Why I Didn’t like The Lion King Remake!

Why I Didn’t Like The Lion King Remake!

I am so disappointed! I’m not going to pretend like I enjoyed this film because I didn’t, it just made me angry! The film was practically a shot for shot copy with only a couple of new scenes. This film was so similar to the original, they used about 95% of the same dialogue, the same camera shots, the same scenes and the same character development.

There are so many new things I wanted to see in this film. I wanted a flashback scene of Mufasa and Scar as cubs growing up, I wanted to see how Scar got his scar and what he was named before Scar. I wanted to see how Scar met and became allies with the Hyenas. They could have gone down the route of showing how Mufasa and Sarabi met. They could have shown how Pumbaa and Timon became friends. Were any of these questions answered? Nope!

In all of the previous Disney remakes something new is explored. In Cinderella we meet Cinderella’s mother and we learn why her step-mother is so evil. In Beauty and the Beast we find out how Belle’s mother dies, we learn a bit more about the Enchantress, and we get the new song Evermore. In Dumbo there are loads of new characters introduced and whole new plot points were explored. These tweaks make the live action remakes worthwhile to see.

The only new thing we saw was a baby Pumbaa, which yes was cute, possibly cuter than baby Moana and baby Dory but that was not enough!! I cannot critique the films story because it’s exactly the same as the original film which we already know is practically perfect. So this begs the question: Why remake an already perfect film? The answer is, you shouldn’t!

So this blog post isn’t a complete grumble fest I would like to praise Disney for the one thing they got right and that was the animation. It looked real about 98% of the time, the animals didn’t looked normal talking and singing and they it was all very believable.

I preferred the voice work of the original cast, Rowan Atkinson as Zazu was perfect, he had the perfect sounding stiff upper lip for the character. Granted, I did like the woodpecker joke in the remake but that’s it. Beyonce as Nala was a little pointless, she’s one of the most amazing singers alive today and she didn’t get to showcase practice any of her talent. Jeremy Irons was a much more malicious sounding Scar and did an amazing job and his line “You have no idea” in response to Simba telling him how crazy he is, is an appropriate phrase for Jeremy Irons because he made it famous in “Reversal of Fortune” so I don’t understand why they kept it for Chiwetel Ejiofor to say.

The songs weren’t bad, but I did prefer the originals. The updated “Hakuna Matata” was enjoyable, but again I prefer the original. “Be Prepared” was awful though, it was less like a song and more like an angry speech.

So it’s time to ask, was this remake worth it? I think you can guess that my answer is no. I don’t mean to be so negative, I love Disney, but I have to call them out when I feel like they’ve made a mistake and making this film how they did was a mistake! I just think they could have done so many more many things with the film. Let me know in the comments below what you thought! m