Disney in recent times has decided to make many live-action movies, and one such is the epic The Lion King with a star-studded cast. Many were excited even though having watched the 1994 cartoon version. Like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King is solely made with animals and no human characters. Even though skeptical about the movie at first, director Jon Favreau’s final product was beautiful and heartwarming than expected.
Having Donald Glover voice Simba, with his playful yet powerful leadership was a perfect choice. Recasting James Earl Jones as Mufasa, with his soothing voice was a delight to listen too. Beyoncé as Nala, was good but her singing of Can You Feel the Love Tonight was a bit over the top. Queen B has a great voice, but sometimes she tends to go over the top. It’s wrong to compare but the Elton Jones original was way better, and so was the cartoon version. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen play the funniest roles, Timon and Pumbaa and did justice to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Maybe Scar’s character should have been voiced by a different actor, rather than Chiwetel Ejiofor who didn’t give that feel of Scar. The movie had its moments. The scenes where the grown-up Simba and Nala meet. The hilarity of the encounter between Timon and Pumbaa and Nala. There were scenes where it sometime looked as if you were watching a National Geographic documentary, but in the it movie made up with the amazing comic timing of Timon and Pumbaa and the rest of the animals. The shots of nature for the song Circle of Life scene is enough to move anyone to tears, seeing all the animals come together was amazing.
The computer-generated animals were phenomenally well done. The animators are extremely accurate of the mannerisms of actual animals, instead of making them too cartoon-like. Capturing the emotions of each character was done well. Mufasa’s death scene was hard to watch, as well as,little Simba running away.
In conclusion, the movie was good, and it did justice to the cartoon version. Go watch, its worth it and don’t compare too much or maybe not at all, if not you won’t enjoy the movie.
The Lion King is now showing at Scope Cinemas.