Underwhelming but decent CGI

Rating: 4/10 (20 July 2019)

First off, the CGI is great but not amazing. I'd give it a 8 out of 10. Most of it was excellent but there were some parts that didn't gel well together, such as when Simba tries to pull himself under Mufusa's paw after he died. They seem like their bodies are not interacting well together. Also the opening scene when all of the animals are in front of pride rock, something seems off. That being said this is an amazing leap forward in technology but it still needs to be perfected.
As for the movie, the animals faces are hard to convey speaking and acting, sometimes being out emotion/character. Many of the hyenas don't come off well and neither do the lions. It's hard to tell when they are angry, joking, sarcastic, happy, sad, etc. There wasn't enough emotion to see this. It seems too realistic, which it shouldn't have, but that's what they went for. Sometimes they'd speak and I wouldn't see them doing so. Also what's up with Nala and Simba not singing "can you feel the love tonight." They're just starring at each other, it was a bit off. The whole scene was weird and rushed to me. Not at night, not much emotion, not singing, jumped into it, etc.
As for the voice acting. James Earl Jones does an amazing job as Mufusa. JD McCray and Shahadi Wright do well as young Simba and Nala. Chiwetel Ejiofor does good as Scar. John Oliver is good as Zazu and so is Alfre Woodward as Sarabi. Donald Glover grows into adult Simba (on purpose it feels) and I'm ok with that. Seth Rogan as Pumba grows on you but it feels weird at first. Billy Eichner as Timon is a miss for me. He lacks that sarcastic tone. The biggest miss is BeyoncÃ© as Nala. She sounds too old for her age (unlike Donald Glover) and doesn't mix well with the acting of the lion. When she says "lions attack" it seems unnecessary, both screen shot and voice out.
Overall it was a let down. I'm more of a fan of the original movie or the broadway play. It's such a great story but it can't shine through the missed pieces in this film for me. I really want to like it but I can't. This seems like a lot of effort to capture a lot of hearts but comes up short.