The Lion King - 4/10

Rating: 4/10 (17 July 2019)

I feel like everybody saw this coming, if Disney was remaking all their classic movies, then The Lion King had to be one of them. Just like all the other live-action remakes, this movie is really not good, and should've stayed as an animation because some things just work in an animated movie that don't in a live-action one. I do have a few good things to say though, the battles and fights in this movie are much better in this movie, because it's a lot more intense and raises the stakes by being realistic. The final showdown in this movie is one of few scenes that I really enjoyed. Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, and Billy Eichner in specific really had their performances stand out throughout their scenes in the film. Pumbaa and Timon being easily the best part of it. Now onto the main issues. Throughout it's entirety, there aren't any facial emotions or expressions because it tries to be so realistic, and that's what I mean when I say some things are just meant to be left in animation. It's something that bothered me throughout the whole film because it makes scenes so underwhelming and makes things so emotionless. The main issue is that the film is a direct copy of just about everything from the original, just without emotions and expressions. Some scenes being missing and others just brought down due to how realistic the movie tries to be. One thing in specific that really stood out is that the film was not formatted to 16:9 in my showing and the actual movie was like watching YouTube without zoomed to fill, it was just annoying and took so much away from the immersion. It's probably not an issue for IMAX but definitely is for normal viewings. The scene with the song "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" was sung and presented in daytime, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I will say that the work they've been able to do with the realism is great, but just makes the movie feel like a test demo or something like that, due to not bringing anything new to the table.