If you'd like to know what I thought of this movie before, click on the link below:

I know that I already made a review on this movie at the beginning of last year, and that I previously rated it three out of five stars. However, after I had been seeing clips of the film on YouTube from time to time, more opinions that I had regarding the film began to surface, and I began finding myself going from being neutral towards the film...to openly disliking it.

Among the reasons are that I've been having larger problems with the film's lack of originality more than I thought. And yes, I still remember the newly added moments that the film had and I watched them on occasion, but in the end...I'd find that they've hardly made up for how closely similar the film is to the animated version and how everything felt like it was just going through the motions. For instance, I appreciated the fact that Nala's story was expanded some, but I also didn't think it helped the film not feel like some mere excuse to experiment with photorealistic effects.

Also, as I've looked back on Beyonce's casting and performance as Nala as of late, I couldn't help but question what director Jon Favreau ever saw in Beyonce that would prompt him into casting her as Nala. Compared to Moira Kelly's performance as the character in the animated films, Beyonce's portrayal sounded incredibly bare and lifeless. Along with that, Donald Glover sounded like he was a lot more bored playing Simba in this movie than the opposite, and I can tell that the script was quite likely a contributing factor to it.

In the end, I'm no longer as neutral towards the film as I was before.

Granted, the only things I enjoyed about the film were the performances of Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa, Keegan-Michael Key and Eric Andre as Kamari and Azizi, and Chiwetl Ejiofer as Scar, and I have grown a soft spot for Florence Kasumba's portrayal of Shenzi. Plus, I still like the music and the film's rendition of "Be Prepared", and I thought that the special effects were impressive in many ways.

However, the film would've been much more enjoyable if Favreau and screenwriter Jeff Nathanson had actually taken risks and completely differentiated it from the animated version. A lot of times, I've gone so far as to wonder if the two of them were ever happy with the movie in the long run.

So, I hereby downgrade the film from three out of five to 2½ out of five stars.

7406849
It was nice to see the concept of the circle of life touched on more and some of the characters given more depth. They should’ve made more effort to distinguish this version from the original, and the animals seemed less expressive or emotive than those of the Jungle Book remake.

7406849 I am proud to say that I have not seen any of the live-action remakes, and I plan on keeping it that way. I utterly refuse to watch this film unless I'm watching someone review it. Can't wait for YMS' review to come out.

7406853

7406881
I can definitely see the flaws in the movie, and I wholeheartedly respect everyone's opinions on the movie, but I did enjoy it. Even rewatching again and watching all of the flaws in it, I still liked watching it. Granted, it still could've been done better, but no movie is done "perfectly".

Although on the flip side, I enjoyed the Jungle Book Remake. A Lot.