The Lion King (2019)

Released 9th July 2019, The Lion King follows young lion Simba as he grows up to become the king of his home. Now, you’ve all seen the 1994 original film so the only questions which stand are: is it any different and is it good? My outlook is a hard no to both questions. Every part of the original can be found in the narrative with the few added scenes changing nothing but dropping the perfect pacing of the original. The additional scenes generally work as a means of emphasising the interconnectivity of the circle of life; these changes would be fine if they were executed more realistically or with less poor humour. Speaking of ‘humour’, I didn’t laugh once at this film’s jokes and, while partially a fault of the writing, the voice actors are not particularly good.

John Oliver takes over from Rowan Atkinson in voicing Zazu; when it comes to the Disney remakes, the least the actors can do is to give their own spin on these iconic characters (I.e., Will Smith in Aladdin (2019)). Oliver is just trying to copy Atkinson’s voice and timing with little effect. Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner’s Pumba and Timon are also unfunny, however, the two had chemistry which made them some of the better voice actors by default. JD McCrary is the obvious standout as young Simba; the reasoning being that he is the only actor who seems to be trying with his emotional drive. Everyone else is painfully average and fail to encapsulate their characters’ emotions in a believable manner like the original. Donald Glover and Beyoncé are noticeably frustrating as the older voices for Simba and Nala; characters who have poor chemistry and, with no in-between, drab or hyperbole vocalisation.

One of the most painful failures of the voice acting would have to be James Earl Jones as the icon Mufasa. That said, Jones is so clearly phoning in his performance with minimal care and presence; he drops the ball entirely and makes one of the most authoritative animated characters a boring, weak character with little impact. Chiwetel Ejiofor who makes one of the best villains in animation a blank, dry shell of Jeremy Irons’ charismatic icon. Ejiofor’s greatest sin would be the song Be Prepared where he opts to simply speak the lyrics instead of singing them. In his defence, every single song feels half-baked and inconsistent with the brilliant visuals (we will get there later); simple aspects make these songs weak with a fundamental example being Can You Feel the Love Tonight being sung midday (with unnecessary and frustrating pitching from Beyoncé).

It also pains me to say that Hans Zimmer phones it in with his shaky soundtrack which fails to correctly encapsulate emotions of a scene at times. As for the visual effects, whilst flawless in their photo realism, they lack any semblance of emotion and look jarring when these animated characters speak; in Disney’s efforts to make their films more realistic (visually and narratively) they forget to strike the crucial balance of cohesion with their realism. Overall, The Lion King is just that, a film which lacks emotion, charm and drops the ball at every point that the original managed to send the ball soaring; I have no regret in proclaiming this my least favourite film of all time and you are objectively wrong to choose this version as oppose to the 1994 original.