Technically proficient, visually stunning yet strangely soulless

Rating: 6/10 (21 July 2019)

I can see a LOT of effort went into this remake. Cutting edge technology and a talented voice cast, nice direction and a great sountrack. But unfortunately despite all this, I felt it didn't hold a candle to the 25 year old original.
Part of the problem is that I felt it stuck too closely to the original rather than expand upon it. At times it was almost a scene for scene remake and that was a major issue as they were too similar. Sure, stick to the story of the original but at times this was incredibly predictable because it was so close. Even many of the gags and a lot of the dialogue was lifted ad verbatim from the original and I felt it took away from an otherwise impressive effort.
The screenwriters should have added their own flourishes whilst keeping in some of the crowdpleasing moments from the 1994 version. Granted the film contains the great songs from the original, albeit it done in different styles, but i'm afraid I felt a little underwhelmed at times. As wonderful actor as Chiwetel Ejiofor is, I badly missed Jeremy Irons memorable turn as the voice of Scar complete with that menacing delivery, although at least Jon Favreau had the common sense to keep the wonderful James Earl Jones (now 88 years old!) as Mufasa to give it some of the class of the original. Some of the other recasting has been well done (John Oliver as Zazu for one captures the essence of the Rowan Atkinson turn on the original).
I really wish I could have rated this higher but I can't but help compare it to the fabulous original and think this is a pale imitation that should have been allowed to take it's own path to bring something different t the table.