My Movie Review on The Lion King (2019) · 2:48pm Jan 15th, 2020
What’s up, Kemosabes?
This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode Reporter here with another review.
And today, for my 102nd film analysis, I’m gonna give you guys my take of “The Lion King”. The CGI remake from 2019 to be precise.
Considering that this movie follows the same storyline as the animated film, I hardly think that a summary of it is necessary.
A prime reason for why I saw this movie was because, despite being aware of its mixed reputation and anticipating that it likely wouldn’t be great, I wanted to have my own personal opinion on it. But, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, as I anticipated this was a so-so film at the most.
Before I start my berating of this movie, I’d like to start with the surprising positives that I found.
Similar to a great many others, I found myself unexpectedly pleased with the performances of Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa. The same with Keegan-Michael Key and Eric Andre as Kamari and Azizi, might I add. Out of all the performers, they not only delivered the best comedic-timings, but they gave their characters outstanding life, depth, and personality.
Also, minus the characters not having facial expressions at the most, the special effects used with the animals and landscapes were quite impressive. They looked extremely realistic, that’s for sure.
And as always, Hans Zimmer never ceased to amaze me when it came to making a magnificent musical score. He pretty much kept it at the same kind of level as that of the animated film, of course. But, he didn’t keep himself from being creative and really throwing himself into composing for this film either, which was great.
However, like I already said, the film wasn’t without its Achilles Heels.
With the exceptions of Eichner, Rogen, Key, and Andre, the performers were hardly able to bring any charm or life to their characters. Everyone sounded like they were a lot more bored than having a good time, and the fact that the characters were peppered by obviously recycled or creatively uninspired dialogue certainly didn’t help any. At least Chiwetel Ejiofer was trying to make a good impression as Scar, because he definitely brought something interesting and unique to the role.
As I already commented, I enjoyed how Hans Zimmer was able to help his music feel inspired and creative. But, the film’s musical numbers, apart from the rather short but fresh take of “Be Prepared”, were the exact opposite of the words I mentioned. Unlike the highly renowned animated version, the songs hardly held the spark that made them so pleasurable in the original, and the limitations of photorealistic imagery compared to hand-drawn and computer animation appeared to be making themselves apparent thanks to the animals just walking or running around as they sang instead of dancing, which made them far from lively.
My biggest gripe, though, comes from the direction by Jon Favreau and the screenplay by Jeff Nathanson. Before I saw this movie via the free cartoon website I used, I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt because of being a fan of many of Favreau’s movies and Nathanson’s work in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”. In spite of this, though, I found that they were sadly unable to make the film worth something. It seemed like their creativity was completely restrained by this unnecessary need to be nostalgic, repeating the same story and providing nearly nothing new. The worst part about it was that all of the delight that made the hand-drawn animated version so spectacular...was missing. Everything mainly felt like it was just going through the motions, like it was done by a factory machine instead of people.
Perhaps if Favreau and Nathanson had created an all-out remake of “The Lion King” instead of making a carbon copy of it, this would be something worth seeing more than once.
In the end, “The Lion King (2019)” was mainly a 50/50 venture at the most, and despite the positives I already mentioned, it’ll never compare to the sheer awesomeness of the animated film.
So, I rate “The Lion King (2019)” three out of five stars. Move over “Beauty and the Beast (2017)”, you’ve got company.
I must confess, while I'm not too fond of this movie at all, I do like the redone version of the Stampede music, and while it'll in no way compare to the original, I have a sort of soft spot for the new rendition of "Be Prepared". Also, the Beauty and the Beast reference was actually pretty funny.
But that's about it.
I have no intention of seeing this movie ever. The photorealism is done well, but that's not what animation is about. The point of animation is to not be live-action. Besides, why did this movie have to be made? What purpose does this serve? This movie will end up being a footnote to the original.
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I agree with you.
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And that’s perfectly alright. It’s better to save yourself the trouble than the opposite.
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Because nostalgia = $$$.
I will be seeing this movie for one reason:
I'm really into Shakespeare and The Lion King is basically Hamlet with animals.
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Remember that thing you enjoyed when you were a kid? We just did it again. May we have some money, please?
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Anybody besides me thinking that the reason for these remakes may have been coming by the orders of chairman Alan Horn? Because I’m starting to think that he may need to take a hike pretty soon.
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And let's not forget the lack of facial expressions.
This movie is rather so-so to me.
Admittedly, it could’ve done more, but it was still a pretty good movie overall. Brought back a lot of nostalgia to me. Plus, the actors and actresses had brought their own take on the beloved characters. In fact, I do hope there’s a remake of Simba’s Pride in the works.
To be honest, I thought it was okay. The animation was great, I love the animal designs and the voice acting is pretty decent. But the problem with the film I had is the story completely copied the original despite some of the minor changes, and I understand why anyone hated it. Give 2016 The Jungle Book some credit for taking a different turn from the animated version, and make it a fantastic story about man and nature instead of copying the original. If people should make a Lion King remake, they should portray it as a silent nature documentary, and that would receive more positive feedback than the remake itself, I don't know.
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It's even more disappointing when you remember Disney's Narnia movie. That was way back in 2005, and Aslan both looks realistic and has emotive facial expressions.
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Oh, I do remember him vaguely.
While the animation looks absolutely gorgeous, the lack of facial expressions of characters made this remake a disappointment. The soundtrack is phenomenal, though.