The Lion King

If anyone is going to remake Disney classics, it should be Jon Favreau! The Jungle Book may have had more swing and adventure, but The Lion King is also breathtaking in its visuals, music, emotion and nostalgia. Tears on the edge of my eyes more or less the whole film. The scene with the hyenas is wonderfully creepy and the lion fight a clear highlight. The fairy tale of my childhood got a solid tribute. 85%. (07/27/2019)

I felt as uncomfortable watching the new Lion King as I would have felt watching natural history documentaries with narration that jokingly imitates the “voices” of animals. At the same time, it is an inordinately long (and drawn-out) film, very dark (the hyenas could sign up for a horror-movie casting call) and verbose, i.e. not very suitable for younger viewers who would most likely appreciate the talking fauna. I very much enjoyed Caleb Deschanel’s camera work, which was adapted to the characters’ point of view, and one wordless scene including the odyssey of a dung beetle with a ball of giraffe droppings. Otherwise, a negative feeling of inappropriateness predominated. When you see a photo-realistically animated (and talking) warthog and a (talking) meerkat tame a (talking) lion cub and turn it into an entomophage, it is more disturbing than funny or cute. Whereas I can still be impressed by the original to this day, the reboot just makes me want to cry over the idea that it will be a huge commercial hit and Disney will continue to churn out such empty, asexual, absolutely unsurprising remakes of its successful films. The Jungle Book had a faster pace and more convincing characters, and it did not merely copy the original film, but developed it in a meaningful manner. It was unique in some way. Conversely, The Lion King is only a soulless imitation, perhaps technologically perfect, but almost worthless artistically. 50% (07/18/2019)

The animation is so amazing that after a while I didn't even see it as animation anymore, indeed I almost caught myself at times thinking the animals were talking – it's simply pure movie magic, nothing less. It was like how I was impressed by the monkeys in the new Planet of the Apes films, for example; the only difference is that the story wasn't just about them. In The Lion King, it's now exclusively about digital animals and supposedly digital landscapes and everything we see (I almost don't want to believe it). Really amazing. But what would it be without a good story, right? They didn't experiment too much in that regard, and relied on the tried and tested certainties, augmented with nice little touches here and there (more space for Timon and Pumba was definitely a good move), which actually applies to Zimmer's tried and tested music and Elton John's songs. Aside from a few added "jokes for a more advanced audience", John Favreau's direction is what makes The Lion King a more mature spectacle. Like Steven Spielberg in The Adventures Of Tintin, he could do anything with a digital camera, but he tends to keep a low profile and doesn't make any flourishes. Everything looks like it's filmed in the real countryside with real animals (the desert shots put Lawrence of Arabia to shame), and when Favreau lets go of the reins we getan amazing scene with a tuft of fur that makes winking referenceto Forrest Gump, or a few horror segments (within the bounds of accessibility). In short, it's well done; and while I haven't had the urge to see the new Jungle Book again since I saw it in the theater, I suspect quite strongly that it will be different in the case of The Lion King. (07/17/2019)

Jon Favreau got probably excited about new animation technology because after beautiful The Jungle Book he filmed  no less amazing The Lion King. And even though the story is well known and you heard the music a hundred times, it is still brilliant and I was captivated by this remake. And it is precisely this technology that makes me feel as if real living creatures were wandering through that bush. I was even horrified a little by the thought I had while watching this movie that the kids in the future might watch this kind of movies and think what a wonderful world we used to have... (12/24/2019)

A new version of the classic Disney story about Simba, who grew from a little lion cub into the king of animals and avenged his father's death. The new Lion King looks incredibly realistic, but the moment the animals start talking and singing, it starts to fall apart. The fairytale atmosphere where no one bothered with the chatty animals is gone, and in its new form it all feels a bit out of place. Still, it's an inoffensive adventure that will appeal to older viewers with its nostalgia and younger ones with its songs and lots of animals. But it is far from an exceptional film. (07/23/2019)