As the saying goes, Never meet your heroes

Rating: 5/10 (30 July 2019)

One thing I have to say is the film looks spectacular. Visually it is amazing as it is as if you are watching a documentary and it was interesting seeing a bit of realism in the animals but this is partly it's downfall as well.
The 1994 film will always be up there as one of the greatest and this just seems that it's just can't live up to that standard.
With the film following so close to the original it's impossible not to compare the film's like for like and with the added realism it just ends up failing. While it was amazing seeing a cute wee live action Simba, it just can't convey the emotions that the cartoon characters can to the point it just looks like he is void of any emotion which I felt removes you from the story.
I felt they really underused the Heynas to the point they just looked like background characters that got a few more talking lines but the trouble with that is being left be action it was impossible to show any expression. Despite Seth Rogan annoying me he did a good job here but Timon was a let down which I put down to a poor casting choice as instead of come off as eccentric he just comes off as quite camp and the same with John Oliver as Zazu.
You can hear Oliver trying to replicate Rowan Atkinson but it just comes off as 2nd rate to him which gets quite grating. I think Hugh Laurie may have been a better choice here. The rest of the cast are quite limp as none have a real booming voice.
The only new stuff added are a few one liners which did add a few chuckles.
All in all it was an enjoyable watch but unfortunately, due to how close the story is to the original (word for word), it will get compared to the original meaning it's just disappoints.