The Lion King - Review

Wow this movie was terrible. Let's make that very clear. I should also mention that at the beginning of the year, I was legitimately excited for every single one of the Disney Live-Action remakes. Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Lion King were all on my "Most Anticipated Movies of the Year" list in my mind. However, after seeing all three of these movies, and especially after seeing The Lion King, I want Disney to stop making these movies.

Now I am going to use this opportunity to plug in the link to the YouTube review I made for this movie for where you can see me rant about how this movie made me feel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYIbBUGohDI.

You will be able to see how I feel about this movie if you watch the video, but let me sum up some of the main points.

The absolute number one reason why the remake of The Lion King doesn't work, is because it lacks all emotion and Disney magic. Think about Disney for a moment. Disney is a household name all around the world. Draw 3 circles together and everywhere you go, people will know that it's Mickey Mouse. Why is that? It's because Disney has made a name for themselves for making movies that stick with us through their entire lives. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released in the 1930's and people still talk about it and it's still considered one of the best animated movies of all time. Why do people remember it and talk about it today? It's because that movie along with all the other Disney classics were able to spark imagination and deliver heartfelt emotion. We all remember the different names and personalities of the Seven Dwarfs, we all remember Cinderella getting that wonderful dress for the ball from her fairy godmother, we remember the spaghetti and meatballs scene from Lady and Tramp, the Beauty and the Beast dance, the flying carpet ride in Aladdin and the list goes on. These are moments in movies that moved us emotionally and because they did, they stuck in our hearts forever.

Even the original Lion King with it's legendary opening has stuck in people's hearts for 25 years and I'm not going to lie, when this movie began and it recreated the opening, I got hyped. But with the live-action animals, there is little to no emotion from the characters in their facial expressions and voice performances which doesn't allow us to feel anything. The happy moments feel dull, the sad moments feel extremely mundane, the funny moments got a few laughs, I won't lie about that, and the scarier intense moments feel so small. It is a shot for shot remake except void of everything that makes a movie enjoyable.