The Lion King (2019)

The Lion King (2019)

5/10

Starring the voices of

Donald Glover

Seth Rogen

Chiwetel Ejiofor

John Oliver

Beyoncé Knowles-Carter

James Earl Jones

Directed by Jon Favreau

When watching this movie, you’ll understand the criticism. It’s almost a scene-by-scene replication of the original animation, with many of the lines being nearly identical. Unfortunately, when the lines do differ, you often find yourself preferring the animation’s version over the simplified dialogue in the movie. That said, the film is still enjoyable—if you’re interested in seeing The Lion King as a photorealistic live-action remake of Disney's 1994 classic.

The CGI is incredible and strongly reminiscent of The Jungle Book (2016). However, The Jungle Book has a slight edge due to its mix of human and animal interactions, with the young actor playing Mowgli delivering a standout performance alongside photorealistic animals. In The Lion King, it’s just the animals interacting with one another. Like Beauty and the Beast (2017), the songs are directly lifted from the animation and recreated in the film.

If you’ve seen the animation, you already know the story. Set in the animal kingdom of Africa, the lion is depicted as the king of the jungle. The ruler of the Pride Lands is Mufasa, and the movie begins with an introduction to his kingdom. We see animals gathering to witness the presentation of Simba, Mufasa’s newborn son, as he is introduced to the entire animal kingdom.

Notably absent from this event is Scar, Mufasa’s brother, who is waiting for his chance to seize the throne. With Simba’s birth, Scar’s path to power is blocked, as Simba is now the heir to Mufasa’s kingdom. Unwilling to wait for both Mufasa and Simba to die naturally, Scar devises a series of schemes to eliminate them and claim the throne. The movie revolves around these plans initially succeeding and then unraveling as the story progresses.

As Disney continues creating live-action remakes of their animated classics, I appreciate the effort and enjoyed this movie. However, I can’t rate it as highly as the original animation because it doesn’t offer anything new to give the story a fresh perspective.

Disney has been steadily adapting its Renaissance classics into live-action films. This trend began in earnest with Alice in Wonderland (2010), followed by Maleficent (2014) and Cinderella (2015). In 2016, they released The Jungle Book and Alice Through the Looking Glass. Subsequent years brought Beauty and the Beast and Christopher Robin (2018). In 2019 alone, Disney released five remakes: this movie, Dumbo, Aladdin, and the forthcoming Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Lady and the Tramp.