Review of The Lion King (2019) by Mattyice — 19 Jul 2019

Yes, the visuals are pretty fantastic and the score/soundtrack is still one of my favorites ever and mostly only got better, but those are the only things I can truly appreciate about this insanely unoriginal and rather insulting remake of The Lion King. First off, the “live action” aspects actually hinder the film rather than help it, as the emotion of the powerful scenes in the original is sucked dry with what looks like a voiceover of a nature documentary. The animals cannot express nearly the same level of emotion as animated characters due to the realism. In addition, the song sequences are far less dramatic and powerful because of the realism, turning amazing song sequences from the original into bland scenes consisting of characters running around or standing still (it’s criminal what they did to Be Prepared in particular). Finally, with regard to the realism, the scenes are far less vibrant and colorful, while the scale feels so much smaller than the original. Outside of the poorly thought out need for realism in the first place, the film might as well not credit its “screenwriters”, as about 80% of the films script is completely recycled from the original word-for-word. At least the other Disney live-action remakes changed at least half of the dialogue rather than literally just pull the script out from an archive and amend a few things. Finally, the voice acting is for the most part decent (with Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan as Timon and Pumba and the hyenas being standouts). However, some voice actors feel like they’re just trying to replicate what the prior voice actor did, making the film feel even less original. Once again, the realism makes the actors feel like they’re just narrating a documentary, leaving some performances (particularly Donald Glover as Simba) a bit lifeless.

In the end, this was a remake that never should have been made and feels like a painful cash-grab of a legendary film. As revolutionary as the visuals are, this should have been left as a tech demo. It is absolutely soulless and I really don’t recommend giving Disney your money for what is a far inferior version of a fantastic film.