D23 Expo 2011: The Lion King 3D

We think that one of the things that we may have been most excited about doing at the D23 Expo, as odd as it may sound to some, was getting the chance to preview Disney's The Lion King in 3D with a few thousand of our closest Disney-lovin' friends.

If you're not already familiar with the story of The Lion King, where have you been hiding all these years?!  Originally released in 1994, the film tells the story of a young lion cub named Simba who, after running away from home following his father's (Mufasa) death at the hands of his uncle (Scar), begins living the "Hakuna Matata" life with his friends Timon (a meerkat) and Pumbaa (a warthog).  He eventually comes to realize just how much damage his homeland has undergone with his uncle in power and ultimately decides to return and set things right and assume his place in "the circle of life" as king.  And that's about the size of it!  Kind of understated perhaps, but short of writing an entire synopsis, you probably get the idea.

One of the things that made it so special for us is that like so many others, of course, we grew up watching The Lion King.  And like so many others, we can probably recite the majority of it in our sleep.  So the opportunity to be one of the first, worldwide, to see it not only on the big-screen again, but in 3D, was an opportunity that we just couldn't afford to pass up.

We were extremely pleased (and surprised!) to spend a few moments before the presentation began listening to the directors and producers behind this amazing film "panel" with the audience and give us a lot of behind the scenes information about The Lion King.  It was really interesting to listen to them talk in particular about the difficulties surrounding the film in the first place.  In hindsight, looking back it's been one of the most successful animated films ever, but for a long while Disney struggled to get it made.  The crew talked about how most people working on the project saw it as a "C"-movie, maybe a "B" at best, that nobody wanted to work on.  It's hard to imagine animators not wanting to work on The Lion King, but it happened.  They also talked in length about the 3D conversion process that Disney used to bring the film into the 3D era, which was of course very interesting.  Pretty much any behind-the-scenes stuff is okay in our books.  But the highlight of the entire show may just have been when the crew broke into a rendition of "Hakuna Matata" themselves and later did the entire "Lion King Hula" for the audience.  We're not sure we've ever clapped so hard in our lives; Yup Yup Yup!

They talked for around 15 minutes or so, and then it was time for the movie to begin.  We can't stress enough just how much we enjoyed viewing it.  We think it's the ultimate environment to watch a movie that's so well known and loved like this.  People were singing together, applauding at the same parts, laughing at the same parts, and crying at the same parts.  We could hear people muttering lines right along with the movie all around us (and we were too!), and nobody cared in the slightest.  Just an amazing experience all around that we were so glad to be a part of.

As far as the movie itself went, it's just as awesome as ever!  3D or not, the opportunity to see The Lion King again on the big-screen again is worth the price of admission in and of itself.  While it's no Avatar, the 3D did add an entire new depth to the experience of watching the film, and we think that Disney did a great job of taking an originally 2D movie and bringing it up to speed.  Some post-conversion movies don't do a very good job of it, but with it being an animated film a lot of the same problems aren't there, and we think that Disney did a very nice job with this one.  Hands-down, it is going to look amazing when it comes out later this year on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D.

So, now that we've seen it, how about you guys?  Do you have plans to see The Lion King 3D for yourselves when it comes out next month?  It's set to release on Sept. 16 for special "two week only" run in theaters around the country so everyone will have a chance to see it.  Or, if you're lucky enough to live in the Los Angeles area, it will be showing at LA's legendary El Capitan theater for three weeks, also beginning on Sept. 16.  You can check out the El Capitan website for more information on tickets and showtimes should you wish to view it "in style".  If you want to wait, however, fear not!  The Lion King is set to release on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on October 4 of this year.

Again, watching The Lion King 3D during the D23 Expo was an amazing experience.  Sure, there were other panels we could have gone to and lots of other things to see, but looking back we know we made the right choice.  And if we didn't, well that's just okay with us, because we'll never know the difference.

The Lion King 3D comes highly recommended.  If you can see when it releases next month, do it.  You won't regret it one bit.