Very Faithful to Original

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2019)

The Lion King remake might not be as stunning as the original, but it holds up to be a solid film that has only a few key differences from the beloved classic in terms of the story. If you were to watch both versions back to back, other than the obvious difference of 2D animation versus CGI animation, they would seem almost identical. Some critics have complained about how identical the two versions are since it means that Favreau's version does not take many new risks. Making a film unique should always be a priority, but how can we really expect the filmmakers to try to improve a movie that is already hailed as one of the best by Disney? 2019's The Lion King is only a little disappointing due to its faithfulness to the original, but hey, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
One problem some critics have with this version of The Lion King is that the type of animation does not allow for human emotions in the characters' faces as the 2D animation allowed in the original. This is an understandable criticism of the film, but you have to remember, the characters are animals, so do they really need to show human emotion? Even without emotion in the facial expressions, emotional scenes in this film still cause the audience to feel and sympathize for the characters in the movie. There is more than one way to evoke emotions from the audience members - Hans Zimmer's score (again) is very effective in that famous scene which revolves around Mufasa. The score with the combination of fear in young Simba's voice was able to bring a tear to this critic's eye.
The biggest disappointment in this movie compared to the original is the character of Scar. First of all, his only song in the original, "Be Prepared," is cut extremely short in this remake. Scar basically sings one verse of the song in this version and then it ends; it is extremely abrupt, and the hyenas have no involvement in the song at all. On top of that, compared to the original voice actor, Ejiofor's voice barely sounds menacing at all. If anything, his voice is very monotonous in his role as Scar and does not show a wide range of emotion like in the original. Speaking of voice acting, Beyonce shines as Nala in both voice acting and singing, whereas Donald Glover proves to sing well in his role, but sounds like a teenager when voice acting for adult Simba. Just like in the original, adult Simba is in about a third of the movie, and Glover does not seem to contribute to the character as much as Broderick did in the original.
What Favreau and the screenwriter add to this movie proves to be enjoyable. There is a great throwback to the original during "Hakuna Matata" in this version, and only die-hard fans will notice the joke, but it is a very smart breaking of the fourth wall. Timon and Pumbaa also make a reference to another classic Disney movie. Disney making fun of itself; this is the first time since Ralph Breaks The Internet that Disney has chosen to do that, and it is cool the executives at Disney can have a sense of humor about their movies.
While the remake of The Lion King might not be as solid as the original, it still proves to be an enjoyable throwback if you don't mind seeing a movie that is almost identical to the first one.
7/10