The Lion King

‘The Lion King’ is a catastrophe; a new low in the ever-diminishing returns of Disney’s endless run of remakes. There’s nothing redeeming about it, with every decision either ill-conceived or mishandled to the point of incompetence. In Favreau’s hands, ‘The Lion King’ is rendered thunderously dull, lacking in any tension or complex characterisation, taking a laboriously long time to go nowhere and never once justifying its contentious existence. Even with my dislike of the original, I was flabbergasted at how thoroughly this film never attempts to understand why so many people love the 1994 film. If nothing else, this film makes it abundantly clear that Disney has no interest in making great cinema or honouring its own legacy. They don’t care whether the film is good or whether you enjoy it. All they care about is using nostalgia to trick you into buying your ticket so they can make as much money off you as they can, and maybe if they throw some recognisable iconic moments from your childhood on the screen, they may even be able to fool you into thinking you’d had a good time. ‘The Lion King’ is the ultimate diabolical apex of the commercialisation of nostalgia, and its inevitable box office success will just prove how easily we continue to be duped and how thoroughly they have trained us to not care about the quality of what we see. If this really is the future of mainstream cinema, then we are in serious, serious trouble.

• Daniel Lammin

Read Daniel's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-the-lion-king-a-catastrophic-and-soulless-remake-of-a-disney-classic

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I don’t know how I should start, but I guess I’ll address something that people might ask: yes, it’s a SPOILER-FREE review. Why? Well, the story might follow the same essential plot points, and the characters might have similar narrative paths, but there are so many details that make this movie stand on its own. From tiny little improvements to moments of the original that wouldn’t make sense in a realistic environment to adjustments to character’s backstory, musical moments or other significant parts. With that said, I need to discuss the controversy surrounding this remake, but I won’t take longer than one paragraph.

People need to understand that these Disney’s remakes aren’t here to replace the originals. They’re here to honor them, and bring their stories and characters to this new century so that new generations can have an additional look at something they love, and 90s kids can remember why they love these films so much. Emphasis on the “additional” part of that sentence. Then, people also need to get their preferences right: would you want to watch a shot-for-shot remake or something entirely different? Or a blend of these two? If you don’t know what you want, you might be in danger of turning into a hypocrite if your speech goes from “I don’t want these copy-paste remakes” to “they changed that specific moment, why didn’t they keep it the same?” Just be clear on what you wish. If you simply don’t want Disney to do these remakes, then just don’t watch them. Don’t go online try to beat it to the ground with negative comments if you haven’t seen the movie. Moving on …

I love it. I absolutely love it. I cried the exact same 4 times as I did in the 1994’s original. My whole body got chills during the opening sequence, which is one of a few things I love more about the remake than in the original. It’s NOT a shot-for-shot remake! I don’t understand how so many critics are calling it...

Vulgar Display of Dour

Final rating:★½: - Boring/disappointing. Avoid where possible.

Its not as bad as Cats or Star Wars 9.

Disappointing and inconsistent. 2019 seems to be the year where the big movies were made to look good, but are in reality vapid and this is no exception.
This looks good mostly (except when Simba is a "teenager" and a lack of genitals means that the animals do not look really real), but everything else is below average. Also, the "real-ness" of the animals make some scenes way more scary for children.

The choices made in this are....strange.
-The voice casting is weird (some African sounding, some American, and others in between) - like there was no plan.
-Extra scenes and dialogue do not add to the movie and even lessen it when compared to its predecessor.
-The way the songs have been re-done/ recorded are just wrong and this is the first Zimmer score that I have not liked in....forever (it feels like he just phoned it in).
-And a baby warthog suddenly appears at the end near Pumba, but no mother...WTF? There is still a plot though, so there's that... which means its better than the shambles that was Rise of Skywalker or Cats.

Yet another movie to forget.

Not at all like the cartoon but not bad either. Let's face it, nothing the could do would or could match the Lion King cartoon original. NOTHING. So I have been a huge fan of Lion King since day one. I knew this would not be as good. There are parts i adore and parts i detest. I hate they left out Scar's song and only had a small clip... So much was left out. It COULD have been better but I really didnt expect it to be half as good as the original... I was surprised it was decent.