The Lion King 2019 Review

Like many 90s born kids, one of my favourite ever films growing up was the Lion King. It was one of our most over-played and excessively worn VHS tapes alongside Matilda and The Jungle Book. It tugged on everyone's heartstrings and gave us some of our best loved Disney characters and soundtracks, soundtracks that we knew every single word to and still do. The 1994 version was undoubtedly a classic that has stood the test of time. And so, like many, I was initially apprehensive about a re-make, particularly when the sequels and go-between films weren't particularly memorable. 

However, Disney have upped the ante where re-makes are concerned in recent years and have already given some of our much-loved classics a revamp, successfully. Alice in Wonderland for one, seemed to garner massive popularity and although it's subjective and a matter of personal preference, I am a big fan of their other re-makes such as The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and although not explicitly a re-make, Mary Poppins Returns. All of these were my childhood favourites and so that provides a fair assessment of their standing.

Obviously Disney have been at the height of discussion recently after having cast for their Little Mermaid remake (on which I currently have no opinion and shall reserve judgement until having seen it) but all of the above films had also been widely discussed and scrutinised before their release. And honestly, whilst it's quite easy to get deep and analytical about Disney movies, these films still provide such entertainment and pleasure for audiences. So, with all that in mind, off I popped to see the Lion King 2019 re-make.

The usual jubilation surged as the castle intro began and the sparkly logo appeared and straight after, just like the original, the Circle of Life began. This opening straight away seemed identical to the 1994 version and then on in, much of the film was too. Which in one respect is brilliant because if too much had altered, it really would have faced scrutiny and it would lose the nostalgic aspect which is what we all buy into in the first place. I think the photo-realistic technology is fascinating, much like when I watched Jungle Book, also directed by Jon Favreau, I was in awe of that. But whilst it is fascinating, there were points about it that I disliked, which I'll touch on later.

From a casting point of view, I think it was good and I think the voices fit perfectly with the characters and particularly loved that James Earl Jones reprised his role. I think Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner did Timon and Pumbaa really well also and provided some of the personality we know and love from the first. I was also happy that all the well-known songs were included. But, I wasn't really a fan of the alteration of Be Prepared which was one of my faves from the original but, you win some, you lose some.

One thing I thought about after having watched it was that the characters possibly had less character this time round. This could purely be because we have the original so well-etched into our minds but I think that the photo-realistic imaging, whilst fascinating, takes that over-exaggerated caricature element away and so makes the characters much less expressive.  I also think some of the cast of the original were just so perfect for those characters such as Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeremy Irons and Rowan Atkinson. For those reasons, I think it lacked some of what the original had, but at the same time it's rarely known that a re-make would be better than the original anyway.

Overall, the 2019 Lion King satisfied a deeply nostalgic itch and provided positives and negatives, which are hard to put into perspective when the original is so iconic and moulded into our brains. It's definitely worth a watch if you're a fan but as most would predict, nothing will ever beat the 90s version. 

10 Things that Epitomise the British Seaside Trip

For many of us, childhood memories are glittered with days out at the seaside or week long caravan or chalet stays. 

For me, those are some of my favourite childhood memories and the ones I can remember most vividly. There are so many of these memories, with grandparents, with mam and dad, with siblings, before siblings, with school and who could forget those Working Men's Club trips?! 

Sundays during my childhood seemed to alternate between early mornings at car-boot sales or early mornings up and ready for what we'd call a 'ride out' or 'going off for the day'. This would usually entail a day long visit to somewhere like Scarborough, Bridlington, Whitby, Blackpool or (my least favourite) Filey. We'd also have UK caravan holidays way more regularly than trips abroad and so for me, the British seaside really was a home from home. 

Despite the odd trip here and there, the seaside trips seemed to have lessened particularly as I've grown up and moved on and away from the family home. But after a pretty hectic few months I recently decided to embark on a number of seaside trips. The first of which was last weekend in sunny old Scarborough. I decided to plan a spontaneous, last minute 2 night stay just to allow my head to vacate work mode and for some much needed chill-time and TLC. 

Immediately on arrival, I was filled to the brim with instant happiness and nostalgia as derived from those vivid childhood memories. As a child, you're just so energetically excited by all the seaside has to offer, the bright lights of the theme park and amusement arcades, the beach and all the fun it brings, the textures, the sounds, the foods, everything so fascinating. As an adult, I found myself just truly in awe at the freshness of the air, at the breath-taking scenery in front of me and at the fact that sights so beautiful belong to us, here in the UK. The trip allowed me to vacate work mode but also provided relaxation, reflection and mindfulness. 

One thing it did get me thinking about was the seaside trip itself and how we as Brits, tend to have solid rooted traditions that we fulfil when visiting one of these coastal little towns. It got me reflecting on those childhood trips and all the little things that seemed to perfectly epitomise a trip to the British seaside...

1. The car games to pass time on the journey

Don't get me wrong, they can be tedious after some time but no 'ride out' was complete without a game of I Spy, Who Can See the Sea First? or Blackpool Tower or a Pylon. This was of course until my younger sister gazumped the whole family with "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with D....Distance" many years back. The Michelin I Spy books were also a personal favourite when heading to the seaside as a child, the organised control freak in me loved ticking off all the things I'd seen. Needless to say when you visit on your own, on a train, social media is the new I Spy!

2. Making the most kick-ass sandcastles or just burying each other in the sand

Days on the beach weren't complete without trying to make the biggest, layered yet intricate sandcastles, complete with a moat which meant you had to keep trekking down to the sea edge to fill up your bucket, only to find you'd come back and the first lot would all have absorbed! Or that villainous streak that would come out when you'd sabotage your sibling's masterpiece by kicking over every castle they'd build. Failing that, you'd see which family member was daft enough to lay back and relax and subsequently cover them in sand, burying every inch of them except for the head. My favourite thing was when grandad or dad would make a 'boat' out of the sand, with a little bench for us to sit in. Again, not quite the same when visiting on your own as a 27 year old, but... you're never too old to write your name in the sand!

3. Fish and chips, ice-cream and donuts

The traditional staple diet when visiting any seaside town and arguably one of the best things about visiting the seaside. Fish and chips out of a tray or newspaper with only a two-pronged wooden fork, no knife and a one handed fight with every seagull in town whilst sat on the harbour edge, beach front or promenade. Followed by, usually, the biggest, most indulgent but structurally unsound ice-cream you could find just to melt all down your arm or to fall dramatically off the cone, causing undue tragedy. For me, the two that scream seaside are a whippy lemon sorbet-topped or a scoop mint choc chip. 

And after all of that has settled begrudgingly in your stomach for an hour or 2, out come the donuts, one for each of us and the rest for the dads, grandads and stepdads of the group. (We'll just skim over the fact that I might have eaten 8 of these myself over the course of last weekend!)

4. The amusement arcades

As a kid, it was all about saving up your 2ps over the year ready for the holiday or just going for the day and being given a few quid for the change machines before being told "make it last cause that's your lot!" The amusements would often be saved up for rainy days as it was somewhere under cover that you could easily spend hours in, particularly if it had a bowling alley in the back too. Shamelessly skulking around the joint looking for rogue coins in the cannister beneath the slots or sounding out the ones with a toy just about to drop before attempting to whoop your sibling at air hockey or the dance mat. For me, I always just played on the ones where you'd win sweets instead of coins and just fill my pockets to their limit to ensure unlimited snacks for the rest of the holiday. Or, you'd annoyingly spend ages collecting those pointless tickets you'd be excited to cash in at the end of the break, only to find that a pen or a keyring cost at least 2000 tickets.

5. The promenade/beach stroll

I think this was mainly a ploy on behalf of the adults to tire out the children with a million steps and a face-full of sea air for the ride home but every seaside trip involved this. For us it was usually so the grown-ups could admire the sea-view houses and properties on the fronts or purely because it was cheaper to park the car way up the promenade! Albeit not the favourite part for the kids but the promenade walks could be made marginally better with a number of things. At Scarborough, it was the prospect of a Peasholm Park or SeaLife Centre visit at the end. In Bridlington, it was slightly more tolerable with the promenade story running down the path and the little paddling pools half way down towards the Spa. And Blackpool felt like the longest walk of any child's life but at least the rollercoasters of Pleasure Beach provided some relief at the end. As an adult, you definitely appreciate the serenity and peace of the promenade walk a lot more!

6. Buying a stick of rock

That ever familiar seaside novelty but, it was never actually that nice, was it? We'd often buy a bag of rock to take back for our class at school or we'd get a sugar dummy that would last us ages and be found stuck to the sofa arm for at least the next two weeks. One thing we loved as a kid was the visit to John Bull rock factory when visiting Bridlington for the week. It was all very Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, allowing you to create your own stick of rock complete with initials running right through the middle and this was again, a cheap and cheerful solution to that inevitable rainy day on the holiday. 

7. The rides

Possibly the only bit you were genuinely interested and invested in as a kid. But due to the ridiculous prices of tokens/tickets, you'd always end up finding one cheap thing and going on it about 4 times or just giving up and spending all your time at the Hook a Duck because your greed and materialistic tendencies would get the better of you. No? Just me? My family have far too many photographs of me and my siblings on the one and only ride we'd ever go on, which was sort of like a road with different vehicles on it that just went round and round. We once ventured onto the big kid rides that fling you up and down and backwards but again, that stopped when I went on with a massive bag of 2ps in my pocket which naturally exploded everywhere and forced the operator to stop the ride and everyone to get off.

8. Big pencils and other random souvenirs

This one could just be a Terri-ism but every seaside has the gaudy souvenir shop and as a nipper, I loved them. One thing I always bought was stationary but in particular, always seemed to end up with these abnormally large pencils adorned with pictures of whatever the seaside destination was. I definitely had one or two of these and could never actually write with them so they were entirely pointless. Failing that it'd be a pen, pencil, rubber or postcard that would serve little purpose as you'd be home by the time it arrived. 

9. Listening to the top 40 on the way home

Again, possibly one just synonymous with my family but one of my favourite memories of seaside visits when we were younger was that although I hated going home, I loved being able to listen to almost all of the top 40 charts on the car radio on the way home. I remember not caring if we hit traffic because it meant that I'd get to listen to more of it. I remember telling dad to turn it up when my favourites would come on and desperately longing for the ones I loved most to be number 1 because it meant they'd interview them for 2 minutes before playing their number 1 track. For some weird reason, particular charting songs that stick in my head from those trips are I'll Be Missing You by P Diddy and Faith Evans, Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve and The Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang which as a 7/8 year old, I naively nicknamed 'the sexy song' because I knew it was about all manner of rude things but was thankfully innocent enough to not know the full extent!

10. The unavoidable car sleep

The sea air, promenade walk, questionable nutrients consumed and overall excitement takes its toll and no matter how hard you try to keep it at bay, the car nap always happens. Obviously, I'd try to fight it off as much as possible so as to not miss any of the chart rundown but it always occurred and then I'd be fuming if I'd missed my best song. You'd wake up covered in saliva and red hot with one of your siblings arms stuck to yours and the other sibling uncomfortably sprawled across the three of you and then you would either need carrying from the car straight to bed or would wake up just before arriving home and consequently be awake all night.

The novelty and nostalgia of these towns never really wears off and the views are truly breath-taking and something to be proud of. Long live the Great British Seaside!

How 90s TV Characters Subconsciously Shaped My Wardrobe

Growing up, we experiment with our identity and appearance constantly, channelling a range of subcultures and buying into every fad and trend that crosses our path until we eventually find what suits us best. When I think about the photographs I've seen from my childhood, there are clearly phases and I've tried it all. Tomboy, glam, emo, chav, you name it, the subcultures came and went and whatever era you grew up in, the same would've applied. With each passing craze, you take the bits that you like and start to build your own style and own look.

At 27, I'd like to think that where I am now is a true reflection of what I like and what suits me. And reflecting on the earliest of the childhood photos, it seems I'm kind of back right where I started. Toddler Terri would always don pinafores, plaid checks, big t-shirts, frilly socks and dungarees and I'm not ashamed to say that twenty-something Terri absolutely still does all of the above. But as a regular Urban Outfitters buyer, I find myself looking for nostalgic, vintage vibes in all that I buy and recently, whilst watching TV re-runs, it became apparent just who might've been responsible for subconsciously embedding the styles I love into my current wardrobe.

I mean, one of these ladies had THE most wanted hairstyle of the 90s so it's completely understandable that these three would influence a generation. Despite being only 3 years old when Friends first hit screens, I tapped into as I grew up and like most people, still find myself watching the re-runs now. The only difference being, style savvy, adult me has a new found appreciation for the outfits that Rachel, Monica and Phoebe rocked in the earliest seasons. Every time seasons 1 - 3 are on TV, I am desperately longing to have the pinafores, the crops, the sweaters, the patterned maxis and tea dresses, the jewellery and the layering techniques that these three had.

The queen of the clashing print. Clarissa Darling, played by Melissa Joan Hart in Clarissa Explains It All was easily one of the coolest females to grace my screen growing up. I loved her bedroom, her sarcasm in each little monologue, I totally fancied her next door neighbour and wanted her hair and wardrobe all for myself. Her outfits were so outrageously 90s with big bold colours and patterns but in grungey, slouchy fits and my goodness, she loved a scrunchie. Whilst both Clarissa and Melissa's later role, Sabrina, were my youth idols, Clarissa Darling definitely had the upper hand in the style stakes.

The dry, witty, often shy Brit who kept the 3 Crane men in tow on a daily basis. Daphne Moon of Frasier fame was relatable in more ways than one but her style was made up of the prettiest patterned dresses, statement skirts teamed with cardigans and slouchy blouses all in the most graceful, flattering fits. Her layered hair, often in an up-do with effortless fringe was very much of the decade, as were her accessories.

And let's not forget the fact that quite a lot of my viewing during the 90s was in fact animated and the cartoons of the decade certainly were not without their quirky bad-ass females. Spinelli (Recess), Daria, Jane (Daria) and Debbie (The Wild Thornberries) were three that I loved and three that I think are probably now responsible for my subconscious love of boots, over-sized shirts & jackets, plaid and baggy/ripped jeans. Probably also responsible for my sarcastic, pessimistic and slightly passive aggressive nature but this was the decade of irony and girl power so I'm owning it!