4DX Review: The Lion King

4DX Review - The Lion King

As a box office behemoth in 1994, The Lion King has had millions of fans worldwide for a quarter-century now. The new remake from Jon Favreau follows what he did with Disney's The Jungle Book which now seems like a practice test compared to the visual spectacle of the mighty Mufasa tale. And indeed, the new blockbuster delivers the goods in terms of audio and visuals giving a new generation their own version of a beloved classic, the date crowd a fun film to enjoy together, and older folks some nostalgia.

All the adventure in the African wilds with so many types of animals works well with the 4DX format, especially attack scenes which are aplenty. Moving seats take the moviegoer more into the experience with ups, downs, shaking, and getting hit in the back during intense moments. 3D glasses bring you more into the depth of the setting while also helping to block some of the water that will be sprayed on you. Air blasts and lightning add to the experience and even smells are sometimes pumped in. Kids especially will enjoy the rollercoaster-like thrills that come with a 4DX premium showing.

Chase scenes allow the format to shine with all the movements that are forced upon you, almost like an amusement park ride. The water spray can get annoying, but luckily the seats give the user an option to turn it off. Any food like popcorn needs to be held tightly as the seat can angle downward allowing any tray sitting on a lap to slide right off.

The Lion King lacks some of the heart of the original animated hit. It's a pretty safe and faithful adaptation with very few changes. But as summer popcorn fun it does the job. After generating the ninth biggest opening weekend in domestic box office history, the Simba story looks to be on course to break the $500M barrier in North America. And globally it will smash the billion dollar mark soon with plenty more to add after that becoming one of the year's top grossing films.

Title: The Lion King in 4DX format

Review by Gitesh Pandya

Run Time: 118 minutes

Opened on July 19, 2019