The Lion King (2019) Dir: Jon Favreau
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This is perhaps the only live action Disney remake I had any real interest in watching, and that was mainly due to the incredible visuals in the trailer.
As it happens, live action is really more of a loose term here, as despite the immensely improved animation, the characters, being wild animals, are still all animated.
As illuded to, the film is visually mind-blowing, with the intense realism of the animation being genuinely breathtaking. There were times where it was legitimately difficult to determine that a scene was animated and not real.
Director Jon Favreau makes sure that his film stays almost completely faithful to the 90s original, although inevitably there are a few differences.
My only real disappointment is that the musical numbers simply were not up to scratch. They simply were not performed as good as they could've and should've been, in my view.
Donald Glover voices Simba, and honestly, I really enjoyed this casting decision. It's just a shame he didn't get to flex his musical muscles as much as he is truly capable of. That said, his voice acting in itself was still very enjoyable, I would say.
The legendary James Earl Jones returns as Mufasa in the film's best casting choice by far. There simply is no replacing this man. I barely need to comment on his performance because you already know how good it was. He has a truly iconic voice.
Speaking of icons, the one and only Beyoncé voices Nala, in a casting choice that bemused me slightly, until it came time to her performance. She did extremely well in my opinion, although the same remark that I gave discussing Glover applies here; she never got to truly let loose vocally, which is a huge missed opportunity for me.
Chiwetel Ejiofor had the immense challenge of trying to match Jeremy Irons' performance as Scar, and, for the most part, he did remarkably well.
The only time he was undeniably weaker was, once again, the musical performance - you could barely even call his performance of 'Be Prepared' singing - which is very unfortunate because it's my favourite song in the original.
Next, we have a trio of super talented comedians in John Oliver, who voices Zazzu, Seth Rogan as Pumba and Billy Eichner as Timon.
I think Oliver was always fighting an uphill battle against the excellence of Rowan Atkinson in the original, but I didn't mind him too much here. Rogan and Eichner had some great back and forth moments, but didn't quite match the originals energy and natural humour - although it was a strong effort.
Both JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright deserve special credit for their excellent performances as the young lions - McCrary especially nailed his character.
Finally, I'll give mentions to John Kani, Florence Kasumba and the hilarious pairing of Eric Andre and Keegan-Michael Key.
Overall, this musical remake was far better than I expected it to be, but still feels rather unnecessary. It almost feels as though it was made simply to show off how strong Disney animation can be, rather than any real need for a retelling.
That said, I still enjoyed this, and I'm ultimately glad I gave it a watch. Despite this, I still have no real urge to watch any more live action Disney remakes.
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