Decent, if you've not seen the original

Rating: 8/10 (30 July 2019)

As a person who walked into The Lion King 2019, with no past baggage or childhood nostalgia, I'd say this was quite a pleasant experience.
Let's go over the pros -for starters, this film is visually incredible,no doubt about it. There are legitimate moments where I would believe that these are real animals in the wild; they look,act and sound like their realistic counterparts. It's a beautiful movie to watch.
The humor,when it's there,is incredible. I am,of course, referring to Timon and Pumba. I have no idea how they performed in the original,but I'm sold on a Lion King 1.5 sequel. They share genuine banter, which really lighten the tone of the film.
In terms of negatives, you've probably already heard,but the film is pretty bland. The lions have no real emotion, nor are they allowed to,cause it would be hard to animate. In that sense,this comes off as a nature documentary, with A-list actors performing mediocre dubs. I don't even blame the actors,it's just that since the animation is so real, the emotions couldn't be. Speaking of which, there's also a weird disconnect between scenes that are clearly meant to be brutal (the stampede, the final fight),but are toned down to PG13 . It takes you slightly off rhythm, because you want it to be real,but you know Disney won't show you the blood and gore.
All in all, I'd say this film works best as a chapter in a photorealism course for budding visual effects artists. I enjoyed it (having nothing to compare to), but if anything, it's gotten me excited to see the original,as well as the Broadway play. I know there's better versions out there, so I'm comfortable not thinking too much about this one.