang (2019)
Movie Watch
A fictionalized re-telling of the life and crimes of infamous 19th-century Australian outlaw Ned...