It made me love the original more-that's worth something! (9.5/10)

Rating: 9/10 (15 August 2019)

I saw this on July 22nd, 2019. I live with my Grandma due to some personal troubles, and she took me to live with her 6 years ago that day. The Lion King is also her favorite Disney movie(mine is The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by the way), so I thought that seeing this could be our way to celebrate.
If you've seen the animated movie, you have seen about 80% of the new movie. You may have heard that this is practically a shot-for-shot remake. That's sort of true. Many scenes appear that way, though there are minor differences throughout that make it a slightly new experience. Though many parts like the climax made me feel this way. (Mufasa's death is more heart-wrenching in this adaptation if you ask me.)
The best part for me was the songs. With the exception of a Beyonce song, they are all the same, but seeing lifelike animals perform them is astonishing. I felt a rush of joy when the songs came on. (We actually entered the movie a minute late, but even The Circle of Life's middle sucked me right into the movie!)
Be Prepared was heavily modified, however, and while that wasn't so memorable, it wasn't terrible either. That's one issue I had with it.
I must also admit that some lines were not given strong emotions, for example Scar's lines were sometimes simply said and weren't as frightening as Jeremy Iron's work. However, the voice-work is overall decent.
While I had minor issues with the movie, I didn't think it was worth heavily deducting my rating. No movie is perfect, and such small details aren't worth trashing.
The movie is also exactly half an hour longer than the original, but I could hardly tell. The movie runs at such a fine pace!
The CGI that make the animals is also well done. I honestly believe that the animals make this a landmark in live action computer generated imagery, and for movies that use it in the future!
There are also some new jokes, all that made me laugh out loud. EG, near the end, there is a Beauty and the Beast reference that had me howling in the theater, along with the others in the audience! That was my favorite part, in fact!
I could give this MUCH more praise, but I will stop here. Is the movie "necessary"? No. But are 20 Marvel movies? Disney remakes are here to stay for awhile, whether or not we want them to.
Was it worth seeing? ABSOLUTELY! It's a grand production at LEAST worth seeing in theaters. It's a notch short of the 1994 movie, but this made me appreciate the original all the more! That's worth something! The Lion King is a king of animated movies, and now it's a king of remakes!
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Notice: I write this review on 7/22/19 and edited it on 8/13 and 8/15 to fit better with my thoughts!