Gorgeously pointless.

Rating: 7/10 (2 August 2019)

After Dumbo earlier this year, now here is The Lion King: the live-action version of the prize coronation mug sitting on Disney's shelf of trinkets.
I mentioned in my review of "Toy Story 4" that in comparing it with TS1, it ably demonstrated that Moore's Law of computing power must still be at least holding reasonably true. Here is another case in point. Technically, this is nothing short of astonishing. It's almost impossible to believe that what you are seeing is computer animated. Every mouse, lion and cheetah so vibrantly and perfectly visualised. That first sight of Simba draws an audible "Awwww" from the audience.
The piÃ¨ce de rÃ©sistance of the film is the first 4 minutes, reproducing with "live" animals the "tribute scene" to the young Simba. It's visually and aurally gorgeous in every way, and worth seeing the film for in its own right.
In "Dumbo", an OBVIOUS error is that ONLY mice and crows can talk to elephants - not humans! So here, it is distinctly unsettling that 'real life' animals can speak and sing. It's also inevitable that the animation of eyes and mouth, present in the original version, saps the scenes somewhat of emotion.
I'd heard this mantra repeatedly in the critic reviews I'd seen, so was honestly bracing myself for the worst. In reality, it had less of an impact than I was expecting it to, and although never moved to tears at any point, the scenes that were supposed to be moving... were.
As with the recent "Aladdin" remake, I found many of the songs distinctly underwhelming. "I just can't wait to be king" lacked the energy and verve of the original, and Chiwetel Ejiofor went the "full Rex Harrison" on "Be Prepared". So much so that the term "song" might be a misnomer.
Above all "Can you Feel the Love Tonight?" was one of Elton John and Tim Rice's most beautiful songs from the original soundtrack. Yet, although not savaged by Donald Glover and BeyoncÃ© (playing Simba and Nala), they at the very least give it a good mauling.
The score by Hans Zimmer is lusciously produced. There is a new song added as "Best-Song" fodder for the upcoming Oscar nominations. This is "Spirit" by BeyoncÃ©, although it failed to stir mine in any way. But the best new song on the soundtrack for me was Elton John's offering - "Never Too Late" - during the end titles. Complete with African instruments and vocals, it is both cracking and very stirring.
As indeed happened in the original movie, the introduction of Timon and Pumbaa adds some much needed energy and humour. Played by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen respectively, director Jon Favreau encouraged the pair to ad lib many of their scenes. And it shows. There's a lot more fun to be had in there than all Will Smith's genie scenes in "Aladdin". In particular, the famous "breaking the fourth wall" moment in "Hakuna Matata" I found priceless, and made me howl with laughter.
Elsewhere vocally, James Earl Jones is back as Mufasa and in so doing makes you concious that there is noone in the world who could perform that role better. The best performance of the rest of the cast, for me, came from "Black Panther's" Florence Kasumba as the leader of the hyena pack, Shenzi. She venomously spits her lines our quite wonderfully.
TV pundit John Oliver is an interesting choice as Zazu, but didn't nail it for me. I personally missed Rowan Atkinson in that part. Likewise, comparison between Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jeremy Irons as Scar is hardly fair. I'd rate Irons as one of the top 5 vocal performances of any Disney film of all time.
For me, the word that keeps floating to the top of these live action remakes is "pointless". Why try, other than to fill Disney coffers? (Which I guess is the producer's point!) And my opinion hasn't changed after this. I still think its a rather pointless exercise, particularly in this case where there is no human cast.
With these things, I always think of Jim Carrey's cry at the end of his version of "I am the Walrus". He screams "There, I did it. I defiled a timeless piece of art". Jon Favreau can at least sleep happy (sic) in his bed content that he hasn't managed to do that. I can't say I was horrified by this one, because I wasn't. It was majestic, entertaining, technically superb and certainly had its moments.
The acid test for me would be "would I go and see that again". And in this case the answer would be "yes".
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