Disappointed in Disney

Rating: 2/10 (29 July 2019)

The Lion King is my favourite movie of all time and to say that I'm disappointed in this live remake is an understatement. I have to give credit to the CGI which is fairly good, Seth Rogan & Billy Eichner for their roles as Pumbaa & Timon which I think were great and of course, James Earl Jones who can do no wrong as Mufasa. Many things, however, were just not right.
Scar: In the original movie, Scar is a sarcastic sleaze to the point where it's laughable. Many key moments with him were just missed or it just wasn't executed well enough. The line "ah Zazu, you made me lose my lunch" had little sarcasm or no hint of evil in his voice. Scar seemed much more depressed and sinister. And even if that was Disney's goal of how Scar should be portrayed. It meant that anything the audience liked about Scar was wiped and from the get go, we just don't like him. Hearing Scar's voice is how I knew this film wasn't going to be one I could enjoy as much as I did the Aladdin remake (which is amazing).
Zazu: Trying to top Rowan Atkinson's performance as Zazu was bound to be hard and John Oliver actually did really well. My issue is that a couple lines that made Zazu seem prestige in his own way and just all around comical were left out. For example "oh very good pouncing...POUNCING? Oh no sir you can't be serious. This is so humiliating" or the scene at which Zazu is trapped in a cage and sings depressing songs "nobody knows the trouble I've seen, nobody knows my sorrow" and then he switches it up by saint the coconut song and I just live for it. It built up his character which I thought was not showcased as much in the live remake.
Particular scenes or lines: Maybe I've just watched this movie one too many times and am too closely analysing it BUT too many of the lines were just not said right or scenes were missed out.
Nala's "how're we going to ditch the dodo" was changed to much a more polite way of saying it and I craved that rawness that came with her young character. (I'd like to point out the fact that Beyoncé actually did a good job as Nala, I don't think she was that overpowering).
In the scene where Pumbaa and Timon debate keeping Simba, we didn't get to see that process of Timon dismissing what Pumbaa said and making fun out of it before he then agrees with what he says and takes the idea as his own properly.
Pumbaa's "my buddy Timon here says, you gotta our your behind in your past" line by which is followed by Timon saying "no no no, amateur. Sit down before you hurt yourself" is completely missed out and they just go straight to the real talk.
Mufasa's "Simba, you have forgotten me" line was taken out which really upset me because his voice is just so monumental that that line has always stuck by me and it was nowhere to be seen.
Rafiki's "oh yes, the past can hurt but you can either run from it or learn from it" was missed out completely and THAT is when I really gave up with the film because it's one of my favourite scenes as that's when he uses his stick to teach him that lesson. Now, it must be said that I liked how they brought in the stick during the fight as he looked at it and said "hello my old friend" or something like that. It was very much needed.
I would also like to draw attention to the fact that, even though, I cried at Mufasa's death scene (as I expected, I'll always cry at that scene), I felt as though Simba didn't have enough emotion. I understand that to make this work, you can't have such emotion in the lions without making it look fake but I think the mark was missed.