It Looks Nice... That's About It

Rating: 3/10 (7 November 2019)

It's hard to say what my "all-time favorite" Disney movie is, but the original Lion King would undoubtedly be in my Top 5, likely even Top 3, and I'm sure many others could say the same. That said, I had high expectations, but tried to keep an open mind.
The classic opening scene with the song "Circle of Life" is almost shot for shot exactly, but in live-action animation form, and I did think it was cool seeing it this way. Although, while the song is sung well by Lindiwe Mkhize, something felt very off about the mix. The vocals overpowered the music and made it hard to hear at times (I found this annoying in the other songs as well).
As we start to get further into the film and through a bit of dialogue, I'm already starting to feel a little disappointed in the voice acting. I hate to say it, because I love James Earl Jones, but his performance is so weak in this film. Some might say it's because he's older now and can't project like he used to, but that didn't feel like the problem. The original Mufasa is a highly respected king that you wouldn't dare mess with, but he was also a likable character and knew how to have fun. This Mufasa is kinda boring, he just has a "yeah, whatever" tone about him. It feels like Jones isn't even giving half the effort and emotion of the original. The remaining characters do okay, but still feel kinda bland.
"Just Can't Wait to Be King" was performed fine, but again with the mix. I think it could have gone without the extended Zazu commentary. I was waiting to see the big animal choir get twisted up and Zazu getting squashed at the end, or something exciting like that, but instead the song just ended on a long shot and faded to the next scene...
Another positive I'll give about this movie is the Hyenas. I actually got a little spooked by the close up Hyena shots, they at least look intimidating to me.
One of the most cringing scenes to me was when the song "Be Prepared" appears. Next to "Circle of Life", this is my favorite song in the original film, an important song and segment of the original film. The song is done so poorly in this film, I asked my friend to pause the movie and play the original song before continuing. Less than half of the song is in the film, and it's more spoken than sung. A drunk guy at karaoke could have done better. Huge disappointment.
Mufasa's death scene is more downs than ups. I will say positively that the stampede shots were pretty cool. But I'm sorry, it just did not hit me when Simba approaches his dead father, the emotion is just not there to me. No tears from Simba or any of the other lions. Mufasa's death in this film feels like "well, that scene's out of the way".
Timon and Pumbaa have their moments in the film, but I still prefer Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella as them. I was not at all a fan of this films rendition of "Hakuna Matata".
As far as Donald Glover as Simba... Sorry, but not impressed. I have no problem with him singing as Simba, as he does have a good voice. Acting wise, it sounds like he's reading for a high school play or something his whole role, it just feels boring.
Okay, here's one thing I can say this film has that I wish the original did. I liked that they extended "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". In the original, Timon and Pumbaa are seen singing a short portion of the song acappella. In this film, they get through a couple verses and have some music behind it.
That said, some of the films other extensions I thought were unnecessary, like the mouse walking and the lock of hair in the wind that goes on for like two minutes. Scenes clearly meant for filler that could have had more important scenes in their place.
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is performed okay, but it bugs me that it's bright daylight during the scene.
The Rafiki character in this film is as boring as Mufasa to me. In fact, one of his best scenes, one of the most important scenes (if not, the most important scene to the original) was totally skipped! The scene where Rafiki hits Simba on the head with his stick and tells him it's in the past so why does it matter? The past can hurt, but you can either run from it or learn from it... That scene is not in the movie... Why? Simba decides to go back home after hearing (not seeing, the ghost never appears in the clouds) Mufasa and just realizes on his own what he has to. Another big disappointment.
While I thought the dialogue during the intense ending was underwhelming, I will positively say that I thought the fight scene, visually, looked pretty cool.
In conclusion, I personally think this rendition of The Lion King is nothing compared to the classic, not even close. The film is visually pleasing, and it is kinda neat to see Pride Rock and areas of the classic movie in a more real-life setting, but that's all you really get out of it. It could have been done without re-recording the music and voices. The acting isn't that great, the songs aren't mixed well and sometimes not performed well, important stuff was left out, what was changed was filled in with... filler. Whatever "fresh and new" idea Disney was trying to bring here besides appearance, I didn't catch it. My stars are for the animation crew on this one.