The Lion King (2019) Review

The Lion King

Release Date: 17th July 2019 - Australia

Production Companies

Walt Disney Pictures (presents)

Fairview Entertainment

Distribution

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Australia

Genre: Animation/Family

Rating: PG

Runtime: 118 minutes

Budget: $260,000,000

Box Office Gross: $1,663,075,041 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

In the CGI and live-action retelling of the animated classic, Simba is a young lion who "just can't wait to be king." Unfortunately, his evil uncle Scar had other plans to ensure that Simba would not get in his way of taking the throne. He tricks his nephew into believing he caused his father's death and exiles him from his homeland.

Luckily, Simba has his life saved by a lovable meerkat and warthog duo named Timon and Pumbaa, who teach him to live their carefree lifestyle of "Hakuna Matata" and ignore his responsibilities. As Simba matures, much

to his surprise, his friend
Nala returns to convince
him that he must return
to the Pride Lands to face

Scar and take his place in

the "Circle of Life."

Voice Cast

JD McCrary - Young Simba

Donald Glover - Simba

Chiwetel Ejiofor - Scar

Beyoncé Knowles - Nala

Shahadi Wright Joseph -
Young Nala

Billy Eichner - Timon

Seth Rogen - Pumbaa

James Earl Jones - Mufasa

Alfre Woodard - Sarabi

John Oliver - Zazu

Florence Kasumba - Shenzi

Keegan Michael-Kay - Kamari

Eric Andre - Azizi

John Kani - Rafiki

Penny Johnson Jerald - Sarafina

Amy Sedaris - Guinea Fowl

Chance the Rapper - Bush
Baby

Josh McCrary - Elephant Shrew

Crew

Producer/Director - Jon
Favreau

Based on "The Lion King"

Screenplay - Irene Mecchi,

Jonathan Roberts and

Linda Woolverton

Screenplay - Jeff Nathanson

Associate Producer/First Assistant Director - David H. Venghaus Jr.

Executive Producers - Tom C. Peitzman, Thomas Schumacher and Julie Taymor

Producer - Karen Gilchrist

Producer/Unit Production Manager - Jeffrey Silver

Co-Producer - John Bartnicki

Casting Director - Sarah Finn

Production Designer - James Chinlund

Supervising Art Director - Vlad Bina

Head of Story - David Lowery

Director of Photography - Caleb Deschanel

Second Assistant Director - Kim Richards

Second Unit Director/Visual Effects Supervisor -
Robert Legato

Visual Effects Supervisor - Adam Valdez

Visual Effects Supervisor: MPC - Elliot Newman

Virtual Production Supervisor: Magnopus -

Ben Grossmann

Animation Supervisor - Andrew R. Jones

Animation Supervisors: MPC - Gabrielle Zucchelli

and Stephen Enticott

Film Editors - Adam Gerstel and Mark Livolsi

Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer/

Re-Recording Mixer - Christopher Boyes

Supervising Sound Editor - Frank E. Eulner

Re-Recording Mixer - Lora Hirschberg

Foley Artists - Ronni Brown and

Jana Vance

Original Songs - Elton John and Tim Rice

Songs Producer - Pharrell Williams

Music/Executive Music Producer -

Hans Zimmer

African Vocal and Choir Arrangements/

Music Consultant - Lebo M.

Consultant - Chris Montan

Score and US Choir Recordist and Mixer -

Alan Meyerson

Review

What began in 1994 was an animated blockbuster movie that became a big hit for Disney and drew in a large crowd. THE LION KING was one of Disney's top-grossing animated films, and most fans have considered it the crown jewel of this renaissance in animation. Since then, it's been one of my all-time favourite movies. It made more money at the box office, was re-released over the past two decades and was only out-grossed by Frozen in 2013. Then, in 2016, the unthinkable happened. An official announcement that Disney is producing a remake of THE LION KING and that Jon Favreau will direct the new version. I wasn't happy that the studio decided to cash in by retelling the original Disney classic. The closest anyone has got to a version was THE LION KING stage production. Alas, my fears of this new iteration coming into existence are confirmed. The recent version came out in 2019. It has since received mixed reviews, which shows that I'm not the only one who thinks Disney messed up.

The remake is distasteful and less meaningful. It lacked the energy, the impact and the heartfelt connection that made the original film special. The remake fixes some problems within the storyline from the 1994 classic, albeit with slight differences. These changes don't add to the film. I compliment the visual look of the feature with the animals animated in photo-realism. Yet, there aren't subtle facial expressions on these characters, which might explain the lack of emotion. I understood that Favreau wanted the new film to look naturalistic in all its visuals but went too far with the excessive focus on the current animation technology. He previously used this in his remake of The Jungle Book.

I liked how they brought back James Earl Jones to do the voice of Mufasa, yet I'm disappointed they didn't get Jeremy Irons and Whoopi Goldberg back as Scar and Shenzi. Somehow, his performance lacks energy compared to the original, where he has previously acted. Maybe it's due to old age. Donald Glover was fantastic as the voice of Simba. Chiwetel Ejiofor was nowhere near as menacing as Jeremy Irons' version of Scar. However, Ejiofor's take on the villainous character was more of his own and is less charismatic than the one brilliantly conceived by the English actor. Though, Beyoncé did okay with her singing. Unfortunately, there is a lack of energy and line delivery in her performance as Nala. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen were fun as Timon and Pumbaa, the lovable meerkat/warthog duo and weren't bad at their singing either. Finally, John Oliver voices Zazu, and his necessary eloquent nature refined this character.

The musical team from the 1994 classic, Elton John and Hans Zimmer, have returned to rewrite the songs and score they previously composed for the original with some alterations. One change that made me uncomfortable was that the song "Be Prepared" was shortened. Added to the remake are three songs, including two new ones, "Spirit" and "It's Never Too Late". The addition of these two songs isn't necessarily bad.

Generally speaking, the modern retelling of THE LION KING failed to exceed my expectations. While it differs from the original and the stage show, there are some entertaining parts.

Star rating: (4/10) Below Average

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