Ah, Pennsylvania! (Or That Time I Relived My Childhood in German)

Given the title of this blog, it should come as no surprise that I love the movie The Lion King.  As a child of the 90s, I basked in the warm glow of hand-drawn line art Disney princesses and animals, replayed endlessly on VHS tapes.  For some reason, Lion King became my favorite and I amassed a collection of Lion King related products thanks to doting parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  My mom even baked me a cake for my 6th birthday, complete with little plastic lion figures and most importantly, Pride Rock (which sometime during the baking process slid from its majestic height to become "Pride Ramp").

And as you've no doubt read on the sidebar, yes, I took a giant stuffed Simba as my carry-on for the flight to Germany.  I remember being terrified that I would lose him, and I was doubly perplexed why exactly he had to go the X-ray machine. I vividly remember asking my mom why he had to go through the X-ray machine.

This is probably how the conversation went:
Seven year old me:  Why does Simba have to go through there?
Mom: Because they have to see if there is anything inside of him.
Me: Why?
Mom: Because bad people might try to put knives or razors inside of him.

I was terrified.  Needless to say, I spared my current (and smaller) stuffed Simba the trauma of the X-ray machine and stuffed him in my checked luggage this time around.

Anyway, when I was little, I was convinced that the words to the opening bars of song "The Circle of Life" were "Ah Pennslyania!"  (Hence the title of my entry)

You can't say I wasn't justified.

Anyway,  nostalgia aside, I was super excited to see the Lion King here in Germany.  I was sad I couldn't see it at home, but it couldn't be that different, right?

For those of you who don't remember the plot or who have seriously missed out on Disney's best film and best score (thanks Elton John!):  It's Hamlet.  With a happy ending.  

Young cub and heir to the throne, Simba, witnesses his father's, Mufasa, death.  Convinced by his evil uncle Scar (who in fact murdered Mufasa) that he is responsible for his father's tragic death, Simba runs away from his kingdom.  In a jungle oasis, he meets two social pariahs, Timon and Pumbaa who teach him "Hakuna Matata" - it means no worries (don't take my word for it, watch the video).

Told you so.

Eventually though, Simba mans up (or in this case lions up), defeats his uncle, reclaims his destiny and his part in the Circle of Life, and everyone lives happily every after.  Except for Scar.  Who gets eaten by hyenas. One of which is Whoopi Goldberg.

There's a whole lot of other stuff, funny one-liners, AMAZING songs, beautiful animation....JUST GO WATCH IT, OKAY?!  It's on Dvd now and it's only 90 minutes.  So break out the popcorn.

Needless to say, I was super excited to see it again on the big screen.  The 3D really wasn't important to me. I'm not a huge 3D fan anyway and to be completely honest, Lion King doesn't need 3D to be awesome.  3D movies usually have a stupid plot that features lots of stuff popping out at you so you don't forget how much you spent on the ticket. 

The show was matinee around 4pm and I went with Rachel and Jake who were not as excited as I was (few people are).  We headed to one of the 4 movie theaters in Tübingen, because Blaue Brücke (literally, the Blue Bridge) is only one that shows American blockbuster movies all the time.  The one by my house only seems to show weird French films that did well at Cannes. We paid and got our 3D glasses.  I was pumped.

Then I saw the concession stand wasn't open.

It was completely dark.  No gentle popping noises from the popcorn machine.  No sticky floors from spilled drinks past.  No huge counters filled with overpriced candy you suddenly desperately want to eat.

A little sign told me that the concession stand would open after 7:30pm.

WHAT KIND OF TERRIBLE PLACE IS THIS?!

I tried to shove the hunger for some very very unhealthy candy or popcorn away and we entered the theater.  Usually in German theaters, you get reserved seats.  Like for a theater show.  Luckily, it was a matinee so we didn't have reserved seats and we picked some good ones.  There was stiff competition.  There were like 10 other people in the theater.

Then the movie began after many cute and funny German commercials and previews.  It was shock when the opening song "The Circle of Life" was in German.  For some reason, I didn't think the songs would be translated.  "The Circle of Life"  is translated to something that basically means "The Everlasting Circle".  Unfortunately, what makes Lion King so awesome in English is that the lyrics to the songs are really witty and clever.  It's harder to maintain word play humor in German translations of spoken dialogue or texts.  Songs must be especially difficult to translate.  So many of the songs had different titles and it slightly altered the meanings of the song.  Simba's big song as a young cub is "I Just Can't Wait To Be King".  The German version changes the title to "I Want To Be King Right Now", which makes Simba sound really bratty.  The big   love song, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?"  is translated to "Can This Really Be Love?"

Another thing that was different is obviously the voices.  I've become so used to the voices of each and every character due to strenuous memorization as a child, that hearing new voices for the same character is deeply unsettling.  Just like when watching The Dark Kinght,  Lion King is a movie about voices.  So not hearing this:

Darth Vader and Mufasa. Rock on James Earl Jones.

But instead hearing this:

 It's quite different.

On top of that, lots of the English puns (especially the lion related ones - "lion's share" etc) didn't translate, so the German translators put in different jokes.  There is one scene with the hyenas where, in the English version, they rhyme Mufasa with the phrase "Qué pasa?".  In the German version, they rhymed Mufasa with "Mit Wasser" (in German, "with water").  It's not as funny, but it rhymes.


Overall, I had a really good time!  I loved seeing my favorite movie on the big screen, even though I had to get used to new voices and new songs.