The lion King

Rating: 8/10 (10 June 2020)

As nature documentaries go, the modern remake of The Lion King (2019) gives some of the best a run for their money, quite literally. With a $250 million price tag, it achieves digitally what David Attenborough has spent his life capturing on camera. The result is jaw-droppingly photorealistic, but it also makes for a strange first impression. Imagine watching a Disneynature feature but with actors reading The Lion King screenplay over the top of it and the effect would be eerily similar. It takes time to accept lifelike looking animals talking like cartoon characters, but the ground-breaking technical skill in which they are brought to life makes the bumpy journey worthwhile.
Every tress of fur, crack in the arid soil and sun-swept vista is rendered in such immense detail that it's unsurprising that many people are calling this reboot live-action. It's a monumental technical achievement and the level of visual fidelity on display alone warrants seeing this film on the biggest screen possible.
However, in terms of the story, the film follows the original so closely that it can't help but feel second rate. Scene-by-scene, it dutifully ticks off the story beats of the 1994 original, with little by way of surprises in-between. It also doesn't help that film's photo-realism unavoidably limits the ability of the animals to convey emotion without looking unnatural or (naturally) cartoonish, and the result is a film that often creates indifference where there should be wonder. With jaw-dropping visuals, plenty of humour and solid renditions of timeless songs, it's hard to see this modern remake failing but, as it turns out, The Lion King's (2019) biggest achievement also ends up being its biggest flaw.