Review of The Lion King (2019) by Arkeden — 01 Aug 2019

The "Live-Action" (photo-realistic) remake of Disney's classic, The Lion King, was unnecessary. It was visually stunning, but fails to capture the raw emotion and heart of the original animated version.

There were a couple of issues I had with the live-action remake. First, 3/4's of the film sounded like the actors phoned in their lines. An exception to this is the musical number, "Can You Feel The Love Tonight," which sounds like Beyonce Knowles and Donald Glover were actually in the studio.

Second, there were a surprising amount of lines, musical numbers, and jokes that were cut from the live-action remake that was in the original animated film. The previous, coupled with the lack of facial expressions from the photo-realistic animals, made the film feel hollow and dull.

Lastly, I was unimpressed by the amount of energy, life, and charisma the acting cast put into the characters. Especially Chiwetel Ejiofor who played a very flat Scar (I missed the sassy, sarcastic drama-king version that Jeremy Irons portrayed).

The exceptions to this are James Earl Jones (Mufasa), Billy Eichner (Timon), and Seth Rogen (Pumbaa). The skit where Timon starts singing "Be Our Guest" from Disney's, Beauty and The Beast, was terrific and hilarious.