Pretty but underwhelming spoilers ahoy

Rating: 6/10 (20 July 2019)

Whereas the original was a grand spectacle, this remake fails flat. I really wanted to like this, I enjoyed Favreau's retelling of the Jungle Book, but I found myself comparing the lackluster moments to the original. Sadly, one of those being Mufasa himself.
While there was no way to prevent this, his voice just doesn't have the power to it as it once did and when you compare the two performances, you know which version was better. For the most part, my problems with the film didn't have to much to do with the voices. There were moments I felt deliveries were done better in the original, one such moment being Scar's "Long live the king", in all honesty, my issue was that the movie felt rushed. There were moments that felt like they got breezed over that shouldn't have been, such as the interaction between Rafiki and Simba before his return to pride rock... And moments that shouldn't have dragged on that did, like the stupid dung beetle (did we really need the full journey of Simba's hair? What was wrong with it just getting blown on the wind?). All I can say is, at the end of the movie all I wanted to do was watch the original again.
For the good, I thought the updates to the score were fantastic. Not the musical songs, the orchestral. Find a few on YouTube, close your eyes and just listen... It is beautiful music. I like that the hyena's were a bigger threat and that Scar had to convince them to help him... Though the update to Be Prepared was... Not a highlight. Much of Scar I did enjoy too, just one or two line deliveries (such as the one mentioned above) that Irons did better in my opinion.
If you've never seen the animated Lion King you'll probably enjoy it just fine, but for those of us who have, I think we feel a little let down.