The Lion King (2019)

The Lion King is a 2019 American computer-animated musical film distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and directed by Jon Favreau. It is a It is a photorealistic remake of the Disney animated film of the same name in 1994.

Why It Rocks

1. 1. The updated songs are decent, except for "Be Prepared".
      • In particular, the original opening featuring "Circle of Life" returns.
      • Speaking of which, the score by Hans Zimmer is decent, although some of the tracks are superior over in the original film.
   2. Despite the given flaws, the computer-generated imagery is magnificent and looks incredibly realistic, and all the main characters along with the other animals (including some that were changed in the film) are very accurate-looking to their species.
   3. Timon and Pumbaa are still enjoyable and arguably funnier than in the original film thanks to Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen.
   4. The new version of Mufasa's spirit in the clouds is the only one that this movie does an okay job at, despite the fact that the spirit didn't fully move in the original.
   5. The hyenas, particularly Shenzi, are more powerful, menacing and terrifying than their original counterparts; in particular, Scar's death in this film manages to be very faithful to the original, but also manages to be much more terrifying than the original version, since he fights the hyenas back before being eaten alive and delivering a terrifying scream before dying, something that the original didn't have.
   6. Beautiful scenery.
   7. Some of the cast manages to deliver decent performances, despite some of them being bland.

Bad Qualities

• False advertising: It was marketed as a "live-action" film, even though in reality it is a computer-animated film with photo-realistic imagery. Jon Favreau himself repeatedly claimed that it was live-action, before admitting that every scene is computer-animated except for the opening shot of the sun rising.
• Poor and bland direction of vocal performances; even James Earl Jones as Mufasa obviously wasn't trying here, with the scene where he is killed having sub-par acting from him; similarly, Donald Glover's performance as Simba sounds as if he were sleepwalking the entire time.
  • On the subject of Jones, it was hypocritical for them to get him to reprise his role as Mufasa but never get any of the other voice actors from the original film such as Whoopi Goldberg or Jeremy Irons; thus, it was clearly a way to pander to nostalgia for Jones.
• The movie is rather pointless, as there are almost zero changes to the overall story at all and it even takes some of the exact same shots from the original film.
  • What makes the movie even more pointless is the fact that by the time of its release, the original canonical continuity was still prominent through The Lion Guard.

Reception

Despite it not being advertised as an animated film, it received most positive reception, becoming the best animated movie of 2019, as well as the best computer-animated feature film in America, since Toy Story.

Box office

As of October 20, 2019, The Lion King has grossed $543 million in the United States and Canada, and $1.109 billion in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.652 billion.

The film had a global debut of $446 million, the ninth largest of all-time and the biggest opening for an animated film. On July 30, 2019, the film grossed $1 billion dollars, becoming the 42nd film to ever reach the milestone, as well as fastest animated film to gross $1 billion, doing so in 21 days, surpassing Incredibles 2 (46 days). The Lion King is the highest-grossing animated film of all time, the highest-grossing musical film of all time, the highest-grossing remake of all time, the highest-grossing Walt Disney Pictures film of all time, the highest-grossing film of Favreau's career, the second highest-grossing film of 2019, and the 7th highest-grossing film of all-time