Enjoyable, but less magic.

Rating: 5/10 (25 July 2019)

The Lion King ('94) is one of my favorite movies and I practically memorized all the dialogues by now.
So my first complain is; the missing important lines and/or scenes. I realize they cut some of the scenes (songs included, like 'Be Prepared') short, and while I don't mind that I wish they put better substitute in the screen time. It almost seems they rushing like they are running out of time or something. And there are some lines, some very critical lines in character's development that just gone. Where's Mufasa's "Simba, you have forgotten who you are, so you have forgotten me."? Sure they put some substitute lines but the initial value seems lessened, why bother changing it?
Second, the expressions. Yes, the whole movie is beautiful. Stunning. The Circle of Life scene is breathtaking, I almost teared up. But as soon as the characters start conversing, the life is just gone. Initially, I didn't mind the whole real-life-lion faces, but during the stampede (which is easily one of my favorite part of the original movie, thus anticipated) I realized that the lack of expression DO take away the magic, the tragicness, the hand-clenching fear of it. And also, in addition to their limitation in expressing facial emotions-
Third, the voice acting. I couldn't really put it in words, but some of the voice acting just didn't do it at all for me. Surprisingly, I love Scar in here. It's different than Jeremy Irons's Scar and I really appreciate it. He's much more realistic this way. 'Be Prepared', albeit shorter, is well done and fitting. Props to Chiwetel Ejiofor. James Earl Jones is still THE Mufasa. John Oliver's Zazu is good. And I love Timon and Pumbaa here, their dynamic is fresh. So where's the complain? Unfortunately, it lies in the main characters.
Cub Simba could do much better than that. Donald Glover is likeable when Simba's happy and all, but when it got serious or emotional, his voice just didn't fit... Or his acting just didn't do it for me. Beyonce's too. Her voice acting is a bit flat in my opinion. And I simply dislike their take on 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight'.
And to conclude this, I'm actually confused. What approach did Disney originally want with this remake? Did they want to make a carbon copy remake? Or did they want to create a fresh new take on the original cartoon? Because as beautiful as this movie is, story wise there are no improvements. But as a carbon copy remake, it also fell flat. I wish they could pick a clearer path for this. Because while I appreciate the scene-by-scene recreation (the opening scene made me sigh happily with burst of nostalgia) with the same flow and all, there are lot of new scenes, or same scenes with different take that are placed awkwardly.
But hey, Hans Zimmer is still freaking amazing and Lebo M is back. Thank God for that.
All in all, I enjoyed it. But I really, really wish it could be better and more consistent in its approach.