Review - The Lion King (2019)

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and now that we've talked about the original 1994 classic The Lion King for Disney Renaissance Month, now seems like a good time to take a look at the 2019 remake directed by Jon Favreau. 

        So, what's really worth noting is that the movie is practically identical in story, characters, music, and pretty much everything. Now, there are some cosmetic differences, but it's pretty much the same. From the opening segment with "Circle of Life," to the pulse-pounding Wildebeest Stampede sequence, to the final battle between Simba and the lionesses against Scar and the hyenas. Jon Favreau played waayy too safe with the story and didn't change much in that regard. 

        One difference, however, is in the overall look. Unlike the anthropomorphic animation of the original, Jon Favreau opted to instead go more a more hyper realistic style of photorealistic computer animation. The intent is to have the animals and the landscapes look like something out of a David Attenborough BBC nature documentary, and admittedly it does, but it does have one issue. Now,.if you watch some of the nature documentaries about African wildlife, it's very vibrant and colorful, simply beautiful and stunning to see. This movie, however, is color graded to look like whatever footage they had was soaked in a concoction of melted butter and pee. It just looks really muddled. 

      The music is also the same, except the songs, once again written by Elton John and Tim Rice, are performed by the cast of this new movie. In addition to that, one song is truncated from the original, and that's the song "Be Prepared." I mean, I get the original not fitting the tone of the new movie, but why include it at all then? Outside of fan service, and failed fan service at that, was there any reason to include a shortened version of one of the most beloved Disney Villain songs? I don't know. Two new songs in the movie are the song "Spirits," which is performed by Beyonce, and "Never Too Late," which is a new end credits song performed by Elton John. The score, in my opinion, is one of the highlights, as it shows just how far Hans Zimmer has come as a composer since he composed the score for the original movie back in 1994. I also would like to point out that "Circle of Life" is again performed by Lebo M, but he is joined this time by Lindiwe Mkhize, who previously portrayed Rafiki in a stage production of The Lion King. 

       The voice cast in this version is pretty hit-and-miss. For example, I thoroughly enjoyed the performances of Donald Glover as Simba, Beyonce as Nala, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Alfre Woodard as Sarabi, Florence Kasumba as Shenzi, and the returning James Earl Jones as Mufasa. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen were okay as Timon and Pumbaa, and they definitely had their funny moments, but they weren't among my favorites. I also thought that John Kani and John Oliver were acceptable as Rafiki and Zazu. But the two I think were the weakest parts were Keegan Michael Key and Eric Andre as Kamari and Azizi, which are this movie's version of Banzai and Ed. Now, what was pretty fascinating about the cast is that, with the exceptions of Billy Eichner, Seth Rogen, and John Oliver, a majority of the primary cast of this version of The Lion King are of African descent. But, the one cast member I was most happy to see in this movie was James Earl Jones reprising his role as Mufasa. Honestly, this is the one decision made by Jon Favreau that I supported outright, because no one else can play Mufasa and do so with the majesty that James Earl Jones has. 

       All in all, I don't dislike the 2019 version of The Lion King. Is the original better? Duh, no kidding it's better. If anything, this movie achieved one major goal: show off some groundbreaking visual effects, and it definitely did that. Returning a single cast member from the original, plus bringing back the team that made the music of the original didn't hurt either. A mixed bag overall, but I'm giving the 2019 version of The Lion King a rating of 3.95/5. Not the worst remake Disney has made, but not one of the best. 

      Okay, guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll be back on Saturday with my review of Pocahontas as we continue Disney Renaissance Month.

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