Dull, excluding the visuals

Rating: 3/10 (17 July 2019)

Having been a fan of Disney and especially the Lion King since early childhood, I have to admit I was quite excited when I learned about this rendition. Going into it, I wanted to resist (as much as possible) to compare it to the original, but that´s simply impossible, seeing that all that made the original great was missing in this version.
The characters felt much stripped of their personalities, possibly due to the lack of facial expressions and body language. Take the hyenas for example; In the original they all had very different personalities, and especially Ed, who was portrayed as a bit dull-witted, yet lively and mischievous. In the new version, however, they all felt indistinguishable from one another, and they were all just one of many. The same can be said for Rafiki, who in the original was a quite eccentric, whimsical and joking character. Compared to these characteristics, he now sadly feels like a ghost of himself, static and boring. Heck, even Timon and Pumbaa feels underwhelming.
To sum it up, they have failed to capture the "feel" of the original movie, and it just feels emotionless and rushed. I feel like I have to give credit where credit is due though, as some of the scenography is pretty spectacular. But it´s unfortunately not enough to save the entire film. In conclusion, if you want to watch The Lion King, watch the original from 1994, and not this version.