It's the original but with CG

Rating: 5/10 (22 July 2019)

I LOVED the original as a kid and I still do today. I had it on VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray and now I can stream it. The 1994 classic still lives up today with its gorgeous animation and art style, memorable story and characters and timeless songs that would last many generations thanks to 1994 movie. But with Disney remaking old classics you know that The Lion King was done the line given its popularity over the years.
Now I honestly don't have a problem with Disney doing them, especially to movies like Dumbo because of its age. Remake the classic to give it an update. However remaking The Lion King to me sounds like a bad idea because the film really didn't need to change. The Lion King didn't really have the same problems in the style of Dumbo. But because of this trend of remaking classic, Disney are bound to do it anyway.
In the end, the visuals are good but the story is the same and even adding in little different scenes like the 'Be Prepared' scene and all really doesn't impact the film's narrative. While the visuals are good I REALLY HATED the emotionless faces of the animals. I remember the director saying that they wanted the animals to look realistic but here's the thing, emotions are important because it visually shows how the characters are feeling. He also said that there's body language but I'd hardly ever seen that much body language through the characters. It's a shame because the actors playing in this had done it their all with the emotion.
However I felt the story was a bit rushed with its pacing around the third act and the scene with Simba talking to his dad in the cloud really didn't have much effort put into it unlike the original. No fault towards the VFX artists who worked hard on this film, this is more to the director of the film. I do like his films like 'Iron Man' but the direction was not really good here.
This is geared towards Disney's marketing but I also hate how they keep saying these remakes are 'for a new generation'. How can these films be for a new generation when families have great access to the original films through every home media variation there is. Disney had been harping on the words 'Timeless classic' for a reason.
People might say, 'If they changed the story then everyone will be up in arms.' and yeah that's a good point but there are choices for this film. Either remake it the same, change it or just not remake it at all and I feel. I feel that the Aladdin had done a far better job with its remake. It feels like its own film and while there were scene that weren't in the original they felt needed and moments like the Genie having a girlfriend didn't drastically deviate from the original story of the 1992 classic.
At the end of the day, at least the original is still with us. Disney will keep playing the original classic more often on TV, streaming services etc. and the remake, while it will exist, it will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray, TV and streaming service (Disney + more likely) and that's it. I hardly see any of the recent remakes getting the same love post-cinema screening the same way as the originals.
In the end, the film is the same as the original with dull emotionless animals. If you hate the idea of the story being similar, just watch the classic you're not really missing out anything. If you like the remake more power to you.