Just to point out: Lion King, the original animated movie, is my one of my favorites that Disney has produced. I love the music, I love the story, I love the feels, I just love the darn thing. With that said, I DID watch the live action and I want to give some quick pros and cons. Not a full review, mind you.
Cons
Reality vs Animation: My biggest qualm with this remake is the fact that they grounded every animal's movement. Meaning, every animal does, as much as possible, what animals would naturally do. And that right there trickles down to a lot of the aspects that made the original movie amazing.
Emotions or Lack of: As something to feed off the first point, the characters in the Lion King remake do not express the same expression and at times they feel dull. Which, lions don't express the same features like humans, but definitely loses some of that 'wow' that the original Lion King was able to give.
Songs: The songs also suffer at times in my eyes. I understand you won't get the same colorful and exuberance as the original but Be Prepared was the one that really fell short. Gone is the extravagance, the magnificence, the sight of marching Hyenas, and Scar standing on an erected land with the moon behind him.
The Dialogue Doesn't Catch: There was something about the delivery of the animated films that really stuck out. The Remake, I felt, had some moments where they didn't let the dialogue sink in. They just kind of really delivered the lines and kept going at times.
Voice acting: I miss Jeremy Irons as Scar. I also missed Rowan Atkinson.
Pros
Beautiful: There's no doubting that this movie looks good. It's hard to tell that it's a CGI movie; looks somewhat real. Again, they grounded the characters so much that they look organic. Now I'm not saying that trying not to do a better job translating how Scar looks to a 'grounded' film excusable, but all in all, the movie looks good.
Still Retains Most of the Ambiance: While some of the music lost some of that Disney magic charm, there are still some powerful moments. The introduction was perfect to how the animation was and Mufasa's death was very emotional.
Most of the Cast did Wonders: While I miss the original Scar and Zazu, I love the return of James Earl Jones. I also think the rest of the casts did well.
The Message is still Potent: The idea of the Circle of Life, a young prince trying to find his meaning, and a wise father/king installing his wisdom. A message of redemption and growing to one's role. That message is still there.
It's Basically the Same Movie: That could be considered a bad thing, but I think it's a positive thing for the purists.
Final thoughts? Clearly I spent more time on the things I don't like about the movie rather than the things I like. Though all in all, I like it. But my message to everyone is that if they love the original Lion King film and can't see that movie without the full charm of what 2D animation is capable of, then wait. There is nothing in the new film that the original didn't do better in my opinion. The Music, the Extravagant charm, that's all there in the animated movie. And while most of the new casts do their job, I think the old ones can seriously be missed and I can't get over Jeremy Irons missing presence. The new does look good, but the old one has an aesthetic feel that just makes it one of a kind.
But the these guys sum it up to the "T" of how I felt about this movie:
The SuperCarlinBrothers are awesome. Definitely love their videos. They have amazing insight.
Well, that's about it for that.
Until Next Time!
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