Movie Reviews - The Lion King

Director: Jon Favreau
Genre: Adventure/ Musical
Runtime: 118 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, John  Oliver, James Earl Jones, Donal Glover, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Alfre Woodard, Seth Rogen, Keegan-Michael Key, Eric André, Billy Eichner

Description: After the murder of his father, a young lion prince flees his kingdom only to learn the true meaning of responsibility and bravery.

Review: Oh how excited I was for the live-action version of one of my favorite Disney animations. I remember vividly when I saw “The Lion King” (1994) in theaters. I was so impressed and completely in aw that I couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks. And when I received it on VHS for my birthday, I watched it every day. I wasn’t afraid that director Jon Favreau was going to butcher the story, because he did a wonderful job for “The Jungle Book”. But was the film going to do the same to me as the animation did in 1994?
The film looks so realistic, like real-life animals. Yes, they talk and sing, but it’s like watching a BBC documentary.
When it comes to the story, nothing has changed. For most of the film, it’s a shot for shot remake of the animation. The film has been criticized for this, because they wanted Favreau to take more risk. I bet if he did and changed more, that would be the problem. We all love the original the way it is, so why not bring it to life like this. Because it’s a classic story, with wonderful songs we all love.
The one thing I didn’t really like, was them cutting the song “Be Prepared” short. It is my favorite song of the film and it was really rushed and it didn’t have the same impact that it had in the animation. It’s the main villain song and it’s so powerful. Here you don’t feel that.
The movie also lacks emotion according to many critics. Because they can’t see emotions or expressions on the animal’s faces. To make it look realistic as it is, you have to create the animals as they are. Giving them to much facial expression, would probably make them cartoonish and less realistic. And I’m not missing emotion at all, because I think I cried like 7 times in the first 5 minutes alone, haha.
As a huge fan of the animation, I am very happy with the live-action version of “The Lion King”. It didn’t leave me in aw like in 1994, but it’s such a beautifully made film with a lot of heart. People who think it lacked emotion, are probably dead inside.

Rating: 4,5/ 5