I follow a lot of animation reviewers online, people like Cellspex, PhantomStrider, Mad Munchkin, Animated Antic, all people you should check out. However, I think the most relevant one to this point is Mr. Enter, I remember him saying that if this movie was bad, he would do an Animated Atrocities review of it when he could. I bring that up because, this movie is indeed awful.
Even when I was watching the trailers, my only reaction was, "This would be more impressive if it looked prettier", and even before it came out I was expecting this movie to suck. Partly because I also saw the Dumbo remake and did not like it, but I already gave my thoughts on that disappointment. I did not have much hope for this movie, not even after seeing the original. If you haven't read my review of that movie, I thought it was a fine movie, but it looked incredible. Here, the entire main problem of the movie is that it looks dreadful.
I'm not kidding when I say that this movie is one of the ugliest movies I have ever seen. Isle of Dogs took place on a literal island made of garbage, and that doesn't even make my top twenty-five. This movie makes my top ten, and it is not just because it looks muddy. The realistic visuals drag down scenes that were supposed to be of a certain atmosphere. Like the Elephant Graveyard scene, which in the original was shadowy, full of darker colours and grays. It was supposed to be eerie and foreboding. In this movie, it is as lit as the rest of the movie, it looks the same. Even under scars rule, all that really changed was that the trees lost their leaves, that is it. The scene was still a muddy, sepia splotch compared to other Disney live action movies.
This problem with the visuals also bleeds into the characters. They all look emotionless and lifeless. Going back to the original, when Simba came across his father's body, they animated him with all kinds of minor movements, the eyes and mouth are how you express the most emotion. However, this movie not only keeps the character's faces stoic, but also never directly at the camera, so even if their was emotion, we could not see it.
But okay, visuals are one thing, but if the rest of the movie is fine than it can not be too bad right? One thousand and one entries of wrong. Not only are the visuals downgraded, but literally nothing is done better. The songs? "Circle of Life" is still good, "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" is less of a visual piece, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" is still dreadful, but "Be Prepared", one of the best Disney villain songs, was shortened, they might as well just have removed it from the film altogether. While Hans Zimmer's score is still great, I just wish it could have been used for a better movie, like Muppet Treasure Island.
And the humour. The Lion King was not the funniest Disney movie ever, I think it is a toss up between Robin Hood and The Emperor's New Groove. However, there were some things that made me laugh in the original, and in this movie...
No.
Nothing made me laugh in this movie, and some of the jokes were changed or removed. Zazu's line about turning Scar into a throw rug? Gone!
Zazu's reaction to Simba's pouncing lesson? Gone!
Scar's sarcastic replies to Mufasa? Gone!
Timon putting on a grass skirt and dancing the hula? Changed to him singing the opening of "Be Our Guest", I'm not kidding. People thought that was funny, it was not, it was cringe-inducing and a pathetic attempt at a reference, and I am someone who loves reference humour.
I think the only plus I can give this movie in terms of humour, is the awkward "In The Heat of the Night" reference is also removed, so take that for what it's worth.
And the plot, oh my, of all the things you had nothing to do but improve upon, you ended up making it worse. What was the reason the lions stayed at Pride Rock in the original? Because Scar demanded them to. In the remake? "Because it is their home." What is with Disney remakes and making thier females worse? Then we get to Scar, not one of my favourite villains in the original, but he was a fun character in how much you hated him. Here, all of his charm is gone, and is replaced with, well, nothing. Scar isn't even designed in an interesting way, his design is so generic, that in the end climax I could not even tell who was Scar and who was Simba.
Also, Donald Glover and Beyoncé don't do great jobs in their voice roles. I don't typically comment on voice performances, but I had to mention it, they were about as convincing as EA when they make an apology. That might be going to far... Actually no it isn't because I spent money to see this movie and I'm bitter.
The Lion King is a slap in the face. It is a slap in the face to the original, as it makes absolutely no improvements upon it. It is a slap in the face to animation, as it is touted as a "Live-action remake" and even if people are aware that it is an animated movie, the fact that Disney felt it was fine to remake this movie with photo-realistic CG is just another slap in the face, but to the original team behind the movie. The dedicated team that worked hard to make The Lion King look and animated as amazing as it did. It is a slap in the face to the animators that worked on it, because there is nothing to commend them for on what was probably months upon months of hard work. It is a slap in the face to Disney, who might I remind you, not only popularized animation, but literally made a name out of itself for the medium, and now instead of making another beautiful animated movie, they made a muddy looking waste. It is a slap in the face to fans of the original because again, it makes no real improvements over the original, and is the inferior version, and should we not offer the fans something better? However, it was also a slap in the face to me, because I could have seen Crawl, Men in Black: International, Yesterday, Rocketman, Wild Rose, or anything else in theatres. It is a slap in the face to me because it gives me no joy to give a movie an "Avoid" rating, it gives me no joy to ask people to allow a movie to flop.
I would much rather give this a "Not Recommended" because at the very least the movie would have SOME reason to be viewed, something that meant it was anything other than an awful mess. But I see no reason to recommend this film to anyone. So, I really do feel it warrants an "Avoid" rating.
And those were my thoughts on 2019's The Lion King. I am done with Disney remakes, when is Frozen 2 coming out?
Even when I was watching the trailers, my only reaction was, "This would be more impressive if it looked prettier", and even before it came out I was expecting this movie to suck. Partly because I also saw the Dumbo remake and did not like it, but I already gave my thoughts on that disappointment. I did not have much hope for this movie, not even after seeing the original. If you haven't read my review of that movie, I thought it was a fine movie, but it looked incredible. Here, the entire main problem of the movie is that it looks dreadful.
I'm not kidding when I say that this movie is one of the ugliest movies I have ever seen. Isle of Dogs took place on a literal island made of garbage, and that doesn't even make my top twenty-five. This movie makes my top ten, and it is not just because it looks muddy. The realistic visuals drag down scenes that were supposed to be of a certain atmosphere. Like the Elephant Graveyard scene, which in the original was shadowy, full of darker colours and grays. It was supposed to be eerie and foreboding. In this movie, it is as lit as the rest of the movie, it looks the same. Even under scars rule, all that really changed was that the trees lost their leaves, that is it. The scene was still a muddy, sepia splotch compared to other Disney live action movies.
This problem with the visuals also bleeds into the characters. They all look emotionless and lifeless. Going back to the original, when Simba came across his father's body, they animated him with all kinds of minor movements, the eyes and mouth are how you express the most emotion. However, this movie not only keeps the character's faces stoic, but also never directly at the camera, so even if their was emotion, we could not see it.
But okay, visuals are one thing, but if the rest of the movie is fine than it can not be too bad right? One thousand and one entries of wrong. Not only are the visuals downgraded, but literally nothing is done better. The songs? "Circle of Life" is still good, "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" is less of a visual piece, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" is still dreadful, but "Be Prepared", one of the best Disney villain songs, was shortened, they might as well just have removed it from the film altogether. While Hans Zimmer's score is still great, I just wish it could have been used for a better movie, like Muppet Treasure Island.
And the humour. The Lion King was not the funniest Disney movie ever, I think it is a toss up between Robin Hood and The Emperor's New Groove. However, there were some things that made me laugh in the original, and in this movie...
No.
Nothing made me laugh in this movie, and some of the jokes were changed or removed. Zazu's line about turning Scar into a throw rug? Gone!
Zazu's reaction to Simba's pouncing lesson? Gone!
Scar's sarcastic replies to Mufasa? Gone!
Timon putting on a grass skirt and dancing the hula? Changed to him singing the opening of "Be Our Guest", I'm not kidding. People thought that was funny, it was not, it was cringe-inducing and a pathetic attempt at a reference, and I am someone who loves reference humour.
I think the only plus I can give this movie in terms of humour, is the awkward "In The Heat of the Night" reference is also removed, so take that for what it's worth.
And the plot, oh my, of all the things you had nothing to do but improve upon, you ended up making it worse. What was the reason the lions stayed at Pride Rock in the original? Because Scar demanded them to. In the remake? "Because it is their home." What is with Disney remakes and making thier females worse? Then we get to Scar, not one of my favourite villains in the original, but he was a fun character in how much you hated him. Here, all of his charm is gone, and is replaced with, well, nothing. Scar isn't even designed in an interesting way, his design is so generic, that in the end climax I could not even tell who was Scar and who was Simba.
Also, Donald Glover and Beyoncé don't do great jobs in their voice roles. I don't typically comment on voice performances, but I had to mention it, they were about as convincing as EA when they make an apology. That might be going to far... Actually no it isn't because I spent money to see this movie and I'm bitter.
The Lion King is a slap in the face. It is a slap in the face to the original, as it makes absolutely no improvements upon it. It is a slap in the face to animation, as it is touted as a "Live-action remake" and even if people are aware that it is an animated movie, the fact that Disney felt it was fine to remake this movie with photo-realistic CG is just another slap in the face, but to the original team behind the movie. The dedicated team that worked hard to make The Lion King look and animated as amazing as it did. It is a slap in the face to the animators that worked on it, because there is nothing to commend them for on what was probably months upon months of hard work. It is a slap in the face to Disney, who might I remind you, not only popularized animation, but literally made a name out of itself for the medium, and now instead of making another beautiful animated movie, they made a muddy looking waste. It is a slap in the face to fans of the original because again, it makes no real improvements over the original, and is the inferior version, and should we not offer the fans something better? However, it was also a slap in the face to me, because I could have seen Crawl, Men in Black: International, Yesterday, Rocketman, Wild Rose, or anything else in theatres. It is a slap in the face to me because it gives me no joy to give a movie an "Avoid" rating, it gives me no joy to ask people to allow a movie to flop.
I would much rather give this a "Not Recommended" because at the very least the movie would have SOME reason to be viewed, something that meant it was anything other than an awful mess. But I see no reason to recommend this film to anyone. So, I really do feel it warrants an "Avoid" rating.
And those were my thoughts on 2019's The Lion King. I am done with Disney remakes, when is Frozen 2 coming out?
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