With Disney taking a trip down memory lane by remaking several of their old animated classics, it was inevitable that they'd tackle one of their most beloved and successful, The Lion King. With that being said, it seems like it'd be a daunting task to even try to recapture the magic of the original. Of course, I was cautiously optimistic when I saw the cast and learned that Jon Favreau would be taking over as director. Now that I have seen it twice, how does it hold up? With The Lion King being my all-time favorite Disney movie and possibly my favorite film period, I had many hopes and fears going into this. What I can say is that while it does at times feel like a dull, soulless cash grab of a remake without any of the heart and magic that the original had, my second viewing allowed me to take a step back and appreciate the things that were great about it. Now let's get into the good and bad of the 2019 re-imagining of The Lion King:
UPS
- It is visually stunning. While there are problems with making the movie a photorealistic take, the visuals are still a sight to behold, with Mufasa in particular looking as majestic as he should. The African wild is a beautiful sight to behold, so it's nice to see that captured in this movie.
- The songs and most of the voice acting are great. The music has received an overall mixed reception from many, but I thought it was great for the most part. The score remains as powerful and moving as it was in the original and I like the new spin on the songs, even the shortened version of "Be Prepared." As for the voice acting, this may have been the hardest department for them to nail, but I think most of them were rock solid. Particular standouts are of course Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa, and though he had the challenge of filling in for Jeremy Irons, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar. Not every performance was the best it could be, but overall, we had some great stand-ins for the originals, who are practically iconic at this point.
DOWNS
- The lack of emotions in the animals. It's easy to say the movie went too far in making things realistic, as the animals barely show any feelings. Because of that, many of the more emotional scenes are somewhat awkward to watch because the vocal performance doesn't match the character's facial expressions...at all.
- There were some choices made that left me scratching my head. Particular moments were having Beyonce's song "Spirit" play out during the sequence where Simba returns to Pride Rock (which made the moment feel like that of a music video more than an actual scene within the film,) scenes like Rafiki discovering Simba's mane being padded out, and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" being sung during the day, which I believe can speak for itself. These may feel like nitpicks, but still, they were strange things I noticed and couldn't help but question Favreau's reasoning for incorporating them into the final product.
OVERALL
The Lion King (2019) is flawed and doesn't come close to the iconic status of the original. Still, it's nice to see this story done through a news lens. More could've definitely been done with it, but I did enjoy most of what I saw. Again, I can't say it's great nor can I say it's terrible. It's just there, and that's all I can really say.
And that's it for this post, guys! Tune in for more on the way and till then, take care :)
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