Beautifully Unimaginative

Rating: 2/10 (9 August 2019)

Disney's live action remakes have been a continuous success at the box office, but are often criticised for being unnecessary, and often not adding anything to the legacies of the animated classics. This is sadly the case with Jon Favreau's The Lion King
Anyone expecting a fresh take will be sourly disappointed by the beat for beat retelling with very few alterations in the dialogue. The minor changes are limited to lines and scenes being altered or flat out removed, but ultimately, if you hold the original close to your heart, I would stick with it, as structurally, this remake is unimaginative.
What will be of interest to some will be the film's visual construct. The photo realistic designs of our beloved characters was well detailed and had been well rendered. The biggest achievements are the stampede scene and climatic battle between Simba (Donald Glover) and Scar(Chiwetel Ejiofor) Sadly, the production values don't hold up upon reflection. The biggest downfall to these photo realistic designs was the lack of emotions on display on the characters. Because the designers wanted them to be realistic, they couldn't show human emotion like in the original, which is a big problem as the audience can't read a character's emotion through it's facial expression as there isn't any to see. There are also moments that feel lacklustre, most noticeable in the musical numbers that don't feel as grand nor epic as they did in animation, despite many shots being the same as they were in the original. Most noticeably in the opening number.
The vocal work by the cast was for the most part very lacklustre, and didn't feel like the actors were always giving their A game, if at all. Glover and Beyoncé did a decent job of portraying Simba and Nala as adults, and really sell the vocals in their romantic duet, despite the romance still being underdeveloped. Ejiofor and John Oliver do an equally brilliant job as Scar and Zazu, without treading on the toes of Jeremy Irons and Roman Atkinson. With the return of James Earl Jones, you would expect Mufasa to be as booming and attention grabbing as he had been originally. Sadly, Jones' performance here reminds me of his reprisal as Darth Vader in 2016's Rogue One. A performance which sounds right, but doesn't have the same passion and energy behind it. As for the younger cast, the unenthusiastic and unemotional singing voice from JD McCrary as young Simba didn't sound very enthusiastic during the songs, which became more apparent when Glover took over half way through Hakuna Matata.
Upon reflection, this film upsets me for how little passion there seemed to be from all involved. With the likes of Jon Faverau, Donald Glover, Beyonce and James Earl Jones on board, I expected more passion and creativity, and ended up with an empty, soul-less mess. Now, having seen this film with family and friends, I will happily admit that this latest remake is very entertaining if the audience are willing to forget about the original for two hours and let the visuals draw you in. But for many purists, this will be the same old story, with a less than passable visual style. People continue to question why Disney has gone down this path of remaking animated classics, but ultimately, whether we like it or not, if it isn't broke but makes money, why fix it?...

SCORES
Story - 1/5
Characters - 2.5/5
Production - 2/5
Acting - 2/5
Music - 3/5
Overall - 2.1/5