Disney’s Lion King remake seems kind of soulless, with our own A.A. Dowd noting in his review that the elaborate, animal-stacking “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” sequence from the original has been replaced with a little romp through a stream, but at least we can still count on Beyoncé to bring the visual panache that Jon Favreau apparently forgot. Tonight, during a special presentation on ABC (corporate synergy!), Beyoncé shared the video for “Spirit,” the new song she recorded for the Lion King-inspired compilation album The Gift. The song itself was released just last week and the album will come out alongside the movie on Friday, but you haven’t heard/seen anything until you’ve heard/seen this video.
The colors! The Blue Ivy cameo! The dramatic choreography! If you can look past the distracting intrusions of CG animals, it almost seems like this thing was made by someone with an aesthetic vision beyond making a dull version of a 25-year-old movie.