Review of The Lion King (2019) by Nikkit1No — 20 Jul 2019

They took out too many important parts of the original. Showing the strength of Mufasa but also his friendly side (his friendship with Zazu, how he respects and hugs Rafiki, that he taught Simba how to pounce).

Even the opening scene wasn’t the same. Why would you alter that? The huge rising sun in tune with the music that gives almost everyone goosebumps. The new one you see trees with a slightly lit up morning sky and then a small sun appears off to the side that isn’t in sync with the music.

Mufasas personality doesn’t sound the same even though it’s still James Earl Jones’ voice. It’s different somehow. The hyenas are not the same. They don’t make jokes and laugh at themselves like “make mine a cub sandwich” then laugh hysterically at their own jokes.

They eliminated Ed, the one who doesn’t speak, just laughs. Timon isn’t flamboyant or half as funny as the original. The hula scene in the original was fast paced and funny to distract the hyenas.

The new one he slowly sings “Be our Guest”?? No action and not as fun. In fact, ALL of the new characters (including Beyoncé) sound like they are just reading from a script and it’s really mundane and forced.

None of them are in character and flow like the original. There’s no sass or wit. The music is boring. It’s a huge disappointment. Rafiki catches Simbas hair and knows immediately it’s him. In the original, he knows the scent, but it takes him a minute to figure it out and when he does, he’s ecstatic.

Not in the remake. There is no image of Mufasa in the clouds to guide Simba to remember who he is. Rafiki doesn’t give him a lesson about how the past can hurt with his stick. Simba doesn’t hug Rafiki like his father did which is also symbolic to how Simba is like his father.

I don’t understand why Disney would eliminate these bonds and characters that we all love and change it to make what is a visually stunning movie into something I will never want to see again.