The live action Lion King comes across as a well-known nature documentary with a different look.

Rating: 6/10 (17 July 2019)

The Lion King is a live-action film version of the 1994 animation film of the same name. The film is directed by Jon Favreau, the director of Chef, Iron Man and he also directed the live-action version of The Jungle Book in 2016.
The film is set in the African savannah where a new heir to the throne is born, the young lion Simba (voice of JD McCrary). Simba is the next king of their kingdom after his father Mufasa (voice of James Earl Jones). Simba his uncle Scar (voice of Chiwetel Ejiofor) has lost his place as the future heir to the throne with the birth of Simba. Scar comes with a dark plan to still be king.
When Scar executes his plan, Simba is banned and ends up in unknown territory. In this area Simba meets the carefree duo Timon (voice of Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (voice of Seth Rogen). Together with these two, Simba grows up with a carefree life. When the now mature Simba (voice of Donald Glover) meets his old girlfriend Nala (voice of Beyoncé Knowles) again, he is confronted with his past. In this way he is faced with the choice to continue his carefree life or to return to his ancient kingdom and to assume his rightful title as king, but for this he must make the mistakes he has made in the past undergo and see to rectify.
This new live-action film from Disney is actually not a real live-action film, because all the animals in the film are placed in the film with good CGI. All African places and backgrounds were also placed in the film with a green screen. With the live action of The Jungle Book, Jon Favreau managed to capture the animals and the jungle in a realistic way in 2016, making it seem like you were really in the jungle as a viewer. With this film, Jon Favreau and his technical team have managed to improve the effects. This makes the film look even more realistic than The Jungle Book and looks like a nature documentary about the African savannah with the story of The Lion King.
To keep the film realistic, the animals do not really show their emotions with their posture as they do with the animation. The animals communicate and show their emotions more with their body language and attitudes. So as a viewer you have a lesser emotional bond with the characters compared to the animation. The emotional moments are the same as in the animation, but do not have such an emotional effect as they do in the animation.
Because the story of The Lion King animation is actually a perfect story that you do not need to change anything about, they have not really done that with this live action film either. So this new film comes across as familiar if you know the animation version. A few minor adjustments have been made, but these do not change the familiar story. In the live-action filming of other Disney films such as Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, they managed to adjust the films a bit to give it a different and individual style and also to give it a more modern look. stop.
Most of the voice acting is done well in this film, but if you are familiar with the animation it may take some getting used to hearing the famous characters with a different voice in this film. Fortunately, James Earl Jones can be heard as the voice of Mufasa, but just like when he returned as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars spin-off Rogue One, you can hear that he has grown older. The younger actors, who speak to the young versions of the animals, do a bit better work than the older actors, because with the young characters you can still hear a little emotion in their voices. With the older cast you hear the emotions less in their voices, which is probably done to keep it fitting with their emotionless facial posture. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan do their voice acting in an appropriate and comical way. Seth Rogan's unique smile is also nice when Pumbaa has to laugh in this film.
The singing work is also done well and in an appropriate way by the cast. Beyoncé and Donald Glover are both singers and are suitably cast in the front of this film. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan do sing in a somewhat lesser way, but this fits in with their characters. Most famous songs from the animation can also be heard in this film, but in a somewhat different way. Artist Pharrell Williams has done his best to bring the music back in a good way in this version of The Lion King. Hans Zimmer is also the composer of the soundtrack for this film, just as he was for the animation. In this way he brings the soundtrack back in a slightly modified, but also in a well-known way in this version.