While I wouldn't call Lion King my favorite film of Disney, I would not hesitate to tell you that it's still different from all of Disney fare including Wreck-It Ralph. The experimental era of Disney would still stand up against Lion King in terms of ambition but not necessarily the success that LK has.
I don't care about the CGI remake of LK, to be honest. I am far more worried about how they are going to do it. Shot-by-shot like Beauty and the Beast or tell something different but the similar like Jungle Book? Expansion is already an answer because previous remakes expanded on their mythos. The new movie could try to redo the Broken Aesops in the original film or at least write it so it would make cohesive sense. LK works as an emotional story with intelligence rather than too deep storytelling the level of GF or OTGW.
I totally understand why they chose to make a child for Simba and Nala. TLK2 was released twenty years ago. I didn't anticipate the Disney crew to even acknowledge the sequel, knowing how long it had been released. At best, I expected Kion to be the only child and thus the heir of the throne. I was not expecting Kiara to return or even make canon at all. I'm amazed they chose to go back and expand rather than renew everything.
Honestly, I am glad to see her at all because Kiara is a likable character. She isn't perfect but she's a Mary Sue either. She's much more than a Juliet. There are glimpses of her true self in the LG after some troubles with the writing and there are still writing troubles now. The writing in LG tended to sway in terms of writing. It's not VLD thankfully. Yes, I'm going to use VLD as a level of writing, in the same way, I'm going to use GW/OTGW. I am mostly referring to VLD's level of writing as loss of potential due to either sheer obliviousness of what is good storytelling or spite for only part of a fandom which unfortunately targeted the rest of the fanbase and good storytelling.
I want more expansion of her character, please. Don't make her a complete damsel in distress in her entire appearances in the show. Yes, Kiara needed to be rescued twice in the original film too but she could take care of herself since she fucking run away! Don't waste her, for the love of Godoka, writers. The potential is ripe for not just sibling rivalry but how Kion could help her and she could help him. The sequel is right there with potential, not just to connect the dots, but to show how relationships could be hinted in the future and how that could be developed upon. Just look at Kion and Kovu for the love of The Man of the Beginning. You people are exposing TLK2 to a much larger audience than it used to have in the time of its release just as LK is still doing. Make more than just references and connecting the dots, do more with the characters that already existed in the movie! You already proved the adults are useless in the Pridelands but make the Outsiders more relevant than just a cult of the Roar. Just expand these characters, especially Kiara if you want to have a more female presence in the show. More than just original characters that exist in the show but not in the original direct-to-DVD film.
You showed the double standards of Simba's level of protectiveness towards his kids. I know they have different parts of royalty but for the love of god, would you just notice the difference in protection Simba gives. Just do something about it.
I'm kind of focused on the LK2... Seeing Nuka, knowing his eventual fate... eesh... Still, from what I saw from the clips, I honestly expected Zira to straight-up kill Kion right then and there without remorse. And there's no way a cub could be more competent enough to fight a fully grown lion like Zira - no matter how emaciated she looked - at that age. No fucking way.
I'm very sad about Simba's portrayal of this. Simba has shown intense PTSD that would haunt him for life and there's no way I would let something that Disney shows better than the supposed depression that healed insta-clean in Frozen or the PTSD that healed up clean in VLD. Yeah, I'm still grouchy about that. They still show his mundane kingly activities for which I am grateful for. He and many of the adults in this are purportedly useless. I know this is a show focusing on the kids but having reasonable adults that kids can trust can send a better message than adults never helping you when it is needed. At least there are responsible adults in later Persona games. A dead guy is more helpful than the current royal family and advisors.
Since TLK2 is now canon, I worry about the timeline and the convoluted canon that comes with it. That movie is still pretty dark with Lady Macbeth Zira planning revenge to the point of suicide.
Given how TLK2 has its own fanbase, the show writers must honor the fans of that movie, no matter how obscure it is. There are references littered calling back to the film which makes me a happy camper. It does show the writers at least went back to watch the decades-old sequel.
Now, for Lion Guard itself, as a show for very little kids, it's fulfilled its purpose. It's not the best-written show for LK, not even Tangled the Series level of writing and definitely not Gravity Falls. While GF left some things unresolved like how would Dipper reacts about Mabel's part in Bill's plans and her willingness to participate in the destruction.
There are still questionable writing like why the hell is the Lion Guard, composing of children mind you, are so goddamn overpowered? Even if Nuka is not trained as well, there's no way Kion would be able to take out Zira and overpower her as a cub. In the original, Simba and Nala barely escaped with their lives when Mufasa came to the rescue. Even Kovu and Kiara scarcely escaped death from crocs due to their own smarts. I am still dubious about the Roar though.
For one thing, I hope they continue to make their own spins of Shakespearean tropes in LG. There is a reason why people remembered LK as a Hamlet with Lions movie. It has more shades of Henry VII, Macbeth, and Sundiata Keita though it's not quite as well-known as being a Hamlet movie. It's mostly remembered as Hamlet with lions while there are traces of such, there are more Shakespearean tropes involved to make it a universal story. Again, there are more than just Hamlet used.
It would be great to introduce Shakespearean themes and tropes to make little kids to seek out Shakespeare and what inspired it. Just look at One Piece with the list of inspirations from Treasure Island to sea legends around the world.
It would be great for that to happen, given how everyone knows Shakespeare is a large inspiration for LK. And the reason why it's so different from other Disney fare of its time and current is the very fact it's deprived tropes of Shakespeare and other mythic stories out there. I hesitate to call it a Hero's Journey just like Star Wars ended up being.
I am not expecting a Shakespearean tragedy with a kill em all ending on the same level of Titus or Hamlet.
The show, from what I seen from clips, can get dark at times. While I doubt it would be as dark as Zira's original suicide or even TLK2 tone, it could be dark at times. Kids show can get dark, I am not hammering that kids shows should be light and soft all the time. I just worry because a lighter and softer series are aiming at toddlers and kindergarteners, not preteens. As long as they kept the levity just fine, I'm happy. Joaquin Dos Santos does not understand the point of levity in a dark series and why you should never ever do a series that focused so much on darkness for darkness' sake it becomes more narmy than alarming. Kids show can get dark by implications. Just look at OTGW and GF. Even kids shows in Japan that is not shounen or shoujo, I do mean aimed at preschoolers and young kids such as Pokemon and Yugioh does have their darkness that they won't even hide via implications.
What my dearest hopes and wishes are that they use the potential right there for the eating. After VLD, anything has better standards than this. Even SU, no matter how much I say the story is getting blander the more it's going, is better than VLD any day of the week. Sorry, VLD is really bad of badness that was ripe of potential ripped apart by people who don't understand the potential who want things done their way and refused others' consideration or advice.
There is no way in hell am I going to have my wedding at Disney Resort. Ever. As much as I would love others to do my planning and adjustments, my wedding would be waste-free, environmentally friendly while still fabulous. I don't want too much fuss nor do I want to waste so much money. I want my ceremony to be low-key while still emphasizing geeky nature. I want little flowers as possible while using geeky features. I want to put something tasteful while still emphasizing that geeky nature. All I want is a tasteful yet geeky wedding. Like I want to reuse my centerpieces as house decor like in one table there would be a Gunpla and another table would be the Pokemon Starters with Psyduck and another table would have a Thousand Sunny. Or I could put up numbers instead of those and let people see for themselves what geeky centerpieces they have along with favors. I want kimono-like designs for my bridesmaids and groomsmen with pins that relate to anime. Probably, my bouquets could be the Sailor Scouts' wands. I don't want something weighty to carry around so I wouldn't mind carrying around something small. Eh, I'm not a girl who looks at wedding mags for my future wedding, mainly just to see how pretty everything is.
As long as I don't involve Frozen in any way and shape and form, I will be a happy camper.
Change the Channel is back! Sort of...
Listen, I think for Channel Awesome to finally move forward in terms of that hashtag, they must have a subpoena and investigation. If the response is anything to go by, the major heads still have the documents.
That is what I think what has to be done. It might be bringing up bad memories but still if we want the channel to change and Michaud to leave and give up his part in the IP of the Nostalgia Critic, we must have a court order. Yes, that means the former producers must be interviewed and yes that includes Brad Jones and his friends. It might be full of tension because of the bad blood and broken connections. Many people must be interviewed including the significant others.
That is what I think must happen. Because Michaud is the head and doesn't have a committee to stop him, that would be hard. Therefore court orders must happen. I'm sorry but if we want Channel Awesome to suffer any consequences, we have to do more than just pull support. We must have those who been wronged to have a court order, more specifically a subpoena.
And by the way, people are allowed to enjoy something made by bad people. We can separate the art from the artist. There is something called Death of the Author. The point of the Change the Channel movement is for Michaud and the Walker Brothers to apologize for their mistakes. We must not go into a black and white morality but a gray and grey morality that the real world operates in. Even if some people might forgive rapists and murderers, some don't and it's okay. It's okay for forgiveness because it's not Destroy the Channel, it's Change the Channel. These guys who have been wronged was willing to extend an open hand and help the channel, even when these guys had hurt them repeatedly and never learn.
The Right Opinion is definitely the most objective and I would prefer anyone to watch that because he is unbiased in the matter.
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