Not very good

Rating: 2/10 (10 August 2019)

I'm a big fan of the original animated Lion King movie. I deliberately tried to hear as little as possible about this remake, because I wanted to go in with a neutral viewpoint. So that's what I did. I really wish I could like this movie, but it just falls flat for me.
First off: the visuals. They look stunning, overall, but they ended up bugging me more than they did amaze me. The Africa in the original truly came alive and had magic. This looked like a good photoshopper went to work. And I say photoshop (not video), because some of the animations - especially facial ones - looked... off. One shot in particular comes to mind when both Simba and Nala are singing together during "I Just Can't Wait To Be King". Their mouths looked like they were pasted on the character models at one point.
Then the portrayal of emotions, or rather, the lack thereof. Simba's happy face is the exact same as Simba's scared face, or Simba's angry face, or Simba's mournful face. There is absolutely NO emotion visible on their faces. I'm not exaggerating, it literally is the same face throughout the movie, and it is like that for every character.
Then, you'd think they'd compensate for that by having the voice actors really give it their all. Yeah, no. Apart from Seth Rogen, who is basically a human version of Pumbaa, everyone did poorly on that behalf. Beyonce is just absolutely god-awful and clearly tries to overpower every scene (singing or otherwise) that she's in. Though she did get a few unintentional laughs out of me since she's the only lion who talks like she came straight "outta da hood". But even James Earl Jones, who actually voiced Mufasa in the original, came across as someone who knew the movie would bomb, and he just came in to say his lines and cash his check. I get he's an old man by now, but he sounded so painfully uninterested.
Then the directing itself. Favreau has no respect for the original and it shows. He spends unnecessary focus on trivial things. Or did he genuinely think making us watch how a lock of Simba's hair gets eaten by a giraffe, and then crapped out so we can see be broken in half by a dung beetle, be a good idea? He also changed or altogether left out great elements of the original (I'm looking at you, Be Prepared), and the parts he left in word for word, those were so rushed it was almost painful to watch the voice actors speed through that part of the script.
I so really wanted to like this movie, and trust me, I'm not a difficult guy to please with these remakes. Heck, with the exception of Dumbo, I've been able to enjoy all of the Disney remakes of the last few years, so that should tell you plenty. But this one...
Basically, if you want to watch this movie, go watch the original instead. Hey, watch the straight-to-DVD sequels; even those were better.