A massively disappointing live-action adaptation that serves as inferior to the original, with no further improvement

Rating: 4/10 (15 July 2019)

As much as the live-action adaptations from Disney have been controversial as of late, the live-action of The Lion King (despite being all rendered as CGI) is without a doubt, the most pointless and unnecessary live-action remake to date.
Nothing about this remake improves anything and it even doesn't take a risk. It's utterly shot-for-shot, which almost draws unfavorable and negative comparisons to the infamous Gus van Sant's 1998 remake of Psycho (a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho), of which The Lion King original and the remake had the same story, with the remake giving no further improvement. The difference of the two, in terms of the technique, is that the original features traditional hand-drawn animation, whereas the remake features photorealistic CGI animation.
Another problem that The Lion King remake faces, is with the inability of the CGI lions to convey emotions and its difficult translation of its voice talents within the emotions of the CGI lions, which makes it difficult for audiences to relate to the lion characters' emotions and its expressions, which can turned towards uncanny valley.
Another problem within this remake have, comes with the voice acting performances and the results are truly underwhelming, to say the least. Donald Glover and Beyonce are seem to be miscasted as both Simba and Nala, and despite their incredible singing performances and particularly their rendition of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" song, their voice acting comes as the weakest. Chiwetel Ejiofor tries to bring his unique style and menacing qualities as Scar but falls short to the more superior Jeremy Iron's Scar. John Oliver serves as a poor substitute for Rowan Atkinson as Zazu. Worse of all, Alfre Woodard's, John Kani's, Keegan-Michael Key's and Eric Andre's voice performances, were underutilized and wasted.
Still, The Lion King remake is not without its redeemable qualities. Even with the problems of the CGI lions in its difficult expression of emotions, much of the CGI qualities of the lions as well as other animals is featured as utterly realistic, which makes it the most mind-blowing CGI creations that the animals are featured into cinema, given the fact that the technology that was used in The Jungle Book was used to the higher degree within this remake, of which that use of the visual effects being displayed in this remake as groundbreaking.
Out of all the voice cast, only a few stand-out as the best; with Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen giving out their best chemistry and performances as Timon and Pumbaa, nearly stealing the whole show. Other stand-outs within the movie, were James Earl Jones as Mufasa (a performance that remains endearing and powerful, despite being oddly weary and underutilized), Florence Kasumba as Shenzi, JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph as both the younger versions of Simba and Nala.
In the end, The Lion King remake features no heart, vitality, spirit, magic, mysticism, and power that the original possesses, and is considered as inferior to the 1994 animated original. The Lion King remake is considered as a massive disappointment and will end up age horribly, whereas the 1994 animated original remains as a superior and timeless masterpiece that will remain to stand the test of time, and for generations to come. All the visual effects in the world cannot replace the pure Disney magic that was brought to life by the original entire cast and crew in the 1994 animated masterpiece.