The Original is a Masterpiece that made animation history, this is very easy to forget

Rating: 1/10 (12 July 2019)

The first question we need to ask is "are they necessary?" This could be said about any film, but in the transition from an animated media to a live action one, several things happen. Within animation anything can happen. You're not limited by real world physics. Yet, the suspension of belief when watching cinema isn't altered. You're still whisked away into a new world and captivated, regardless of it not looking real. Without today's technology, animation was the tool to anthropomorphic characters. We could share the emotions of a deer or fox or even a bear. Mice became your best friends and could sing. The limited became limitless within animation.
Now animals can be rendered in CGI, making them look almost completely real. While you can still change their look to give them human qualities, they still can retain a life-like appearance. Suddenly, The Jungle Book can look real. Yet, does it have to? Do we need to see a realistic looking Lion taking his place at Pride Rock? Of course not. Yet, the movie was made. And the result was disappointing. I mean, what's the point in making a realistic looking Lion King if none of the characters are human? It defeats the whole purpose of these kinds of remake, not that they need much of a purpose besides banking on nostalgia.
Personally I think these animated animals look more plastic and weird than most CGI humans. That fur just don't look right. The Jungle Book and Tarzan were... okay. They had humans in them. The Lion King doesn't. It's just a ton of CGI animals in a CGI environment and the visuals are horrible. What's the point of this?
Disney's live action remakes are draining the soul from their films, and it shows the most in their villains. Jafar and Scar were lively and dramatic characters. It showed in their visual design and personality, but these feel so flat and reigned in.
I'm not feeling the muted colors either. Even with realism, dynamic use of light and color can add a sense of wonder to what is still a fairy tale. It feels like they're taking themselves way too seriously these days, and are ashamed of the fact that they used to make cartoons.
I think Jungle Book did it better in terms of light and color. It also had something Lion King does not as I said: Mowgli. A human presence grounds the story in realism making the style a more natural choice, and also gives us an emotional human face to relate to. The Lion King doesn't.
In the first film we can see Mufasa's fear. Scar's calculating gaze. The look of betrayal as his own brother throws him to his death. The design choices of the remake prevent us from reaching this same level of emotion, and the scene lose all of its impact. The infamous scene that traumatized so many generations and marked his way in the history of animation if not of all cinema history just came out in the live action as bland, generic and emotionless.
While one CAN convey a range of emotion on a realistic animal face, that is not what we saw in this movie. You can google pictures of actual live felines I found conveying a greater range of emotion than the soulless husks Disney is trying to pass off as 'realistic.' But hey, it's almost like traditional animation can do things that a washed-out blur of photorealistic CGI can't!
I must say I fail to see the point of a live action Lion King. The Lion King is an amazing movie in great part due to it being the absolute pinnacle of traditional animation.
It's even more so because they dragged poor old James Earl Jones out to do more voice acting. Here's hoping he gets paid a tidy sum. John Oliver being Zazu is not a positive, especially when compared with Rowan Atkinson. John Oliver is basically a bad reboot of Jon Stewart and his involvement with the new Lion King symbolises the mediocrity of modern movies. Donald glover is the worst, I hate his portrayal of Simba, he sounds so weird and offplace, his voice is terrible. And don't get me started on Beyonce... I never liked her "music", I like even less her attempt at acting.