Adds nothing and too dark in every way

Rating: 6/10 (19 July 2019)

My Review -
Lion King 6.5 / 10
At the risk of repeating myself and I've said this about the remake of Dumbo ,Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin if a remake of a much beloved and brilliant animation feature doesn't add anything to the original, why make it?
Of course I know the answer, especially from the viewpoint of the 21st Century Disney film Empire they bring in huge box office dollars and that's ok I suppose but I wonder what Walt Disney would have thought?
The Walt Disney Studios under Walt always were striving for originality and breakthrough new projects. You only have to look at some of the extra features on Classic Disney DVD's to see how the Animators and technical teams worked expertly and together with Disney to bring something new and exciting to the screen. Unlike Studios today risks were taken like Snow White the first feature length movie cartoon that nearly everyone said would be a financial disaster but that risk saved the Walt Disney Company from bankruptcy.
This Lion King remake features photorealistic CGI animals that look like the real thing so basically it's really another animated feature . Many creative and talented people have put together a pretty fair version of the 1994 original even featuring James Earl Jones repeating his original voice over as Mufasa.
The problem with this version for me was unlike the fabulous 1997 Broadway musical version directed by Julie Taymar which added great songs ,choreography and gave audiences a brand new version which featured spectacular production numbers and amazing puppetry this new film adds nothing .
In fact Director Jon Favreau has made a much darker version and seems to have cut back on the music and the humour. I found many of the scenes too dark visually apart from the beginning and the end it seemed to concentrate on the horrible hyenas and Scar .
I might be wrong but I think very young children would be frightened by this Lion King movie , better to watch the original and best.