The Lion King (2019)

Dir. Jon Favreau 

When doing these reviews, I try very hard to ignore other people’s reactions so that their opinions don’t color my own. When it comes to movies as large as The Lion King live-action, it’s almost impossible to avoid. From the awed first reactions coming out of the premiere- with reviewers raving about the film’s technical achievements, to the constant jokes at its expense on the social media-sphere- there were strong opinions on both sides that were almost equally hard to ignore. But I finally saw it last night and it was a resounding “meh”. It was inoffensive and actually very funny but it couldn’t match the emotional highs and iconic characters of the original animated version and in that circumstance, “meh” feels like the worst crime. In the words of a girl who walked out of the theater in front of me “I don’t regret seeing it but…”

I don’t think there’s anyone who needs the plot of this film summarized, because spoiler alert- it’s the exact same plot as the animated version you’ve almost definitely seen at least 27 times as a child. (Or as an adult who had a child who watched it 27 times.)  And because the plot is exactly the same, this movie had to justify its existence via its technical prowess and the performances of the new cast. But while this tells the same grand story we all know and love, there’s almost none of the same emotion (with some very funny exceptions). When the movie begins you can’t help but feel as though someone has simply dubbed over footage from Planet Earth with the original Lion King audio and called it a new movie.  Eventually you grow accustomed to the more limited emotional range of the animals and you can detect some emotion in the animals during regular dialogue- but in the moments of extreme fear, anger, or sadness, the limitations of a mostly static “realistic” animal face are very apparent. 

In tandem with the more restrained animation, most of the voice actors gave a fairly restrained vocal performance. Loathe though I am to critique literally anything about James Earl Jones, this Mufasa did not have nearly the same energy as his ‘94 counterpart. Lines like “you deliberately disobeyed me” after the elephant graveyard, one of the few times we see Mufasa lose him temper, are just said in as close to a flat tone as James Earl Jones’ voice can manage. And some of his iconic lines like “remember who you are” didn’t send the same shivers down my spine. (They also removed the line “You have forgotten who you are, and so forgotten me” and that is an irredeemable crime in my opinion. That line made me personally want to atone with my ancestors and for a movie that has 87% the same script as the original, that’s a hell of a line to remove.)

This constrained performance was especially disappointing for Scar- which is sad because for probably any other character this would have been an excellent vocal performance. Chiwetal Ejiefor gives good villain voice, but no Lion King fan came to this movie to see a monotone Scar. He’s one of my top 3 Disney villains of all time because he’s funny, incredibly sarcastic, and has a flair for drama on top of being an insidious schemer. It’s the same problem I had with Jafar in the live-action Aladdin; it’s as though in their attempt to be more “realistic” and “grounded”, they completely removed the malignant charisma that made their villains so iconic in the first place.

And speaking of a tragic lack of drama- the musical numbers…

 I will give Aladdin (2019) credit for at least trying to match the energy and theatricality of its animated predecessor. In the Lion King, once again “realism” is its downfall. All the animator can do is make these animals walk when in the cartoon they’re dancing, swinging from vines, and in “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” forming a pyramid of animals that is being entirely held up by a bird.

 The scene that matched the best (in energy, if not scene for scene recreation) was probably “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and that’s because Simba and Nala don’t do anything too out of the physicality of a real animal. But nowhere did realism do more damage than in the absolute butchery of Be Prepared. OOF.  Gone is the Third Reich aesthetic while green flames explode in the background, instead it’s a spoken word performance to a familiar melody on a dimly lit pile of rocks. JEREMY IRONS MESSED UP HIS VOICE PUTTING IN THAT WORK™ FOR THAT SONG. He had to be replaced for the last third of the song! I’m not saying it had to sound exactly the same, but I do expect equivalent energy. Instead, to match this more subdued Scar, they gutted one of the best villain songs in the entire Disney pantheon.

Yet all hope is not lost! Despite the “less is more” approach of this film they really stepped up the humor in a significant way. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan absolutely stole the show as Timon and Pumbaa. I wasn’t just chuckling, there were multiple hearty guffaws. Eichner especially was pitch perfect as Timon and I wanted more and more of him (and as a staunch Lion King 1 ½ Anti, I’ve never asked for more Timon and Pumbaa before). They had the most original lines and even got a little meta. While at first The Lion King purist in me revolted, these differences kept their scenes feeling fresh. Unlike most of the rest of the movie, you didn’t always know what they were going to say before they said it. John Oliver was similarly perfectly cast as Zazu. He got a good amount of laughs in the theater, and while it does sound like an insult- his prissy, uptight English voice coming out of that bird felt organic.

Florence Kasumba also made a significant impression in her relatively minor role as Shenzi. (You might remember her doing the same with “Move, or you will be moved” in Captain America: Civil War) This version of Shenzi is not comedic like her animated predecessor; instead she’s a real antagonist in her own right, especially for Nala. But while she shined in her scenes, all I could think was how she would absolutely kill it as Zira from Lion King 2. (Who is a deeply underrated villain who sings perhaps one of the most explicitly violent and murderous songs in all of Disney. An Icon). I’ve been thinking about Florence as Zira since I saw the movie. I’ve reached Enlightenment and I’m waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.

“But you haven’t said anything about Simba! Or Beyonce’s Nala!” Yeah..they’re…fine. Much in line with my previous criticisms, they don’t really inspire any kind of strong emotion in me because it’s such a middle of the road vocal performance represented by lions that are realistic to a fault. Donald Glover was a perfectly serviceable Simba and hit all the notes. Beyonce’s voice being so very Beyonce was a bit distracting but thankfully they didn’t add a bunch of scenes with her just to capitalize on her starpower. They did give Nala more to do in the movie but it felt very in line with her character. She was always presented as smart and headstrong, we just got to see how she would react to the reign of Scar. 

In a vacuum, this would be an enjoyable movie because it has a good plot and fun songs and moderately interesting characters. I’m sure children with no point of reference will really like it, baby lions are cute! But for the rest of us who know, and adore, the original the way we do, it fails to step out of the shadow of the ‘94 Lion King. I didn’t have a bad time at the theater- Timon and Pumba alone made it a decent experience, but do I think everyone needs to pay to see it right now, this minute? Nah. When Disney’s monopoly over all media forces us to buy Disney+, you can watch it there and have a perfectly average time on your couch.