Find the Kid in You

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 2019)

I've read some critic and audience reviews and I can't help but chuckle at the overly serious people not realizing they're watching a Disney movie. Sure, the movie was a lot less colorful and fun than it's predecessor, but it's the same movie with some amazing visual effects. Mind blowing, if you will.
I've openly admitted that I don't think music was a good choice for this movie, I think an updated score of the songs we know and love would've worked well in place of the original songs. As weird as it is to see realistic animals speak, it's just as weird if not more to see them sing. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the nostalgia of some of my favorite songs used.
I keep seeing people complain about a "lack of emotion", but I have to assume none of these people have pets. Dogs don't speak, but their body language and eyes speak volumes and these animals did the same. There was plenty of emotion, please don't believe the hype. Not to mention, the director did a phenomenal job at assuring that the way the camera moved also added to the emotion of the scene. I think people just wanted to see the 1994 movie, so much so that they were unwilling to embrace the new version.
Speaking to embracing the new version, I think some of the line deliveries could've been better, but I'm torn because I don't know if I didn't like the delivery or if I'm used to hearing it differently. 1994 was 25 years ago, we've had 25 years to embrace, love and appreciate The Lion King for what it was. Give the new edition a real chance, I'm sure it'll grow on us all.
Just for giggles, I plan to interview my cousins and upload their reactions to the web because I think while the movie was made for us, it's their generation that'll have it for the next 25 years and they deserve to appreciate it as we did the original. I remember this kid in the theater during the hyena chase scene shout, "Run, Simba!" it was the cutest thing! He felt the grief and stress of the scene as we all did and I think if children continue to react like this kid did, it'll implant this movie for the next 2.5 decades. I really hope it does. If you haven't seen it yet, I urge you to check it out. The movie was great!