All that's missing is David Attenborough.

Rating: 8/10 (24 July 2019)

Now I never felt the need for a remake of the classic Lion King, I've understood Disney's desire to recreate the classic films for a new generation and allow them to feel the magic many people felt as children, and to a degree this was successful. When I went to see it, the cinema was filled with children and their parents. This is wonderful and all, however I feel the only real improvement upon the original is the animation...
And how amazing it was. The animation team at Disney managed to keep up with the expectations and surpass the quality I felt a fully animated film could ever be, it felt almost real. Every part of the camera work, from the animation to the cinematography to the editing. Simply impeccable.
Furthermore with the technical elements of the film, the sound design was simply fantastic. But what else could you expect from Hans Zimmer and Elton John? Both of whom retain their roles from the original Lion King. Not only was the score amazing, but the sound editing and mixing captivated me, making it feel like I was there on the plains of Africa. The voice recording from the characters felt open, I didn't feel like they was simply in a recording studio reading from a script, this allowed for even more immersion into the African wilderness and away from a dark cinema. It would not shock or anger me if this was to be nominated for an academy award for the sound editing and mixing, mark these words.
Now if I can sell you The Lion King with anything, it'd have to be the silky smooth voices of James Earl Jones as Mufasa and John Kani as Rafiki. The South African creole Kani uses voicing Rafiki really brings the character alive on the screen. The whole cast provided an above average performance, however certain characters fell short on me such as Keegan-Michael Key as Kamari and Eric Andre as Azizi. With the nature of these characters, the film makers must make a decision, 1- make them overly funny and less scary and kept the same actors (I'd prefer this as I believe Key and Andre are brilliant actors), or 2- Kept the same darker tone and hired less comedic actors to take their role. Other than this small complaint I believe everyone from Beyonce to Seth Rogen gave a captivating performance.
Overall, the Lion King allowed for a captivating , emotional and glorious experience in the cinema. It felt consistently like an episode of Blue Planet. All that was missing was David Attenborough.
8/10