A visually appealing, albeit pointless remake that adds almost nothing new

Rating: 6/10 (18 July 2019)

The Lion King 2019 is a CGI photorealistic adaptation of the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Cowboys & Aliens, The Jungle Book), it is a visually appealing, albeit pointless remake that adds almost nothing new.
In the African savannah, Simba (voiced by JD McCrary), a young lion prince, eagerly waits until the day he takes over as king from his father Mufasa (voiced by James Earl Jones). One day, Mufasa is murdered by his jealous younger brother Scar (voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor), forcing Simba to flee his kingdom or face a similar fate. After covering a great distance, Simba meets a meerkat and warthog duo named Timon and Pumbaa (voiced by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen respectively), who take him in and teach him their carefree lifestyle. Eventually, Simba learns that he must take responsibility and reclaim his rightful place as king from his wicked uncle.
While it does showcase some nice use of colour and cinematography, The Lion King 2019 offers little else worth recommending over its animated counterpart. The story is the same as the original, the songs remain unchanged, and even most of the dialogue is word-for-word identical. At best, director Jon Favreau is merely a conductor of someone else's symphony, a far cry from his work on 2016's The Jungle Book, which took risks and felt refreshingly new. In addition to this, the photorealistic CGI often had the film at a disadvantage as it fails to convey any real emotion from the animals. In the 1994 film, the animal characters were able to look a variety of different emotions due to the artistic freedom of it being animated as a cartoon, whereas in this film, each animal looks stoic whenever they're supposed to be sad or angry. Overall, to the small percentage of those who haven't seen the original, this film may be alright, however, all others should stick with the 1994 classic instead.
I rate it 6/10