Heartless and Cringe Worthy

Rating: 2/10 (22 July 2019)

I'll admit, nothing will ever live up to the original! That's something everyone can agree on. This film had a mountain to climb, even in the best case scenario. What it did however, was brake it's ankle on the first pebble and get flown to hospital, only to die enroute.
The script teetered between identical, and leaving the best bits out. Whilst adding nonsense that had no additional story telling merit. Either change the story ark and script entirely, or leave alone. Don't destroy what was best about one of our favourite Disney films.
The voice acting was bland, lacking any real emotional engagement. The animals (however stunning the CGI was) also lacked any real emotion. And yes it is meant to be photorealistic, and real animals can't move their features as we can. BUT, it's a fantasy kids film about talking anthropomorphised animals! Make them show human emotion, otherwise you lose the audience, and leave them feeling empty and disappointed.
Timon and Pumbaa were ok at best, but again lost all their best moments. Where was the Luau?? Where was "THEY CALL ME MR PIG?"
It made me cringe, it made me uncomfortable, it made me miss the original. It reminded me of a second rate Disney knockoff, that people buy by mistake instead of the genuine article.
It gets 1 star for the incredible CGI work, and another for not being 3 hours long like most films these days.
Such a shame.