Hakuna Matata!

Well, this wasn't the cat-video I was expecting to be reviewing right now...!

While most people would have been expecting me to be squeezing in CATS before the New Year was out, it looks like I won't be seeing the real damage (allegedly) until after New Year; but as I was given 2019's The Lion King for Christmas, it made sense to pop this one in instead.

I admit, I have been putting this off - like the version of Aladdin this year, as they were both so iconic in my childhood, I don't know what doing a live-action version remake would achieve for Disney (OTHER than money!). In fact, to put it to the perspective to those born after the 90s, think of the original Lion King as the Frozen of that decade!
Disney may have got away with remaking a classic like Beauty and the Beast, but would lightening strike twice feeling as epic as the Circle of Life.:?

One thing that does make it promising is that Jon Favreau is in the directors seat - he also did Disney's remake of The Jungle Book, which is possibly the best of the Disney remakes. While not being the same, Jungle Book stuck to the source material but also made it its own thing, just like Beauty and the Beast did; while not going off in a completely different tangent like Maleficent did.....

This is where the biggest problem is with The Lion King. It tries so hard to live up to the original that it ended up being an almost shot-by-shot remake. It got a bit better as the film went on, but if you play Circle of Life from the original and the remake next to each other, it is a great Spot The Difference game - as there are very little if ANY!

 It's virtually the same problem as Mary Poppins Returns had, and so is just sadly a pale comparison.

Having said that, it isn't all bad. It brought back the same classic songs by Elton John, Tim Rice and Lebo M, the same score by Hans Zimmer and James Earl Jones!
Plus with the new bits aren't all bad either. I did enjoy Seth Rogen as Pumbaa and John Kani's performance as Rafiki, as well as Shenzi acting as the leader of the hyenas, sort of like a Bellatrix Lestrange-type figure to Scar.
The animation (yes it is still animated, this isn't a David Attenborough film) is also incredibly good and realistic both with backgrounds and characters. Yes they are real lions and other animals - people never complained with that about The Jungle Book did they?

Oh and baby Pumbaa. Just google baby Pumbaa right now - he is utterly adorable! 😍

Now that I have seen it, am I glad I have seen it.....? Errrr Hakuna Matata... I personally think that if you want to see The Lion King, then you can try it, but you wouldn't get anything that isn't in the original, or in the stage show.
It's not a BAD film - I don't want anyone to think that; but it's being a copy of the 1st that makes it a bit sub-par.