Review: The Lion King (2019)

The Lion King, directed by Jon Favreau, tells the tale of a lion cub named Simba (first voiced by JD McCrary, then later Donald Glover), who is learning how to be the next king of the Pride Lands ruled by his father Mufasa (James Earl Jones). But the EVIL uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) plots to take over the Pride Lands, leading Simba to go into exile. With the help of some new friends along with some old ones, it’s up to Simba to stop his uncle and take his place in the Circle of Life.

This is the THIRD Disney remake to come out this year alongside Dumbo in March and Aladdin in May (because we didn’t have enough of these remakes already). Of the three remakes to come out this year however none can be more baffling than the decision to remake one of the most beloved Disney films of all time (and one that features no human characters mind you). The original Lion King from 1993 is a fantastic film. It features some of the best animation of all time, one of the best original scores in any film, a stellar cast of voice actors, a gripping and emotional story that all ages can enjoy, and one of the greatest messages that can be found in any kids film….and I think you know where this is going.

2019’s Lion King is quite possibly the worst film I’ve seen this year as of this review. I was beyond baffled at just how little effort was put into the film. Nothing about this film was enjoyable or even good at all. This is not like the Aladdin remake that came out not too long ago where even though that was trash at the very least it was interesting trash. Guy Ritchie’s take on Aladdin was just so fascinating at how bad it was it can actually be fun to watch at times (it’s a big stretch though, 2019 Aladdin was certainly no Dark Phoenix). This film on the other hand is just boring. It’s not a “so-bad-it’s-good” kind of movie, it’s just bad, and it pisses me off how dull, how soulless, how low effort this film ended up being.

Now fair warning this is going to be a long review. The rest of this review is going to consist of me breaking the ENTIRE film down to prove to you why it not only fails at being a remake of the original, but also why it fails at fundamentally every level imaginable. There will be many spoilers, though I doubt you’ll care much since if you’ve seen the original Lion King then you’ve basically seen this film already as the remake does NOTHING new with the story. If you’re one of those people that prefer TLDR reviews mine’s simple: don’t watch this movie. That’s the moral of the story today kids. If you are interested in what I have to say though then gather ‘round as I explain why this is the worst film of 2019 so far.

First off let me first explain what I actually liked about this rendition of The Lion King. For one, some of the CGI is impressive. This is not a necessarily high praise of the CG as I’ll get into more detail later, but for what it’s worth the animals sometimes look pretty life-like. Hans Zimmer’s score is still the same as before, so that’s good I guess. There were a couple cool shots in the film that are pretty well thought out compared to most blockbusters these days (Caleb Deschanel does the cinematography, who also worked on Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ). And that’s about it. Everything else in the film is either just fine or is done significantly worse than the original animated film.

This is a literal scene-by-scene remake of the original film, only now it’s just thirty minutes longer. The film opens with a shot for shot remake of the “Circle of Life” opening from the original film. Now some of the shots still look good even in “live-action”, but the sequence overall lacks the emotional impact of the original, and you can immediately tell why. For one, the remake’s opening is edited differently than the original’s; there are less cuts utilized in moments that were made to be dramatic in the original. For example, when Rafiki raises up the cub Simba to the crowd of animals the film uses three different cuts, making the reveal more dramatic. Here in the remake, the film uses just one for that same moment, and the moment now feels much slower and anti-climatic.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “What does one cut or three cuts matter anyways? You’re just overlooking things!” I know it sounds pretty nit-picky but trust me when I say it really does make a difference. These are professionally trained filmmakers that’s been working in the industry for years. If their goal for this scene was to REALLY re-create it shot for shot, then you’d think they would’ve paid more attention to the details that made this opening epic in the first place. So for those that felt the opening was not quite as epic despite it being literally the same thing, you now know why. To quote RedLetterMedia on Youtube, “Your mind might not have caught it, but your subconscious sure did.”

So after the title card hits we’re introduced to the film’s antagonist Scar, now played in this film by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and the moment he appears things became incredibly clear to me that this film was going to suck. Now Ejiofor is NOT a bad actor; he’s given some incredible performances in the past. But in this film he sounds so uninterested. Given that he has essentially the same lines as Jeremy Irons did back in 1994, who performed the same lines with such charisma and malice, it’s painfully clear that either he wasn’t invested in the role or the voice director just sucks at his/her job.

James Earl Jones reprises his role as Mufasa from the original film and if I have to be honest he was the worst sounding one of the cast (put down your pitchforks let me explain). While it’s nice to hear James Earl Jones as Mufasa again this time around it’s not as epic as it sounds on paper. Here not only can you tell he’s not as invested as before, you can also hear his age. His voice is just not as deep anymore; every line of dialogue he says and even some of his laughs and screams lacks the energy he had back in 1994. Honestly speaking they really should’ve cast someone else as Mufasa; we’ll always still have the original. His inclusion just makes it as if Disney and the filmmakers are trying to say, “this is the new Lion King we’re going to show to kids, forget about the old one.”

Most of the movie is essentially the same as the original one, only with some cool shots and less everything else. At this point we’re introduced to Simba, voiced by JD McCrary, and Nala, voiced by Shahadi Wright Joseph (who reprises her role from the Broadway Musical Adaptation). Both child actors can sing well but act terribly in this film. Just like the rest of the cast when they start speaking lines of dialogue it’s just lifeless. Shortly after being introduced to these two we get our next musical number “Can’t Wait To Be King.” It sounds pretty much the same as the original rendition, outside of John Oliver’s pretty annoying snobbery as Zazu, but the actual musical number lacks the energy, color, and fun that the original sequence had, and this will be the case for ALL songs in this film. It’s essentially a bunch of lions frolicking around with other animals. Cute, but doesn’t make a fun musical sequence.

After that “musical number” the film follows the same story beat as the original. Simba and Nala go to the elephant graveyard and run across the Hyena pack. Conceptually the changes made to the hyenas were interesting, Shenzi is no longer a goofy evil side kick and is now just a dangerous, slightly unhinged alpha of the pack, but once again, voice acting is bad for these guys. Even though the filmmakers describe the hyenas as “more serious now”, they also took away their characters in the process. Banzai and Ed, now named Kamari and Azizi, are now so similar to each other I couldn’t tell them apart. It doesn’t help for the fact that EVERY HYENA LOOKS THE SAME.

This is the one fundamental flaw in having the animals look hyper-realistic for a story like The Lion King. Because of the fact that these animals look like actual animals, they’re unable to give expressions that match what the voice actors are giving. Real life animals are physically unable to give facial expressions, so it just makes me want to ask the filmmakers why do this to a movie that heavily relies on distinct facial expressions on animals to tell its story. Perhaps this was why The Lion King started off as a 2D animated film to begin with. When we know how the characters are feeling we’re more easily able to emphasize with them, but since here the animals show no emotion when compared to their voice acting we hardly feel a thing when the film’s more emotional moments unfold.

We then get more of the same story notes and lines from the original film only done worse. Sooner or later though we get our first real difference from the original film, and that is the “Be Prepared” musical number, and boy did they butcher the song. Of all the songs in the remake’s soundtrack, “Be Prepared” is not only the shortest, it’s also the worst in the film, which is ironic since in the original film “Be Prepared” was arguably the best song from The Lion King. Not only was the song just not performed well at all, Ejiofor’s voice comes off as super flat, you can just tell that the filmmakers really didn’t care at all for this song. You can tell this song was originally meant to be cut out from the final product, but then they added the song at the last minute just to appease the fans.

So after the atrocity that was “Be Prepared” we get to the infamous stampede scene, only this time it’s now less emotional (once again, due to the lack of expressions on the animals and lack of enthusiasm from the cast) and it’s also even unintentionally funny. Scar literally punches Mufasa off the cliff and into the stampede rather than just letting go in a dramatic matter. All of this is meant to be taken seriously. And you know the drill, Simba blames himself for Mufasa’s death, he escapes the hyenas, Scar becomes king, and we then meet Timon and Pumbaa, played here by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen respectively.

Eichner and Rogen were fine as Timon and Pumbaa, they at least try to give a good performance and they do manage to get a laugh from me every once in a while, but then again so did Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella from the original film. Only difference now is that the new cast seem to break the fourth wall even more which gets kinda old fast. Also more fart jokes are in this version, because “fArT jOkEs R fUnNiE.” Granted the original had a couple fart jokes too but they were kept to a minimum, here it’s overkill. “Hakuna Matata” sounds basically the same as before, only now with Seth Rogen’s tone-deaf singing , Donald Glover channeling his inner Redbone, and instead of fun visuals like in the original we get MORE animals running around and singing, because THAT’S what makes The Lion King amazing!

We then get an actual new scene where Scar tries to hit on Sarabi, Mufasa’s widow and the queen of Pride Rock (played here by Alfre Woodward). The scene is fine, it doesn’t really make a difference when it comes to the story though. We also get more scenes with Adult Nala (now voiced by Beyoncé), which were also fine but makes no difference to the story. Beyoncé as Nala is pretty much exactly what you thought Beyoncé as Nala would sound like, so take that as you will.

And here is where we get to my next problem with the movie: none of the new content they added in benefits the film in any way. They take out some incredibly crucial and emotional moments from the original (such as THIS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT SCENE THAT THEY FOR SOME REASON THOUGHT WAS IRRELEVANT) in favor for more pointless filler, like HOW exactly Rafiki learns that Simba is still alive. The film dedicates five solid minutes showing part of Simba’s mane traveling across Africa through river, sky, and poop (YES, YOU READ RIGHT, POOP!!!!!)

Then we get more half-baked renditions of scenes from the original film, such as the “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” musical number (which ironically takes place entirely during the day), the “emotional” scene where Simba remembers who he is (instead of seeing an image of his father in the sky engulfed in the radiance of the sun, it’s now a bunch of storm clouds that kinda sorta look like a lion), and he goes back to the Pride Lands to challenge his uncle while Rafiki endulges us in a moment of pure fan service by revealing he had a stick this whole time (WOW IT’S RAFIKI’S STICK, YOU KNOW LIKE THE ONE HE HAD IN THE ORIGINAL!!!1!!11!!1).

At this point we also hear the new song they added just for this version called “Spirit” sung by Beyoncé. As a Beyoncé song it’s fine, but as a Lion King song it sticks out like a sore thumb. Much like the song “Speechless” from the Aladdin remake, you can tell that “Spirit” was not a song that was originally from The Lion King and sounds noticeably different from the rest of the songs (again, it sounds like another Beyoncé song).

The rest of the film all the way to the ending follows the original beat by beat, but again, done much worse. Simba challenges his uncle Scar, Scar guilt trips Simba about Mufasa’s death and nearly kills Simba before gloatingly admitting that he killed Mufasa the whole time in which instead of jumping up and pouncing Scar in righteous fury, Simba bites Scar’s face and has Scar pull him up (once again, this is meant to be taken seriously), big climax battle, Scar gets defeated (instead of Simba doing the pouncing trick that Nala showed him against Scar, Scar just slips off the edge now), Simba claims the throne and roars towards the sky (the beat is distractingly off compared to the original), the Pride Lands are restored, and Simba and Nala introduce their new cub. The End.

That is the entire movie in general, and as you probably figured out this film was a scene by scene remake of the original film. You’re basically watching the original all over again, only this time not only is it significantly worse in every level, you’re also giving Disney money for it, and this is where the film pisses me off the most. There is no effort put into this film whatsoever. The filmmakers literally regurgitated the same film all over again, and people are loving it like the suckers they are.

This film will undoubtedly make millions of dollars at the box office (I’m pretty sure it will out-gross the original in a matter of weeks), because people are too blinded by nostalgia to realize Disney is ripping them off with an inferior product that is the exact same as the original but no where near as good. We will now have a generation of kids who will grow up with this version of The Lion King and prefer this piece of crap over the original, and that’s what truly breaks my heart about this film.

Overall this is by far the worst film I’ve seen this year as of this review. Everything about this film was awful, from the voice acting to the songs. Nothing about this film adds anything new to the story, it just tells the exact same story, but with less energy, less fun, and like most other Disney remakes with god awful pacing. I was thoroughly angry at how every scene from the original got butchered. This might possibly be the worst Disney remake to come out thus far.

If you honestly do not care about quality then I guess this movie is for you. People apparently love the crap that Disney keeps feeding them with the live action remakes. As for anyone else who gives a crap about the original film that was beloved by entire generations of kids and adults alike, please for the love of god do not watch this movie. Don’t pay to see this movie, don’t support this movie, don’t even torrent this movie. This film should be forgotten and ignored like the soulless cash-grab it is. Please watch the original and show your kids the original over this pile of crap. This movie sucks, don’t watch it.

Final Verdict: 1/10