The Lion King Review: Reimagined Classic All Roar, No Bite
Plot Synopsis courtesy of IMDb.com: “After the murder of his father, a young lion prince flees his kingdom only to learn the true meaning of responsibility and bravery.”
Directed by: Jon Favreau (Chef)
Written by: Jeff Nathanson (Speed 2: Cruise Control)
Starring: Donald Glover (Solo: A Star Wars Story), Beyoncé (Dream Girls), Seth Rogen (This Is The End)
The Lion King is rated PG.
Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Studios
Billed as an all-new retelling of the Disney classic, 2019’s The Lion King is the latest property to get the “live-action” treatment (although the film is technically produced using photorealistic computer animation) for the silver screen. Despite being released 25 years ago, the original animated version is still among the highest-grossing films of all time, and the Broadway musical inspired by the film has grossed over $8.1 billion throughout its run. Needless to say, there seems to be more than enough appetite for this latest iteration.
Interestingly enough, when The Lion King (1994) first hit theaters, its use of digital 5.1 surround sound prompted cinemas around the country to upgrade their audio equipment prior to its theatrical release. Perhaps the premiere selling point of this remake is another technological innovation, that being the animation technologies employed first by Jon Favreau’s team with The Jungle Book, now updated to create a film shot almost entirely using virtual reality and motion capture. The investment in visuals has seemingly paid off, as The Lion King is absolutely gorgeous from beginning to end. At times almost indistinguishable from a nature documentary, each jaw-dropping landscape is teeming with meticulously rendered animals and plants of all kinds.
Unfortunately, the film sticks the landing on its most ambitious leap into photo-realism, but only at the expense of what should have been its most relatable and grounded elements. For long periods of the film I believed I was watching actual lions, warthogs, hyenas and birds, which made it all the more jarring when one of them began to speak. The real animal faces and bodies failed to capture any meaningful emotion and I struggled to find any empathy or common ground with any of them. With such an emphasis on creating a realistic and natural world, its as is the filmmakers forgot to endow the film with any humanity. Evidently, a flatulent warthog eating squirming green caterpillars loses its novelty the more realistic it feels.
My qualms with the animation go further than just the emotional beats. The musical numbers are perhaps the quintessential element in The Lion King, as Tim Rice and Elton John’s classic have become standalone hits in their own right. The Lion King boasts an incredible cast, but the overall production of the song and dance numbers falls short of what I would have hoped. The talented vocalists seem to lack the support required to create true show-stopping theatricality and the animations can’t close the gap when it comes to stage presence.
As far as I could tell, The Lion King appeared to be an almost frame by frame remake of the original, yet confoundingly managed to add nearly a half hour in run time. Rather than a “reimagining,” The Lion King is more accurately described as a remastered version with updated graphics. The story remains as powerful and moving as ever, but with no updates or changes it feels like an unnecessary rerun. This is not to say that anything about the film is particularly bad, only that it latched onto iconic moments from the first film in an almost formulaic fashion hoping to capture the same lightning in a bottle Disney found 25 years ago.
Reel Rating: 6/10
The Lion King opens in cinemas on July 19.
