Mmm, Okay

Rating: 6/10 (23 July 2019)

My overall feelings is in my headline, it was okay. I had my expectations high because this was one of my favorite Disney movies, and the live-action Beauty and the Beast was really good. One thing I didn't expect was the animals to be so realistic. Yes, it showed them that way in the trailer but it didn't really use dialogue, so I wasn't aware they were going to entirely animate them like real animals, and not add any extra zing. So, it looked like a Nat Geo nature documentary with dialogue and occasional singing, which, got a little boring at times. I would think Favarou, even though not an animation guy, would have learned by movie number 3 of turning animated movies into live-action, that what sells animation is the facial and visual gestures. Otherwise, why animate? Even in Beauty and the Beast the cups and teapots weren't simply cups and teapots, they still made them a bit cartoony. Because they didn't do this everything came off wooden. There was no emotion other than slight hints of it in the eyes of the animals. I would think this lesson would have already been learned with the great failure of the Polar Express - animation needs to emote.
The pluses were Poomba and Timon, where they put some effort into playing up their humor along with their delivery. The two hyenas played by Keegan Key and Eric Andre were kind of funny, but, again, like the lions, the hyenas had zero emoting or expressions so didn't come off as interesting as Poomba and Timon. Beyonce's vocals are great, obviously, and I was surprised to find out Danny Glover was adult Simba, as I didn't know he could also sing. The voice sounded familiar, but didn't place him until told later. He did a great job, but he's a great actor, so, no surprise there. Young Simba while a good singer but was not a particularly great voice over actor.
Mulan looks great, so, hopefully that will be better. I've heard mixed reviews about Alladin, but that's on my list to see. Too many big movies out right now it's hard to keep up. I'll still check out Mowgli, despite how lackluster this was. It just needed some oomph. Given how spectacular most 3D films are these days, I expected to be blown away with the visuals, and, like I said, this looked like your standard nature documentary. I'm curious how this will do in China since they're all about VFXs, and this, while VFX heavy, you can't really tell 'cause everything looks too real. An achievement in one sense...but, didn't really deliver overall.