"The Lion King" remake is a remake too breathtaking to resist

Rating: Null/10 (28 July 2019)

Few films are as widely recognized and celebrated as the original "Lion King," for its stunning animation and creative heartfelt story was a wonderful combination that audiences of all ages could marvel at. I'll always remember being a young child and watching the 1994 Disney classic on VHS, choking up whenever Mufasa fatally gets pushed off a cliff and into a stampede of wildebeest as his son Simba watches in terror.
It's no secret that Disney, the most successful and powerful entertainment company in the world, has been remaking several of its animated classics and turning them into live-action blockbusters. We've seen films like "Cinderella," "Beauty and the Beast," "The Jungle Book," "Dumbo," "Alice In Wonderland," "Peter Pan," and most recently "Aladdin" get turned into live-action films and "The Little Mermaid," "Mulan," and "Lady and the Tramp" upcoming, making it inevitable that "The Lion King" would be given the redo treatment as well.
It's unfortunate for Disney fans that we have to rely solely on remakes of past films for the future of its legacy. Disney has endless creative potential in its ability to create new films that are both visually stunning and emotionally captivating, especially nowadays with the staggering improvements in visual effects and digital technology. Relying on the past, Disney has seen a massive dip over the years in its originality, making the studio seem unable to create any fresh magic.
The remake of "The Lion King" tells the same story as it did 25 years ago, the script seemingly copied and pasted from the original and slightly tweaked. The film follows an almost shot for shot similarity to its predecessor with the same score, making it lack any originality or soul of itself.
However, while I am not a fan of Disney's reliance on remaking past films for guaranteed profits, the beauty of "The Lion King" is too breathtaking to resist. Few films have been as visually spectacular, each image appearing as if viable for being in an art museum. Not only do the various creatures and African savannah landscapes inspire a deep sense of wonder, the level of detail in each shot in unparalleled. Director Jon Favreau has created a vibrant African world that makes you want to go on a safari. Not only do the animals look real, but they also move and operate as the creatures that roam the plains of the Dark Continent in precisely the same fashion. There were times where it felt like I was witnessing a BBC nature documentary and not a live-action film.
While feeling very much like a remake and not taking any creative leaps to make a fresh film, this is a "Lion King" that still has bursting energy and spirit, the visual brilliance instilling a sensational feeling that no other Disney experience has ever captured. Each character is voiced perfectly, most notably John Oliver as Zazu, Beyonce as Nala (the Queen playing a queen, only fitting), Seth Rogen as Pumba, and Billy Eichner as Timon. James Earl Jones returns for the voice as Mufasa, a role only he can play, for his speaking role as Mufasa is too iconic to replace. Donald Glover is the only poorly picked actor, his voice as Simba unenergetic and not possessing the level of depth to be a voice character.
It seems that Jon Favreau made the film solely for the upgrade in visual effects and digital technology, which one could argue isn't a worthy cause to remake an entire film. While the stunning imagery wasn't quite enough to win me over completely, they created a truly remarkable film experience.
It is a bit challenging to blend realistic looking animals with dialogue, at times it being a bit awkward when they speak due to the eccentric voices coming out of the stoic wildlife's mouths. It also poses the challenge of making the film emotional. The original "Lion King" made each cartoon creature bubbly and did a masterful job of making the animals human-like with their facial expressions and movements, while now we see animals look so real that it seems impossible for them to be human-like and emotional and not like actual wildlife.
"The Lion King" feels very much like a remake, for virtually everything except the change from animation to digital live-action and the characters' voices are the same. I don't encourage Disney to continue remaking all of their past films, but with "The Lion King," they won me over. I couldn't resist being blown away by what was on screen and from start to finish I was completely entertained despite knowing what would happen.
This is a remake that may not have much soul and doesn't capture the creativity of the original, yet the enhancements in visual effects and thought-out direction make this a remake worth seeing and an adventure for the eyes.