The tickets were $12.50.
The price was certainly a detriment, a big one (especially since food was an additional $20), sapping my funds dry within seconds. But I had yet to see whether the gimmicky trick of three dimensional effects would really be worth the experience — and the price — of seeing one of my favorite childhood movies in glorious high definition on the enormous theater screen.
This movie was as old as I was, releasing only a few months after I was born. I was aware of the glory that “The Lion King” held, hailed by people of all ages, many dedicated fans and fan web sites, and even those ever difficult-to-please critics.
But the 3D gimmick was something that even made me, an avid animation fanatic, hesitate somewhat.
We all know about 3D — you slip on the dark glasses and the characters or items on the screen seem to pop out at you. Perhaps it is a gimmick, a trick; probably made just to suck more money out of the moviegoers and an advertising agent to get people to go to the flicks.
However, I know well the glorious landscapes and amazing artwork that was “The Lion King,” so I was highly anticipating the experience.
I strolled into Rochester’s Wehrenberg Theater, paid my dues and admired the enormous, strange atmosphere of a big city theater. Jeez, now the movie had to even beat the theater in terms of being impressive. The stipulations the movie had to beat were piling up.
I settled in my seat, put on my glasses, and munched some popcorn through the always-annoying previews that come before the movie. Finally, the lights dimmed, and the sound of African bugs and birds chirping in the early morning, so familiar, echoed through the speakers.
Finally, that classic sunrise spread its deep red visual on the screen. The creatures of the lion kingdom leaped, flew, strolled, stomped across the animated land, all headed toward the iconic ceremony of a new heir’s birth.
Rafiki the baboon dramatically held young Simba up to the sunlight. Rays of light seemed to pop out at me, and the little cub’s face looked down at the crowd — both the crowd of animals in the movie, and the crowd of people in the theater.
Visuals danced before my eyes. Once again, I laughed at the goofy antics of Timon and Pumbaa, cried at the tragic betrayal and death of the great King Mufasa, and my muscles tensed as Scar interrogated Simba about the death of his father.
It was like experiencing the movie anew.
The HD was astounding; you could see every pencil stroke the animators drew as clearly as if you were looking at the drawings themselves. The animation was clean, crisp and beautiful. As a budding artist, I found myself studying the pencil strokes and the movements of the animation.
The controversial 3D was used well. It gave the movie a sense of space that it’s never had before. The savannah stretched out before me. Simba roared his proclamation that he was king right in front of my face. Mufasa’s eyes stared into my soul in his final seconds of life.
Watching that film in the theater was like jumping back to when I was five or six years old, watching that movie in the living room, next to my parents. I was cozy and comfortable, simultaneously in the present and the past.
I would tell one to go see it immediately. Unfortunately, it was only a two-week event. I wish you could re-experience this magnificent film, but modernized. I implore you all to find a way to re-experience your childhood like I did. It’s well worth it.
Despite this being probably the 60th time I saw “The Lion King,” it was probably one of the best movies I have seen in the theater over the past few years. I wish they would re-release classics like this more often — and based on the revenue this re-release made, I think they just might.
The tickets were $12.50.
And it was worth every penny.