User reviews

Felt like a corporate movie and they know people will go see it on name alone, and they ruined the music. Not sure they realized the music was the best part. Songs felt like when an artist oversings the national anthem. The songs were great originally and felt like they were trying too hard.

Lion King was the only movie growing up that actually made me cry, the soundtrack alone was amazing, but there was a magic in the cartoon version. This new one is awful. They spent tons of money on the tech and actors, but forgot to add the magic. This isn't the Lion Queen, it's not about beyonce, but it's become all about her, when she didnt actually bring anything to the movie. James Earl Jones will never get a bad review in my book, he did his job. Everyone else was simply forgettable. The cartoon version I remember each actor, each song, each joke, etc and I havent watched it in years. My guess is that Disney is making all these worthless remakes to maintain the copyrights of those movies, but there's 0 intention to do it with the same magic and formula that captivated people from the beginning. The only remake I've enjoyed so far is Cinderella, we even bought it. The rest I don't even remember and my kids prefer the cartoon versions over the remakes now too, that should say something. Not that anyone at Disney will care, their goal is to take over everything to continue being in control and taking in heaps of money for their own exploits. I'll stick with the original Lion King, including the soundtrack and the Broadway show (also amazing), and never speak of this waste of money of a film again.

I did not want to see this movie. I did not want the Mouse to think that I in any way support this new trend of simply remaking old Disney classics with wooden actors and sparkling CGI. But alas, I was dragged into the movie theatre anyway, and here I am, telling you that I'm deeply ashamed that the Great Black Mouse of Disney has my money. Yet again.

Because I was right in not wanting to see this film. Because this is the bottom of the barrel. The other movies have kind of been shot for shot remakes, but every single one of them has had at least something new. Some other angle, some twist, to make it interesting. This, one the other hand? Holy cow in heaven, is this bad. The beginning, for example. You know, The Circle of Life, one of the most recognizable and striking movie openings in history. The exact same. Shot for shot, camera angle for camera angle, the exact same. Except, you know, not as colourful, iconic or fetching. Because it's supposed to look real. Which in this case apparently means that everything looks either more wrinkled, dusty and/or dirty in general. Because that's Serengeti for you. According to the film makers.

Luckily they stopped with the exact shot for shot soon after that, thank heavens, but that was only a minor relief. Because you know what else happens, when you try to make everything look as real as possible? Aside from everything looking like it's going to give you fleas. It makes everything look emotionless! Lions are not exceptionally renowned for their wide range of facial expressions, you know. The reason you can make animated movies with animals as the main characters is because animation doesn't care that lions can't have facial expressions. You can go outside the realms of biology and what's strictly speaking possible. You can exaggerate, emote and play loose with the rules. You can use colours, shapes and perspectives to compensate, to make it look interesting. This film has none of that! It's a dull, emotionless, flat table reading of dialogues we all know and love, but which are given nothing to support them.

Not helping the matter is the fact that they hired celebrity voice actors. These people are talented entertainers, yes, and they look fetching on a poster, but none of them is exactly renowned for their voice acting capabilities. And boy does that show! Even James Earl Jones sounds like he's about to keel over and pass beyond the veil at any moment. There's very little of the majesty and gravitas of the original Mufasa left in his performance.

And I actually misspoke earlier. This thing has one new thing in it. A song. A song by Beyonce, named Spirit. Because apparently that was the price of getting her on board. Or perhaps Disney wants an Original Song Oscar nomination. I don't know, but the song is awful and feels exactly like what it is. A forced, jammed in last-minute addition.

Saints in heaven, was this a bad movie. It's a bit over a week after I saw it, but writing this review actively ruined my morning. I feel awful even thinking about this. About the fact that Disney has made incredible amounts of money with this. That they're going to keep making these.

And I contributed to it. I think I might be sick. Excuse me.

Visually beautiful. & thank god for James Earl Jones as Mufasa. Other than that just BLAH!! Acting was flat & didnt even hold a candle to original!!! BUT THE WORST was Beyonce!!! Way too much of Nala & Beyonce's stupid singing!!!

People here are saying it's so good, epic, and amazing! Yeah right! I can say the movie has its achievements in the visuals but for the story and the characters especially with their emotions. It truly takes away the feeling you felt from the original. It's a remake. Yeah sure but why leave out the important parts in the movie. Why destroy everything what made the Lion King so great?

If you enjoy spending your money and wasting your time, I am not here to stop you. But I recommend you watch the original animated version because that is a masterpiece. Not this fake remake of a movie!

I LOVE the original. I wanted to love this movie. I was over the moon excited for it. They took out too many important parts of the original. Showing the strength of Mufasa but also his friendly side (his friendship with Zazu, how he respects and hugs Rafiki, that he taught Simba how to pounce). Even the opening scene wasn't the same. Why would you alter that? The huge rising sun in tune with the music that gives almost everyone goosebumps. The new one you see trees with a slightly lit up morning sky and then a small sun appears off to the side that isn't in sync with the music. Mufasas personality doesn't sound the same even though it's still James Earl Jones' voice. It's different somehow. The hyenas are not the same. They don't make jokes and laugh at themselves like "make mine a cub sandwich" then laugh hysterically at their own jokes. They eliminated Ed, the one who doesn't speak, just laughs. Timon isn't flamboyant or half as funny as the original. The hula scene in the original was fast paced and funny to distract the hyenas. The new one he slowly sings "Be our Guest"?? No action and not as fun. In fact, ALL of the new characters (including Beyoncé) sound like they are just reading from a script and it's really mundane and forced. None of them are in character and flow like the original. There's no sass or wit. The music is boring. It's a huge disappointment. Rafiki catches Simbas hair and knows immediately it's him. In the original, he knows the scent, but it takes him a minute to figure it out and when he does, he's ecstatic. Not in the remake. There is no image of Mufasa in the clouds to guide Simba to remember who he is. Rafiki doesn't give him a lesson about how the past can hurt with his stick. Simba doesn't hug Rafiki like his father did which is also symbolic to how Simba is like his father. I don't understand why Disney would eliminate these bonds and characters that we all love and change it to make what is a visually stunning movie into something I will never want to see again.

After the torture of sitting through 2019 Aladdin as well as Dumbo, I actually at first refused to see this remake of The Lion King, mostly because the original is a near masterpiece, to many as well as myself, and watching it as a kid religiously, it seemed completely pointless remaking such a fantastic film that hasn't aged a day.

However, as me and my fellow Cineworld card holders have cleared the cinema roster, The Lion King was the only thing on this weekend we hadn't seen. So I sucked it up and caved in and went with my mates. I wish I'd stayed at home.

This is a hollow, bland, dull and completely vapid, shameless cash-grab from Disney. A visually beautiful yet dramatically and emotionally inept movie. The animals look photo real and that's an achievement, but without the expressive faces seen in the original, you can't buy into the drama and emotion. This is a shot for shot remake without the beauty, fun and heart of the 1994 classic.

There's no magic, and that's what Disney prides itself on. The newly added scenes bring nothing but more length to this extremely slow remake. The colour, pop and brightness of the original are nowhere to be seen this time, instead we get a rather sepia looking film, any given David Attenborough documentary has more colour, style and emotion than this film.

The cast are a mixed bag. Donald Glover couldn't be any more boring as older Simba, he sounds like he's either high or falling asleep. Beyonce brings some class to Nala but doesn't get a lot of screen time. Chjwetel Ejiofor who I normally love gave me a headache, and John Oliver is painful to listen to. Keegan-Michael Key feels like he's been stolen from another movie and dumped here and it doesn't work, though Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen, surprisingly, did a good job.

There's nothing remarkable about this film bar its visuals. It's just a cold, pointless remake that some will enjoy due to recognising certain shots which will trigger nostalgia. Even the kids in the cinema last night were wondering around bored, distracted and fidgeting, because the film has nothing to offer. Comedy falls flat, emotions are zero and what can be said other than it's just a pale imitation of a beloved classic. Well done Disney on churning out another pile of dung remake that's hit the billion dollar mark.

Bad bad cast. My 8 year old son didn't like it. I love Beyonce but she ruined this movie for me.

The movie is good but it's hard to watch listening to all Elton Johns songs being sung bad by Beyoncé. Also when she speaks as Nala she is all you can here. Very disappointing!

So anyone else notice it has a high score of 7.5 on here yet everyone's ratings don't really stretch beyond 3?? Horrendous rendition of a childhood classic. I mean at lest our beloved Mufasa was the same or else there probs wouldn't be any hope of recover from such a flop of voice acting prowess demonstrated in the movie.

Where do i begin for this one. First off, lets just start with casting. I'm not sure who was in charge of casting but wow you did an HORRIBLE job. Not only do the voice actors not know how to express emotion and make us FEEL something, the dialogue is all robotic! Seth Rogen (Pumba) was the only decent individual that matched his role and thats just because it's the easiest role to fill!

Secondly, changing certain plot points didn't flow as smoothly, in other words, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The hyenas were all of a sudden not comic relief or goofy, but instead more on political and serious. Timo and Pumba have a whole new group of friends in there jungle paradise, which isn't a big deal, but it makes it seem less like a special place that the three share.

Thirdly, most of the movie is a visual flex, they focus less on story and more on trying to show you what their capable of with live action. There are scenes that will unnecessarily take longer than it should, just to be visually appealing.

Finally, this movie did something so wrong, unlike the other Lion King. Instead of showing us emotion, they would consistently try to express it with dialogue. SHOW MORE, SAY LESS. You can say its because the other Lion King was animated and its easier to pull off, but i don't think so.

Basically, been preaching this for a long time, PLEASE Disney, stop doing these remakes, you guys are ruining classics for the future generations. I know its more for the MONEY that these films are made, but at least put a little effort. Big Fat Thumbs Down!

It takes everything good about the original and takes a dump on it. Same storyline but the presentation just ruins the movie. Good cg for sure but no emotion, heart or anything good about the animated movie. If you wanna watch lion king, watch the original.

Simba and Beyonce. Or better yet, it's not Lion King.. It's Lion Queen. She wanted you to hear very clearly what her origin is, while at an interview she won't. Now the album will be a gift to africa or from africa. Great, I did not know the movie is about how much we are devided. She did not get it beautifully done out of respect for the movie. This beautiful creation is messed up due selfish reasons. She should have played the hyena. I always liked Beyonce up till now, she is being way too transparant about her intentions.

Quit it! Quit remaking EVERYTHING over and over again. Try and find new, original ideas and make movies from those. I for one am done with Disney as a whole. No more Disney movies for me, which will be hard I suppose since they are buying everyone else in the industry. But I shall remain strong. The last movie from their Borg Like Collective I watched was Captain Marvel. Haven't watched one since and won't pay a dime to see them in the theater. Might see them on Netflix or something If I'm drunk enough. But otherwise not happening.

Scar was stripped of his vile yet humorous characteristics we saw on his face and body language in "Be Prepared" from the 1994 animation. Beyonce was a complete joke. Sure, her musical talent showed well in the songs, but her lines otherwise throughout the movie fell flat. When I walked out of the theater I basically summed it up with my own one word description...The Lion King has now been, "National-Geograhicallized." It was a less than stellar performance and subpar to the original 1994 film.

The voice actress did terrible!!! The original Lion King had so many emotions, the live Lion King I felt absolutely nothing! It's not worth seeing in theater. Such a disappointment.

There's absolutely no reason to watch this, at all.

It's literally a shot-for-shot retelling of the original only done badly. The photorealism makes the characters nearly emotionless, the musical numbers aren't as catchy, and there's nothing to be invested in.

Bad movies are one thing, ditto for a bad remake, but when it comes to a movie like this, I'm just bored. And that's the worst thing a movie could be, boring.

I was never a fan of these live-action remakes, and this is easily the worst one out of all of them, Dumbo being a close second. As bad as the remake to Beauty and The Beast was, at least it was colorful and vibrant. This was just dull, dreary, and not at all creative or interesting.

Even when viewing it as its own thing, it's dull and uninteresting. At the end of the day, it's just one big waste of time.

No heart, no laughs, I expected it to be good after the jungle book but it's just a terrible cover version without any feeling. Left the cinema after an hour.

Total waste of time and money. Kept asking myself 'why' like: 'why am I still at this disaster?'.

It was visually interesting (at least initially) but that wore away quickly. It just wasn't enough in the acting, dialogue, etc to keep you engaged. I guess if it was your first experience with the plot, then it would be okay. I would just buy the original.

They missed the opportunity to have the animal be more natural and redo the story in way that educated about wildlife instead of misinforming.

I realize this is fantasy, but I think they could have enhanced this cash cow instead of milking it dry. Definitely will not go to anymore Disney remakes.

The movie just wasn't able to express the same emotions as the animated one. It just felt like watching an Animal Planet documentary with good cinematography. With Jungle Book, having a human as a frame of reference helped with the emotions expressed by the animals but obviously Lion King doesn't have the reference. Disney should have left Lion King alone. At the end of the day, Jungle Book was still able to portray the emotions but Lion King failed to do it so I feel that Disney might have messed up on its part this time.