The Lion King Review: A Visual Treat!

The Lion King is the latest animated movie from Disney’s catalogue to receive the live-action treatment. Although it is probably a misnomer to refer to this movie as live-action, the more accurate description would be a hyper-realistic CGI movie. With Jon Favreau at the helm, The Lion King remains almost true to the original 1994 animated movie. As expected, the movie is good but mostly because the original was already such a powerful movie.

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The Lion King is the story of a young lion cub Simba (JD McCrary/Donald Glover). Simba is raised as the future king of the Pride Lands which his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones) rules. However his uncle, Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) has other plans and he conspires with the pride’s enemies – the hyenas led by Shenzi (Florence Kasumba). Scar kills Mufasa and convinces Simba it was his fault and Simba runs away. He meets Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen), and grows up with them while Scar takes over as king. Ultimately, Simba realizes he must return home and redeem himself by fixing things.

Visually, The Lion King is a stunning movie. The result is similar to(but even more spectacular than) Jon Favreau’s 2016 collaboration with Disney – The Jungle Book. Disney has invested heavily in the CGI for this movie and it is evident. Jon Favreau’s realistic imagining of the characters isn’t necessarily superior to the animated movie. As a different style, it has its own advantages – stunning CGI visuals. It also has some disadvantages like reality taking away some of the magic of the premise.

The music is almost identical to the animated version with 2 new songs – “Spirit” (Performed by Beyoncé) and “Never too late” (Performed by – Elton John). Also, Timon sings the opening verse of “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast while presenting Pumbaa to the hyenas, instead of “Timone Hula” as in the original animated version. Hans Zimmer has composed the score, repeating his role from the 1994 version to great effect.

James Earl Jones reprises his role as Mufasa and provides a lot of gravitas. JD McCrary as young Simba and Shahadi Wright Joseph as young Nala are terrific. However, the talents of Donald Glover and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as their grown-up versions seem a little wasted because most of the movie features the younger versions. Chiwetel Ejiofor imparts a real dark streak to Scar which is noteworthy. Overall, the cast is impressively assembled and performs up to expectations.

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Disney has taken to remaking its classics from animated to live action with mixed results so far – Cinderella (2015), Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Aladdin (2019) with several others slated for the future including Mulan (2020). These films have achieved financial success but not necessarily critical acclaim. These remakes have introduced Disney’s classics to a new generation while playing on the nostalgia factor for those (like me) who grew up with them. This is a good movie but mostly because the original story transcends generations and mediums. The Lion King is an enjoyable experience but does not surpass the original which was a masterpiece.

Rating – 3/5 | Grade – B

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