The Lion King is a musical drama film and a remake of the 1994 animated film of the same name. The film is produced by Fairview Entertainment and Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The Lion King (2019) is written by Jeff Nathanson and directed by Jon Favreau.
The story is Simba is born and while most people are celebrating the prince's birth, his uncle Scar is furious that he'll be next in line for the throne. Now it's a battle for Pride Rock between Simba and Scar. The ultimate question being who will be the rightfully king?
Initial Reaction
Now having enjoyed the animated movie as a kid I was quite curious how they (the filmmakers) were going to handle a remake of The Lion King. I enjoyed what I've seen from trailers, clips shown of my Twitter timeline, and TV spots. But as usual I wasn't going to let my love of the marketing cloud my judgement on the movie.
Cons
The real big issue for this movie is the lack of emotions from the lions. I heard complaints like that before the movie came out but I thought maybe we'll get those emotions when the film finally comes out. Sadly no. There are times when the lion's eyebrows move but that doesn't make up for everything else. And it's weird too but Jon Favreau directed the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book and those animals were realistic but at the same time had emotions.
Middle Ground
One of two grey areas with The Lion King is the acting. James Earl Jones once again provides his voice for Mufasa and he once again does a good job. Chiwetel Ejiofor was a pretty good Scar what with him giving a more serious and darker version of the character. Then we have the scene stealers themselves those being John Oliver as Zazu, Billy Eichner as Timon, and Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, all of them in their respected roles were awesome. The alright performance was Donald Glover as Simba. He's fine there are just times when he should have put just a little bit more emotion in some of his lines. The worst performances was Beyonce. She was just so bland. I mean there's a moment when Simba is in very big trouble and she doesn't shout "SIMBA!" in really loud way to express how frightened she, no it's just 'Simba!" in very monotone voice. The other mix bag for me was the music. Now all of the classic songs are there and these new renditions are pretty good. The only thing I wished they did was make "Be Prepared" be longer and cut out Beyonce's newest song "Spirit". It's not a bad song by any means it just didn't feel like it was put in the proper place. It really should have just stayed as an end credit song.
Pros
Now let's talk about the more positive things about the movie. Jon Favreau directing is great. He definitely was a great choice to direct this movie and he didn't disappoint. Whether the shot is something from the original or a new one for the film, he nails it. The other great thing about The Lion King is the CGI. It's amazing. Every animal, every plant, every piece of dirt, every bug, and just everything has so much detail put in it you would have though this was made with real animals and stuff and not computer generated.
So yeah while the remake of The Lion King isn't everything we hoped it would be it's still far from being called one of the worst films of the year. Favreau's directing is great and the CGI was so realistic that you actually believe those are real lions and stuff. The acting is fine for the most part and the music is serviceable at best. The worst thing about it is the lack of emotions.
My final rating is Okay
Well the movie my not have been the best but oh well, it could have been far worst. Anyways that's all for me. Come back next time on July 22nd, Monday for my review of DC's newest animated feature, Batman: Hush. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.
Now having enjoyed the animated movie as a kid I was quite curious how they (the filmmakers) were going to handle a remake of The Lion King. I enjoyed what I've seen from trailers, clips shown of my Twitter timeline, and TV spots. But as usual I wasn't going to let my love of the marketing cloud my judgement on the movie.
Cons
The real big issue for this movie is the lack of emotions from the lions. I heard complaints like that before the movie came out but I thought maybe we'll get those emotions when the film finally comes out. Sadly no. There are times when the lion's eyebrows move but that doesn't make up for everything else. And it's weird too but Jon Favreau directed the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book and those animals were realistic but at the same time had emotions.
Middle Ground
One of two grey areas with The Lion King is the acting. James Earl Jones once again provides his voice for Mufasa and he once again does a good job. Chiwetel Ejiofor was a pretty good Scar what with him giving a more serious and darker version of the character. Then we have the scene stealers themselves those being John Oliver as Zazu, Billy Eichner as Timon, and Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, all of them in their respected roles were awesome. The alright performance was Donald Glover as Simba. He's fine there are just times when he should have put just a little bit more emotion in some of his lines. The worst performances was Beyonce. She was just so bland. I mean there's a moment when Simba is in very big trouble and she doesn't shout "SIMBA!" in really loud way to express how frightened she, no it's just 'Simba!" in very monotone voice. The other mix bag for me was the music. Now all of the classic songs are there and these new renditions are pretty good. The only thing I wished they did was make "Be Prepared" be longer and cut out Beyonce's newest song "Spirit". It's not a bad song by any means it just didn't feel like it was put in the proper place. It really should have just stayed as an end credit song.
Pros
Now let's talk about the more positive things about the movie. Jon Favreau directing is great. He definitely was a great choice to direct this movie and he didn't disappoint. Whether the shot is something from the original or a new one for the film, he nails it. The other great thing about The Lion King is the CGI. It's amazing. Every animal, every plant, every piece of dirt, every bug, and just everything has so much detail put in it you would have though this was made with real animals and stuff and not computer generated.
So yeah while the remake of The Lion King isn't everything we hoped it would be it's still far from being called one of the worst films of the year. Favreau's directing is great and the CGI was so realistic that you actually believe those are real lions and stuff. The acting is fine for the most part and the music is serviceable at best. The worst thing about it is the lack of emotions.
My final rating is Okay
Well the movie my not have been the best but oh well, it could have been far worst. Anyways that's all for me. Come back next time on July 22nd, Monday for my review of DC's newest animated feature, Batman: Hush. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.
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