A Fantastic recreation of an amazing original film

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2019)

We are in the age of remakes of animated classics and it is the turn of The Lion King and I thought this was a fantastic representation of a classic film, it is not a replacement for the original film but a brilliant film to go alongside it. The premise of the film sees new heir to the throne of the Animal Kingdom Simba have to grow up and overcome the troubles of his nefarious uncle Scar. We see two versions of Simba and both are great, the child version of Simba really does a great job at being innocent and delivering a heartfelt performance. Donald Glover playing the adult version also really worked and he nailed the character and really provided a great voice acting performance. In my opinion a real highlight of this film is the performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, he has such a presence about the role in this film. Scar is a great character and Ejiofor really bought all the complexity of the character out and made him a very memorable villain. Another big highlight of the film is the fantastic chemistry between Billy Eichner & Seth Rogen as Timon & Pumbaa, they are so funny in the film and provide a great counter in this film from some of the draker moments in the film. Alfre Woodard, Beyonce, John Oliver & James Earl Jones all do great jobs and emphasise why this is one of the best casts assembled for any movie. The story is goof, delivering the mix of drama and humour that would be expected in this film, however, like the majority of these Disney rermakes the film is quite formulaic and it is noticeable in this film that it is very similar to the original film. The script is great, this film for me does a really good job, it does a great job of blending a fun film with great dramatic moments in it. The style is amazing in this film, visually it looks stunning with some of the best CGI that you are gonna see in any film around, plus the use of colour is really important in this film and the story of the film. All the songs are back from the original and they are sung excellently by the cast. Overall I am a fan of thise remakes from Disney and The Lion King is a fantastic family film that should be seen by all members of the family.