Directed by Jon Favreau
Starring Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, and her majesty Beyonce'
The original Lion King was a massive moment in film history, as well as for Disney and animation. Quickly becoming one of the most successful films of all time, it proved that a story told in animation could make as much an impact as one told in live-action. Its story and themes are timeless, and it's largely considered the best film Walt Disney Studios has ever made. So…why remake that?
It's far too late to ask that question, a question that has been asked far too many times the past few years about many Disney films, but we're here now. The Lion King remake hit theaters this past weekend. After Dumbo failed to take flight, and Aladdin couldn't grant everyone's wishes, Lion King…is pretty fine. I mean it's not great. It has its faults. Let's begin.
I feel like most of you already know the story but for formality's sake, here it is. A young lion cub, Simba, (JD McCray) is born next in line to Mufasa (Once again James Earl Jones), King of the Pride Lands. Mufasa's spiteful brother Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor), desires the throne for himself, and hatches a wicked scheme to take power away from his own flesh and blood. Scar's plan forces young Simba into exile, where he meets up with outcasts Timon & Pumbaa (Rogen & Eichner), and grows up (Now voiced by Glover) hoping to leave his dark past behind.
If you thought Aladdin played it safe, you don't know safe until you've seen Lion King. The story is exactly the same save for some minor, microscopic changes. Some key story moments feel rather rushed, which raises eyebrows because this film has a longer run-time, but nothing was really added here.
There are some very interesting new ideas hinted at in the script, like a past love-triangle between Mufasa, Scar, and Sarabi (Alfre Woodard), and a history of bad-blood between lions and hyenas, but like I said they're only hinted at and not developed at all. Sometimes in fact it feels like they were using the same script, and that becomes problematic when say, Chiwetel Ejiofor's Scar is saying lines that were written for Jeremy Iron's Scar. They come out hollow and flat. But you'll still probably enjoy the story because, well, you've heard it before.
The animation (Yes it's animation. Not live-action.) is gorgeous. This aspect alone is an achievement in itself because it looks like they actually went out and filmed in Africa. The original Lion King was first envisioned as an animated National Geographic special, and this really nails that aesthetic.
The characters look like real-life animals in the wilderness…and that's a problem sometimes. All the criticisms about the photo-realism is pretty true. Realistic looking animals can't emote like stylized, hand-drawn ones can. There are some times you can see emotion in them, but other times..it's not great. For example (and this is only spoilers if you've lived under a rock since 1994), when Mufasa dies, young JD Cray is really selling Simba's emotional pain in his voice-acting, but Simba's facial expression is literally no different than what is what two minutes ago. That's a problem. A big problem.
This probably didn't bother me as much as it did other viewers, but it definitely did take me out of the experience. I don't know, this didn't seem to bother a lot of people with The Jungle Book? The technology in this film is amazing…but it definitely needs tweaking. I mean you don't want to go too cartoony like Andy Serkis's Mowgli, and you don't want to venture into the realms PURE HORROR , but just give the animals a bit more range of movement in the face muscles, or eyebrows, or have their eyes well up when, I don't know, their dad dies…
The voice cast behind these emotionless animals is so good. JD McCray and Donald Glover are great as young and adult Simba. Glover isn't given much room to show off his true talent as an actor though.
Beyonce does fine as Nala, but it's very clear that it's Beyonce voicing Nala. But Queen Bee gotta be so we press ahead. James Earl Jones is good as Mufasa again, but can't deliver the same powerful performance he did before. Chop it up to old age, repetition or whatever, but he does good. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a great Scar, and John Oliver is a delightful Zazu. The True MVPs though are Eichner and Rogen and Timon and Pumbaa. They're hilarious. They're doing their usual shtick, but as Timon and Pumbaa. It's hard not to smile when they're onscreen.
Lion King, like many Disney properties, is a musical. The new arrangements of the songs are fine. None of them eclipse the original arrangements but they're enjoyable. Beyonce and Glover nail "Can You Feel The Love Tonight". Let's face it Beyonce was hired to sing that song. The new rendition of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is wonderful. Fans of "Be Prepared"…might be disappointed. As with many Disney remakes there's the standard requirement of one new song. Here it's "Spirit", sung by Beyonce. I must admit it's a really good song, and it fits well where it's put into the narrative. It doesn't add or take anything away from it, but it does its job. It does it a lot better than Jasmine's new song in the Aladdin remake I can tell you that (Shots fired).
I enjoyed The Lion King remake more than most I think. But does that make it a great film? Not really. It deviates very little from its source material, which makes me think Disney had more control over Favreau here then they did with Jungle Book. The visuals are amazing, but unfortunately hurt the narrative. The cast is superb, but again their performances are hindered by a used script, and again those visuals. It's unfortunate that the film's strongest aspect is also probably its greatest weakness. That said, I still think this is an entertaining watch. At no point was I raising my eyebrows like I was in Dumbo or begging for it to end with Aladdin. I can recommend this film on the visuals and voice-cast alone. But it's just an extension of the original Lion King's legacy and doesn't much to stand as its own thing.
I have to judge these films based off the films they're remaking, because that's why they exist in the first place. As far as entertainment goes, Lion King is the best of the three Disney remakes that have come out so far this year (There's a sequel to Maleficent out in October, which doesn't really count, and Lady and The Tramp will be on Disney Plus). But as far trying to do something different…I want to give Dumbo the edge over this. Dumbo didn't do a great job doing it but hey it tried.
And here I go again, restating my opinion on the Disney remakes. Aside from the fact that the majority of these films do not need to be remade, if Disney insists on "reimagining" them, the filmmakers need to work harder to justify their existence. They need to be willing to take creative risks, you know, like Disney always used to do. It might feel like a safe move to just work off the same script with a new batch of voice-actors, but that's not always going to work. The Lion King proves that.
Well as much of a critical failure these films have been, the box-office returns suggest that Disney will not slow down on this trend anytime soon. But you know, all Hollywood trends die off eventually, such is the Circle of Life. So Hakuna Mattata, and all that good stuff…
