"Live action" isn't always better.

Rating: 5/10 (21 July 2019)

I had really high hopes going to see this as the Lion King is one of my favorite Disney movies but right off the bat I noticed none of the animals, especially the lions show any emotion so it just seems like a Discovery channel documentary with a bad voiceover the majority of the time. Disney's decision to have all black cast for the lions was definitely not their best decision. During "can you feel the love tonight" Beyonce drowned out Donald Glover. The addition of an original Beyonce song when Simba is running back home actually made people in the theater go "what?" as they were expecting the music from the cartoon which really makes you feel the emotion. Scar didn't seem like anything other than an angry lion. Pumba was great but something seemed off about Timon and I noticed Hakuna Matata just seemed "quiet".
I get trying to go for a "realistic" approach with the cgi but this movie is all about emotion, it's what made us love the characters. Without that, it's a one time watch.