I remember going to see The Lion King in the theaters four times.
Yeah, I was one of those devoted childhood fans that made it the most successful animated movie of all time. I think if you ask anyone my age they would say that The Lion King is one of the eventful memories of their childhood.
I remember the first time I saw it was in Arizona. I was 9 years old and my brother Jamie, and 2nd cousin Josh VanVleet, took all of us younger siblings to see it. I even remember leaving the movie theater and having to squint my eyes shut because the Arizona sun was so bright and hot after being in the dark theater for 90 minutes. Yes, I remember weird things...but was on a cinematic high because I had just seen
THE.
LION.
KING.
and who doesn't love The Lion King?
The music!?
(Oscar winning, of course.)
The murder!?
(In a Disney flick? whoah!)
The meerkat!?
(Timon is a personal favorite Disney character of mine.)
The soundtrack is eternally frozen in everyone's minds so that if I were to say:
"I can see what's happenin..."
Someone would always reply in the "Pumbaa" voice:
"WHAT?"
You know you just did it...
In New York City when I went with my parents in summer 2001, my mom and I got to go see the broadway show. We only had to pay around $15 each for "standing only" tickets. So basically all we did was lean against the wall and sit on the floor at the back of the aisle with a perfect view. It was awesome!
And so recently they just re-released The Lion King in 3D for a special engagement. My friends and I had been talking about going to see it for months ever since we saw the posters all summer long.
26 year olds excited to see The Lion King again?? Don't judge.
So the way things turned out is this:
Last Friday afternoon I went to the Maya Theater to see it by myself...
only...
the theater was jam-packed with kids. Now I'm normally fine with this at a 2 pm showing of a kid movie. But these kids were annnnoooooying. Running, and screaming, and mom's yelling, "Lucy! LUCY! Get back here!" These kids weren't respecting my childhood! On top of that the screen was fuzzy and tinted dark and the music wasn't loud. I don't know how to explain it without sounding like a complete movie snob...but....the epic "circle of life" opening wasn't that epic. It just wasn't the same and you just don't mess with The Lion King.
But anyways..."HAKUNA MATATA" right? WRONG!
The theater experience was ruining my childhood memories!
So I got up ten minutes into the movie and got my money back.
The next day I got a friend to go with me to the other theater in town and it looked %100 better.
The music was loud.
"IT'S THE CIIIIIIRCLE OF LIIIIIFE"
The murder still happened.
sad.
The meerkat was still funny.
"Let me get this straight. You know her. She knows you. But she wants to eat him? Aaaand everybody's okay with this? DID I MISS SOMETHING?"
It was a complete flashback to when I saw it as a kid. On top of all that, there were ironically more adults in the theater than children. It's been #1 at the box office the last 2 weekends in a row and has banked another $70 million so far.
Odd, and kinda sad, that the best movie in theaters and only one worth seeing is the one that came out 17 years ago.
3 comments:
ooh i like the blog refashion!
and i would LOVE to take the kids, but it would seriously be like $100.
I'm so sad I don't recall being the one to take you. We must have had fun though. Was I 16?
Great post Craig. I loved seeing it in New York with you. What a production that was.
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