It’s not often that we get to review a television show of any variety, but that time has come around again. Recently, I was able to check out the first two episodes of the new National Geographic limited series, Lion, and let me tell you… it’s pretty good.
There are only four episodes (all are available now) in this tale, executive produced by Jon Favreau and Mike Gunton and narrated by O.J. Lynch (who emanates shades of Keith David, this is the story of Kio, a lion cub in East Africa born to Summer. As part of the pride, he is the youngest and constantly struggles to be “one of the boys”. From competition to loss and even exile, Kio’s journey is one that could take him to the title of “king”… or succumb to the wilderness and all of its perils.
Getting to see these two episodes (A Prince is Born and A Band of Brothers, clocking in at about forty minutes a piece) in a Dolby Cinema auditorium was the perfect choice to present these episodes in the best possible situation. The use of the audio alone is fantastic; birds flew all the way around the auditorium, the wind blew everywhere, and the danger was truly felt from every nook and cranny. Visually, this was also very well done; seeing these animals from lions to buffalo, warthogs, elephants, and everything in between is done in the most beautiful of details down to seeing the hair on Kio’s face move as he tries to understand the world around him. There are couple of intense scenes to show the danger of his world, so be aware of that going in with the smaller ones. There is nothing I would label as “graphic” here, but there still might be a couple of moments during hunts to look out for.
Hans Zimmer scores this adventure, and his distinct style fits the series like a hand in a glove. I cannot imagine how long this took to get all of the footage needed, much less how long he had to wait to put the score together to be the seam that secures the stranglehold on its audience as Kio’s journey unfolds. I have been a fan of Zimmer’s for a long time now, and this particular score is no exception to his greatness.
Available now on Hulu and Disney+, Lion is worth a watch if you are a fan of nature documentaries. Don’t expect a lot of scientific jargon here, and that’s that point. This is simply the story of a lion cub who must find out what his destiny and achieve it.