Well, world Beyoncé’s visual album dropped on Disney Plus and has been getting nothing but positive and outstanding reviews. Once I found out she was doing something like this, I jumped for joy with every other Beyoncé fan anticipating the hype that was about to come from this and hyping it up along the way. I have finally gotten the chance to sit down and watch the film, and honestly, I didn’t expect what I saw.
Overall when watching the film, you can tell she put so much thought into making the film from location, characters, choreography, clothing and hairstyles. If you know Beyoncé, then you know she works hard at her craft and a perfectionist when it comes to this, but I got more than what I thought and loved the thought process behind all the scenes in the film.
Black Is King is a visual album, so my first concern was that this going to be all about Beyoncé in expensive clothing prancing around and singing, but she wasn’t. She held up her part when she said she wanted to do her rendition of the Lion King. She did just what she said she was going to do. I applaud Beyoncé for turning this more into a movie scene than just a compilation of a bunch of music videos.
Black Is King was Beyoncé’s way of telling The Lion King one of Disney’s classics (and my all-time favorite movie I even have a tattoo of Simba.) She told the story but in her way by using her husband Jay-z as well as her children, and other artists featured on the album The Gift. That’s one thing that I did enjoy. Some of the artists on the album were portrayed characters in the movie, such as artist Lord Afrixana playing the role of Scar. Those small detail makes the film and grabs your attention.
My only complaint about the story is that I wished she would have used more voice overs during the film. I enjoyed those voice overs throughout the film because they spoke on so much and even to hear from the actors who played Simba and Nala, the artists featured that would have been unique to hear throughout the film and the other voice overs.
As far as other parts of the story line, they included voice snippets from the movie, and when you were watching the film at least to me, I knew where they were at telling the story and didn’t get lost on where they were taking the story. Beyoncé did an excellent job of keeping up with the actual storyline and plot of Lion King and not veering off into a more flashy music video type scene.
Beyoncé didn’t have any trouble with portraying that Black is indeed king. Watching the film and seeing the beautiful Black children, teens, men, and women throughout the film, it was honestly a sight to see. To see every shade of Black, the African culture, dances, and community were exciting to see.
Just watching how uplifting the film was towards the Black community made me feel appreciated, and I did shed a few tears. (I know I’m emotional.) The Black community has been on such a journey. Not only with what’s going on with Black Lives Matter and George Floyd’s death, but before that as well.
It’s nice to have a breather and watch something as beautiful, honest, real, and raw as Black Is King, a Black person, and Black woman, and feel happy and joyful. It’s good to sit back and watch something that’s building you up, appreciating your worth and skin tone rather than just being put down for it and putting down in general.
So, yes, I’m hopping on the bandwagon that Black Is King is indeed that shit and should be appreciated and watched by all because you never know you might learn a thing or two.
