I FINALLY DID IT!!! Aaaaah!!! I FINALLY saw Lion King in 3-D!!! Oh my gosh, seriously, so amazing. This post is pretty much gonna be a play-by-play of the whole experience, just because I am THAT happy about it.
Driving to the theater, I just kept thinking, "This is finally happening! I can't believe it! After months and months, I am finally seeing Lion King!" I decided to listen to the soundtrack on the way to get me pumped. It worked.
Once I got my ticket, I walked into the theater and was just jittery with excitement. When the Disney logo came up, I knew it was coming!!!
*Black Screen* Hearing animals and sounds of the savannah. I was about to die with anticipation. And then... "NAAAAAH SAVENYAAAA BABABEGGESSSEEE BABA!!!" THE SUNRISE!!! The moment I had waited for had finally come. It is such a beautiful movie. When Zazu was flying towards pride rock, I realized how amazing this movie is going to look. Just that part itself looked so amazing, I couldn't wait to see how the rest of the movie was going to turn out. At the end of the song, when 'The Lion King' title came on the screen, I was totally tearing up at this point :) And even just the next little scene when Scar is talking to the mouse, I remembered watching this scene in the theater so many years ago. Even 17 years later, it still was as intriguing as ever. Even in the scene when it shows a thunderstorm in the savannah while Rafiki is painting Simba on the tree, I couldn't get over how beautiful the rain looked! And seeing the lightning in the distance- I had never noticed that before.
I remembered watching the scene in the theater when I was a kid, when Simba is annoying Mufasa to wake up and stuff, and thinking he was so cool!
'I Just Can't Wait To Be King' was alright in 3-D. Nothing too spectacular about it, but it was still just as fun as ever. The Elephant Graveyard was so scary, just like back in the day! But the 3-D made the scenery look so amazingly detailed and just really amazing quality. When Mufasa was giving Simba the whole "Look at the Stars" speech, it kinda gave me chills a bit. It just looked so beautiful and the sky really did look like it could go on forever, and the stars twinkling looked so real!
Now one of the big surprises for me in the movie, was 'Be Prepared.' I mean, I always thought it was a pretty badass song/scene for a villian, but WOW- in 3-D it was just epic! I wasn't thinking about that scene at all when I thought about what parts would be cool in 3-D, but I'm telling you what, the last minute or so of the song when Scar is rising up on the cliffs and all the hyenas are dancing around, I had major goosebumps! It was just so intense! I never realized this while watching it before. I think my mouth was open a little bit because I was so taken back :P
And then... the stampede. As soon as the scene went to the overhead shot of the gorge, I just thought to myself, "Ohhhh shit!" You know what's about to happen. When Simba roared and the rocks started shaking, I knew it was coming!!! Oooooh snap! I was on the edge of my seat! I mean, with the 3-D you got such a bigger scale of the stampede! You could see the layers and layers of Simba running through hundreds of wildebeests, and it kind of made me see how dangerous this really was (like, you know for Simba and stuff). It was just really cool! And then when Mufasa ran in the stampede, I was just like, "Nonononooooo!!!" cause you know what's coming. It was heart-wrencing! And then seeing Scar throw him off the cliff- ohhhhh man! It was so sad! What got me crying a bit was when Simba sees his Dad and is all like, "Dad? Dad get up. We gotta go home!" and is crying out for help and all. Yeah, there was a definite sniffle in the theater. When Scar came up on the screen, I was sooo mad :P I just thought to myself, "Jerk." Haha.
Another thing that surprised me was when Simba was running away from the hyenas and scrambling through the thorns- it looked so cool!!! The 3-D made it all just right there in your face, and look like the thorns were everywhere! When Banzai gets all covered with thorns, it cracked me up just like it did back in the day, and I felt like I was 5 again. Some things never change.
'Hakuna Matata' was really fun, as always. It was just so cool to see and feel it all on the big screen again! I kept thinking the whole time, "I was so lucky to have truly grown up with this movie. I was the perfect age when it came out, so it really is a huge part of my childhood and growing up."
Fast-forward a bit. Scar and Zazu singing the coconut song still cracks me up.
'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' was so pretty!!! The scenery looked amazing, and it all just felt like pure Disney magic. It was so beautiful and moving as always, and I really loved it. Then... Simba's kind of a jerk to Nala. Oh well!
The movie kind of goes at a bit of a slower pace for a while, but then the next thing that literally had my mouth open in awe, was with the whole Mufasa/cloud thing. It was so powerful! Totally not expecting that. And it made me feel really sad, too! Like, dude, Simba thinks he killed is Dad?? But then his spirit comes back and is like, "Hey, Son, I'm still disappointed in you." :P and when Simba decides to go back, and there's the epic African singing and Rafiki cheering... oh man. It was awesome.
Almost done! making it to the homestretch.
The fight at Pride Rock. Oh. My. Gosh. Can I just say, "Wow!" I knew it was about to be totally awesome when Scar was like all yelling and stuff at Simba and it was all swirling around. I knew it was about to be so intense and epic! And then when the lightning struck, and the fire started as Simba was hanging off the cliff- it was so cool! It looked like the embers were floating right in front of you! When Scar and Simba were fighting in slow-motion, it was really awesome. Like, I can't even describe what it was like. I always used to think that it was kind of cheesy, but in the theater, it really did feel how it was supposed to feel: Epic! And then the moment where I was like, "Oooohhhmmyyygoooosh!" When Scar jumped through the fire at Simba, it was like he was jumping towards YOU! It was REALLY neat! Totally not expecting that.
When Rafiki said "It is time." and Simba starts walking up Pride Rock, I just felt so happy! I just couldn't get over that this was really happening: I was totally reliving my childhood, and this movie still felt as special to me as ever. When Simba roared and all the lions joined in, and the movie was ending with everything back to the way it was, I felt a little choked up! Knowing how much this movie means to me, and knowing that I have gotten to relive it again just made me so happy. "Circle of Liiiiiiiiife!" *dooooom! Black Screen*
Even the credits brought back memories! Just hearing the music took me back to 1994/95, and I remembered loving this movie so much as a kid. It was always so special to me to see it, and really- even hearing the credits music filled me with so much emotion.
I walked out of the theater feeling like I was on Cloud 9. Yes, I went by myself, but I would have much rather gone by myself than not at all! I still am on a blissful high right now of happiness, but am even more happy to discover that Disney has decided to keep it out in the theaters longer! YAY!!!!!!!!!! I totally am going to see it again. Seriously, I really want to. I want to see it with my family. I want to go home the weekend of the 30th or the 9th, and quite honestly, I am going to choose which weekend depending on if Lion King is going to be out or not. If It will still be out on the weekend of the 9th, then I will go home then. If not- then it's the weekend of the 30th for me! I just need my family to understand that we are GOING to see it together!
Aaaah.... seriously. I am just so happy. Might blog more later if I still can't contain my enthusiasm!
