The Lion King (2019) – Circle of Disappointment

I’m sure most of you know, The Lion King was remade in “live-action” – photorealistic computer-animated for the technical ones – and came out this past weekend. I was ecstatic about it when I first heard the news, as I consider myself to be a Lion King fanatic. I’ve seen all three movies (1, 2, and 1 1/2), I’ve seen both TV shows (Timon and Pumbaa and The Lion Guard), I’ve read the books that were published after the original movie was released, I even own The Lion King in 3D book (yes, it actually exists), and I can do Mufasa’s voice! So to know that they were remaking my favorite movie of all time in live action was a dream come true. But as the movie was being developed and news was being released, I became less and less excited, I’ll elaborate on why through the review. Nevertheless, I decided to go into the movie with an open mind, it could essentially be on par with the original. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Let’s start with how beautiful the scenery is in the film. The Circle of Life scene was made almost shot-for-shot and it was breathtaking. This movie might be photorealistic computer-animated, but it doesn’t look like it – most of the time. With it being made this way presents the issue with the characters. The original movie was wonderful due to the amount of different reactions and expressions that were presented by each of the characters in the movie. Unfortunately, this freedom isn’t possible in live-action because animals don’t smile, smirk, or have looks of lust on their faces as Nala did in Can You Feel The Love Tonight? The way that the crew tries to remedy this issue is to try and do a close-up view of the character’s eyes to give the audience a sense of what the character is feeling. This doesn’t work as well as they tried to make it work, at times you’re just looking at the character’s eyes awkwardly.

I get that they’re going for a more realistic approach, but there are some things that I feel you can make happen. The reason why I said above that the Circle of Life scene was made almost shot for shot is because when Rafiki shows up and greets Mufasa, he does some weird thing where he rubs his hand on his face. There’s no reason why Mufasa and Rafiki can’t hug like they did in the original movie. Lions can hug and embrace in real life, so there’s no reason why it shouldn’t have happened in the movie. I guess that’s why they had the extended sequence where it showed a tuft of Simba’s mane being eaten by a giraffe only to be pooped out and rolled by a dung beetle, which ended up breaking apart the dung which caused the tuft of hair to fly away and land in Rafiki’s tree by a line of ants carrying leaves. One of the ants picks up the tuft, thinking it’s a kind of leaf I guess, and Rafiki picks up the tuft of hair and realizes that Simba is alive. Alright then…

The changes in some of the other scenes were definitely not appreciated. The scene where Mufasa’s ghost appears to Simba is a major letdown. It’s the equivalent of Fantastic Four and the Rise of the Silver Surfer’s scene that showed Galactus. When lightning strikes, you can see the outline of Mufasa’s face, but that’s it. You don’t see Mufasa’s spirit actually show up and it was incredibly disappointing, to say the least. Who’s to say that can’t happen when we have no proof of how a spirit appears unto an individual? They then go on to remove the whole sequence where Rafiki teaches him to let go of his past. That scene alone is an integral part of the original movie, it should’ve never been taken out. Some changes I can understand. I may have an issue with them, but those are understandable and you can see why as you watch the movie. Very upset with the way the hyenas were portrayed in this movie as well. I get that Disney doesn’t want them to be seen as mindless drones, but still at least come close to the film. There isn’t even a hyena like Ed in the movie, and that’s perhaps the most disappointing part.

The biggest change that I have an issue with, though, is the change to the songs. Now let’s get some things straight. Circle of Life – still slaps. I Just Can’t Wait to Be King – destroys but still pales in comparison to the original. Hakuna Matata was okay, but while Seth Rogen is an outstanding voice actor for Pumbaa, he can’t sing worth a lick and it really takes away from the song. Can You Feel The Love Tonight? No, I can’t. Why make this a duet? And what’s up with all the runs? Just sing the song. I loved the original song. I was going to dance to it at my wedding. But this one? Nope, doesn’t work for me at all. It’s not the worst song in the movie, but I was the least happy with this version because of how much I love the romantic song. Be Prepared, COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE! This version is essentially cut in half from about 4 minutes to 2 minutes compared to the original. Not only that but the lyrics have been completely changed. Whereas the original had Scar singing the whole time and using his words to manipulate the hyenas into following his plans, this version has Scar talking in rhyme at the beginning then all of a sudden he starts singing and it’s basically all about how superior he is compared to Mufasa. While this change was explained, it was unneeded and absolutely the worst thing about the movie.

The voice work for the movie could’ve been much much better as well. I was so excited to hear that James Earl Jones was coming back to voice Mufasa, as he should. But they went the wrong way with the deliverance of his lines. The same can be said for almost all of the characters. So many of the original lines that were brought back for the movie fell flat on the deliverance, but I can’t blame the voice actors. The directors should have worked harder. There was hardly ever any emotion in the lines. I didn’t care for Chiwetel Ejiofor for Scar initially, but he had the most emotion out of any character in my opinion, although it’s mostly rage. I also didn’t care for John Oliver as Zazu – he sounded like a bumbling, nagging assistant so much of the time. Keegan Michael-Key was awesome though, a good laugh that was desperately needed throughout the film with most of his lines.

Alright, Beyhive, I know you all are going to come for me with this one, but I honestly never was happy at all with Beyoncé as Nala. Her voice never fit for me. And even when they released the first small clip of her speaking some of Nala’s lines, I was unimpressed for good reason. She had no emotion at times and it sounded as if she was just reading the lines. But as I watched the movie, I had a better opinion formed. She wasn’t amazing or anything, but she wasn’t as bad as I thought she could’ve been. She had the sass that was needed and I’m thankful for that. But some things were unnecessary. Like when she was rallying the lionesses. “Lions attack!” Girl, get on. Just attack the hyenas like y’all did in the first movie and win the day. That line was not needed at all and just extra. And stop with all the runs while you’re singing. I won’t say anything about Spirit, it fits the movie, but I haven’t listened to it completely, nor do I plan to. I don’t hate Beyoncé, but she’s not someone that I’ll fanboy over either.

The final battle was good. A little long, but it was good and ended on a solid note – with Scar getting what he deserved. Thank goodness they didn’t change that about the film. I did think that the platform that Scar and Simba were fighting on was a bit small and one of them should’ve slipped off during the duration of their scuffle, and it would’ve been nice to see Scar get flipped off Pride Rock instead of just falling off. I may be nitpicking, but I’m sorry this is my all-time favorite movie and it won’t change. The very last scene was once again almost a shot-for-shot remake of the end and I enjoyed that for sure, seeing Kiara be presented to the Pride Lands and the epic reprise of the Circle of Life.

I appreciate Disney’s effort, but I left the theater unimpressed as ever. The movie wasn’t the worst, but I didn’t enjoy it. It sucks too, I had such high hopes, but as more things were released about the film I had a feeling that it wouldn’t live up to the legacy. I am curious to know if they’re going to develop The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride in live-action or even bank off Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner’s amazing chemistry as Timon and Pumbaa and make The Lion King 1 1/2, but I’m hoping they don’t. What they should’ve remade along with this movie is this amazing variant of Circle of Life, though they most likely would’ve messed that one up as well or just had Beyoncé do a cover of it.

I’m not expecting a lot of people to agree with me, especially when it comes to “Queen Bey”, but this is my opinion, as controversial as it might be. I wanted to enjoy it, but I didn’t. The bar was just set too high and the movie didn’t reach the bar. I refuse to take my place in the Circle of Life, at least not in this version of it. Oh well, I still have the amazing original to watch and enjoy. Nothing could ever take its place. That I know for sure.