The Lion King (July 19, 2020)

This remake to The Lion King (1994) follows the same beats as the original and follows Simba, a young lion who must embrace his role as the rightful king of his native land following the murder of his father, Mufasa, at the hands of his uncle, Scar. Despite it not being advertised as an animated film, it surpassed Frozen to become the highest-grossing animated film of all-time. It is also the second highest-grossing film of 2019, and the seventh highest of all-time. The photo realistic style is genuinely impressive. The movie looks like a nature documentary. That is not quite a full complement, however. In nature documentaries the animals are not characters in a Shakespearean drama. We do not expect them to show emotions that we can relate to. They do not talk. This style is a disservice to classic story. The animals cannot emote well, their lips hardly move, and they cannot express a wide range of emotions. he camera movement can be really jerky and over exaggerated- filmmakers attempted to use the same techniques used in live action with this computer animated film, but it does not always translate. They are two different mediums with different needs; what works in one does not always work in the other, no matter how valiant the effort at translating. Another criticism I have is regarding to the songs. Th iconic love song, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” is shot during the day in this film. Now it makes no sense and there was no reason for the change. Without the ethereal darkness, the lovely musical number to lose its magic and beauty. Scars villainous showstopper, “Be Prepared” was completely neutered, reduced to a few spoken lines set it music instead of the dramatic sequence laden with expertly rendered Nazi imagery and sinister, hellish effects. Lastly, the new song, “Spirit”, performed by Beyoncé, does not fit the original narrative and only serves to highlight Beyoncé (and her voiced character, Nala’s increased role). It is a simple montage song that would have been better served during the end credits. Moving on to the voice acting (as the characters themselves retain most of their same characteristics and I stated my opinion of them in my review of the original film), most newcomers do a passable job. I particularly liked John Oliver’s Zazu and Seth Rogen’s Pumba. That being said, Billy Eichner’s Timon grated on my nerves and was a severe downgrade from Nathan Lane’s original performance. Overall, The Lion King (2019) is a soulless film, spectacularly animated, but lacking any originality and emotion. But, because of its massive success I fear more remakes in the same vein will be (or are being) produced in the near future.

Final Rating: 3/10