It’s been a while since I last saw a true Disney movie in the cinema. When I saw the castle come up on the screen with ‘When you wish upon a star’ blaring out, it felt like a walk down memory lane. That logo to me showed that a movie was going to be creative and made with care and affection. I knew I was going to enjoy the next 90-120 minutes. It was a stamp of quality. However, this film showed this to be the case no more. Disney took one of their most universally beloved films and sledgehammered it in the name of making a quick buck. When money comes before creativity for a studio such as Disney, something you love dies and I am certainly in mourning after watching the Lion King.

The 2019 version of the Lion King is faithful to the 1994 version in terms of its ordering. There are a couple of additional scenes, but the essence is the same. Simba’s born, Scar is jealous, he tricks Simba, Mufasa dies, Scar takes over etc. You aren’t going to be wowed unless you haven’t seen the original (In which case, watch the original instead). While it felt like they were going to flesh out Scar’s character, they sadly decided against this after one extra scene. They played it very safe, unlike in the live action Jungle Book which was a solid compliment to the original.

The Circle of Strife

Visually, the movie was brilliant. The Savannah was beautiful and full of life and all of the environments were atmospheric. The animals all looked like they were supposed to. Nothing looked ridiculous or out of place. However, just because you can make everything hyper-realistic, doesn’t mean you should.

The problem with such realism is that it just doesn’t quite work. When you watch a proper animation such as the 1994 version, you intentionally suspend your disbelief, it’s part of the contract. However, when the movie looks realistic, then dancing, singing animals violate the realism agreement. In the circle of life scene for example, seeing all of the animals come together just doesn’t quite have the same impact. The order you see is dissonant from the chaotic reality of the real world. Some scenes can’t be as creative either. The animal pyramid in I can’t wait to be king doesn’t happen due to physics (Although if they’d have killed Zazu there…).

However, the biggest issue with the graphical choice is the animals’ faces. In 1994, when simba was upset, you could see his tears and his face change. But you don’t get this in the realistic version. So when Mufasa dies, you don’t feel sad as Simba’s just stood near the body and not crying. Even the animals’ eyes don’t really change, nor do their body language enough. When Zazu tries to make a comment, his expression doesn’t change to show a sarcastic demeanour. On the whole, you are left with voice acting which sounds much more emotional than what you’re seeing and it doesn’t add up at all.

When the sad reflective moments don’t work, it changes the whole dynamic of the film. Suddenly, from naive, but learning prince, young Simba turns into a git.

Can you feel the dollar tonight?

The toughest issue for animators is the animals moving their mouths like humans. It just isn’t realistic. Therefore, to combat this, they go to long shots during conversations. However, this makes the editing come across as choppy as there are too many cuts and without seeing the animals’ faces, you don’t feel any emotional depth.

Furthermore, the script falters to provide any depth. In the 1994 Lion King, every line felt watertight. However, this script feels saturated, mostly with quip lines which even Marvel directors would roll their eyes at. The most notable example of this is Timon and Pumba. Every line Pumba says, seems to require a sarcastic retort from Timon. There are too many attempts at these easy quips which feel out of place and very rarely make you laugh as the pacing of the conversation is thrown out. The humour feels dumbed down.

Have they no pride?

Maybe the script isn’t as bad as I have suggested, but the casting certainly is. Despite James Earl Jones returning (who wasn’t on top form), nobody else did, despite most being alive. JD McCrary gave it a go as young Simba, but couldn’t hit the big notes (I’ll give him a pass though as the old young Simba is old now). He was somewhat carried by Shahadi Wright Joseph as Nala. Chiwetel Ejiofor offered a different Scar to what we’re used to, a better approach than trying to just copy Jeremy Irons. While respectable, Ejiofor does bottle the “Long live the king” line.

For everyone else, instead of deciding to go for the best people for the job, Disney thought “Who would get us most money?”. This lead us to Donald Glover as Simba, who was rather stilted. But the biggest insult was Beyonce who gave me flashbacks to the infamous Lisa goes Gaga Simpsons episode. She can’t voice act and her ‘Can you feel the love tonight’ duet with Glover as Elton. Every line had the same tone. It was wooden and boring. The Disney executives must have had dollar bills blocking their ears if they couldn’t tell how dreadful she was. Seth Rogen was mediocre at acting, but my gosh, he couldn’t sing. His voice sounded too polished for his Pumba role.

A special mention has to go to the worst example of casting: John Oliver as Zazu. Instead of returning to witty sarcastic Rowan Atkinson, the executives at Disney decided to go with an irritating talk show host who wastes his life trying to shout mediocre jokes to fill his empty soul with one laugh, validating his choice of career that his parents probably don’t approve of. Frankly, if that’s how he performs, I don’t approve of his career either. Every time he was on the screen, my ears filled with dread as he would shout a non-funny line in a grating tone. By the end, I wanted an elephant to squash him or Scar to eat him for some relief.

Summary

While Disney used to worry about making only gold star movies, now they just seem to be worried about paying share holders. CGI doesn’t work for this story, the script is poor and the voice actors put profit before polish. This gentrified version of a great film was made for an Elephant Graveyard rather than Pride Rock. [Grade D-]