⭐⭐
20th July 2019
Review by Shaun Tossell
Well I saw it lol
It wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be but unfortunately that’s not saying much.
The voice cast are uniformaly excellent. Special mentions for Billy Eichner & Seth Rogan as Timon & Pumbaa, they get the most laughs and feel like the only characters with some semblance of personality.
They are also responsible for a great Disney reference in the film that made me laugh out loud; If you see the film, you’ll know what I mean straight away.
Scar and the hyenas feel and look more menacing this time around. Though you can’t beat Jeremy Irons delicious performance in the original; Chiwetel Ejiefor gives a very different Scar, which I enjoyed.
The visuals are stunning but they are also the films’ biggest weakness. Aiming for photo-realism they’ve stripped the characters of any personality. The animals onscreen CAN NOT EMOTE!
Half the time you feel like they are just opening and closing their mouths as the characters are supposed to be talking or that you’re listening to a voiceover.
The big emotional moments of the film fail to hit their marks. The emotion just isn’t there, it’s shallow as a puddle.
The musical numbers are sung well but they miss the stylised visuals of the original, which made them so striking, again the realism works against this film.
Unfortunately for me it’s a pale imitation of the original, the fact I enjoyed bits of it was because, shots are lifted directly out of the original film, A LOT of them.
If you are watching this for curiosity’s sake, go in with low expectations.
HAKUNA MATATA!
The Lion King (2019) is now at a cinema near you.
