‘The Lion King’ Movie Review: A Classic Better Left Alone

If there was a song or phrase opposite Hakuna Matata, it would be the perfect title track for The Lion King remake. It just does not work.

The original 1994 The Lion King was a precious part of my childhood. Heck, I lived for that film! I don’t even remember how many times I’ve watched it. All I know is that there was a time I can recite that thing line by line and stanza by stanza. Even now as an adult, I immensely enjoy the original film crying over Mufasa’s death, singing along to “Hakuna Matata,” and having that same wonderful feeling I had when I was a child. So, when Disney announced they were going to do a remake, I was pumped and ready to hand them my money!

Unfortunately, that excitement gave way to heavy disappointment after watching the film. If it was an original stand-alone production, I would’ve been more understanding and satisfied. However, it has this original that generations grew up with looming over it that it just unbelievably pales by comparison. Sadly, The Lion King is just another virtually perfect film that strips the magic from and is still inferior to the original.

Unrealistic Realism

Undeniably, The Lion King remake is a technological marvel. Its photorealistic quality makes you feel like you’re watching actual lions in the savanna. Each strand of fur, each blade of grass, the ripple of the water—everything seems like you can almost feel them. It really gets your senses going. Unfortunately for all their efforts, more than giving actual life to the animated film, this visual breakthrough made it seem like we were watching something straight out of National Geographic. It’s excellent, don’t get me wrong. But, this is the first thing that strips off the charm of the story. It was like watching National Geographic or the Animal Kingdom with the Lion King‘s soundtrack and dialogues.

Disney

The photorealistic quality of the remake makes the realistic very unrealistic more so that the remake adapts a lot of frame per frame similarities. It’s a great callback but with the new look, it’s really mismatched. And most importantly, it strips the animals of the expressive facial expressions needed of the dialogue it has. The smiles, the puppy eyes, the subtle strain of disappointment, glints of hope – those were parts of the charm of the original film. Never mind that there were talking lions, singing warthogs, and dancing baboons, those human-like expressions were what made them lovable and relatable.  It would’ve helped greatly if there was a human character in the mix to provide an undercurrent of physical emotion like in The Jungle Book. As it is, The Lion King doesn’t have that.

Hearing Donald Grover and Beyonce’s voices come from real-life looking lions honestly looked all wrong and mismatched. It’s like someone put on the wrong audio for a documentary film. Sadly, the dialogues had a huge chip of the equation missing. Just imagine someone talking to you with a straight face while talking in an excited voice. That’s what The Lion King remake feels like.

New Cast Against Old Expectations

Despite the limitations provided by the photorealism, the voice acting wasn’t that shabby at all. Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner’s stint as the iconic duo of Timon and Pumbaa was one of the best parts of the film. Their amazing and hilarious tandem translated well to the screen. I wouldn’t even mind if they did a spin-off something like The Lion King 1 1/2. They weren’t just reminders of Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella’s earlier impressions, no. Rogen and Eichner owned their characters.

Disney

Meanwhile, the others were just there. Don’t get me wrong, Donald Glover and Beyonce were great. But, they just didn’t shine. John Oliver’s Zazu was also kind of bland sounding like a middle school teacher droning on and on rather than being an amusing and remarkable character. Even Rafiki, that darned monkey. I was disappointed they didn’t give take up the part he whacked Simba with his stick. That’s where he gave one of the most important lessons in the film for Christ’s sake.

On the other hand, there were some major changes to the portrayal of some characters specifically Scar and the hyenas. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Scar gave off a perfectly cold and menacing villain. However, that’s just it. His version of Scar treaded on the same straight line of character. You’re just expected to hate him just because well, he’s the bad guy. Sadly, his delivery made me miss the purring, malicious, and sarcastic whispers of the old Scar. The “Long live the king” line just didn’t have that much impact this time around than it did then.

Disney

Even the hyenas got a little character shift. From goofy, gullible, and stupid hairballs to a smarter and more vindictive batch. This together with the new Scar pushed a more serious tone for the entire film. And though this doesn’t hurt as far as creative shifts go, it sort of confused me as to what the overall intent of the film was in regards to its audience.

Bless the Soundtracks

With all the things that didn’t add up in the remake, it’s only right to pay respects to the soundtracks. These new versions, wow, they’re the real tribute to the classic. Hearing that first note in The Circle of Life gave me chills. And of course, I didn’t miss a chance to mouth along to Hakuna Matata. Then, there’s also Beyonce’s amazing rendition of Can You Feel The Love Tonight. These are the things that took me back to the wonderful feeling I had when I was a child.

Disney

One thing I also appreciated was the addition of Beyonce’s new track Spirit to the scene of Simba’s return to Pride Rock. It gave more appeal to the scene. And at that slight second, I saw where the remake almost made the story it’s own. One missing soundtrack that I really looked forward to though was Scar’s Be Prepared. I could never see Scar without that song. That was such an iconic moment where Scar laid out his plans for total domination ala Hitler. But, all we got was a speak-singing moment that was oddly hard to watch no matter how much it matched the new Scar’s character.

Most of the time with musical remakes, we expect the same old songs to be there. But, a few new tracks and a few new renditions absolutely didn’t hurt anyone. In fact, it’s what gives these remakes their own name aside from just being a high-budget copy of the classics. They give a new flavor to the classic. For instance, I wouldn’t mind hearing a new soundtrack from Timon or Pumbaa or even the hyenas for that matter. Why not reintroduce the classic with something much more?

‘The Lion King’ Remake Overall Verdict

What makes this remake truly amazing is the technological marvel it featured. Saying that, however, means that they could’ve done so much more to make this classic so much better or at least on par with the original. The saddest thing is that it only looks like a high-budget copy that stripped the magic of the original narrative. Given that The Lion King live-action has a more serious take, it still doesn’t do much to set itself apart from the expectations of the original.

What also worked for the animated version clearly didn’t work with this National Geographic version. There’s a huge difference between singing animated animals and singing real-life animals. In this case, it really doesn’t work no matter how beautiful or memorable the voices and songs are. The frame by frame similarities also didn’t do anything to make it better. By the middle of the film, I was itching to know how many more minutes I had left to endure. And by the end of it, I was desperately still searching for anything to feel good about aside from the soundtrack.

Technically, it’s some kind of masterpiece. But overall it’s just another live-action remake. It took what the classic already had and visually polished it up; nothing new and nothing more. Despite the same lines, the same songs, and the same frames, there’s a hollowness to it.  It’s like it tossed away what made the film memorable in the first place in favor of its visual appeal. Maybe it would’ve been more satisfying if Disney explored another part of the story perhaps like Mufasa and Scar’s past. Or even the part where the lions and the hyenas set themselves apart. Anything just anything that would’ve left The Lion King classic alone.