Unfortunate (tldr at the end)

Rating: 5/10 (28 July 2019)

As a kid, I had a VHS tv, on which i used to watch the original Lion King. When I heard that there was a live action remake, I was beyond thrilled. I was dissatisfied by the presentation of this remake, much to my dismay.
The animals, though believable, had no emotion apart from their mouths vaguely moving in word shapes.The parts where emotion was supposed to be portrayed were only supplied by the mediocre voice acting, going back to the whole part about the animals not having expressions of any sorts. The lines were changed so much from the original its hard to tell where you are in the story. Timone, once funny and full of character, felt flat and one sided, while Pumba was just used for potty humor and as relief for Timones boring character. (Though it could be argued that he was used for that in the original as well, it was to a much less extent and Timone was more of his own thing.) Simba as a cub was barely distinguished from Nala, which made for some confusing segments when they weren't talking (like in the elephant graveyard.) In the original, Nala was much paler than Simba, making it easy to tell them apart. The singing felt rushed and not thought through, and Beyonce over sang everything, making it hard to follow. Some songs, such as Be Prepared were almost completely cut. Rafiki was good though, portraying the real spirit the original was missing. The fighting was well balanced, and it felt suspenseful with the physics not being out of whack. the animation was really believable, with realistic movement and rhythm.
Tldr, Ok voice acting, flat characters, no emotion, but ok animation.