Looks fantastic. Lacks female power.

Rating: 7/10 (24 July 2019)

I must be one of the few people old enough to have seen the original Lion King who never saw it in all the years between then and now, so I went in to this with no expectations. First impressions were good, it looks fantastic. Then the ever familiar tones of James Earl Jones rumble in as the Dad everyone deserves. John Oliver's unmistakeable delivery provides the smiles in this piece of heaven on earth, while Chiwetel Ejiofor's voice drips with derision as he plots and schemes.
There are plenty of other talented actors and guest stars - Alfre Woodard, Keegan-Michael Key, Donald Glover, Beyoncé - but none of them really have speaking voices I would immediately think of as being distinctive, lines feel flat where they need depth; voice is character in animated films. About halfway through the movie Seth Rogan shows how it's done, and brings some welcome humour and bounce with him.
Plotwise, it's Disney basics 101: Good v Bad with no shade in between. The set up is as predictable as it gets - good king, scheming brother, naive prince, what could possible go wrong. That.
I can't imagine that if The Lion King was written today that so many female lions would be so easily dominated by one male. Alfre Woodard's Sarabi would kick Scar's ass far sooner.
The songs are uniformly forgettable, except for two.