STORY
The story of THE LION KING remake is closely identical to the 1994 original: King Mufasa (voiced by James Earl Jones) and Queen Sarabi (Alfre Woodard) of the pride lands have a baby cub named Simba (JD McCrary) and present to the other animals as their future king. As a young cub, Simba is bold and allows his jealous Uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to convince him to involve in risky, life-threatening behaviour, like attempting to enter hyena territory and practicing his roar in the area of a stampede.
When (spoiler alert!) Mufasa is brutally killed after saving Simba from the rampaging wildebeests, Scar encourages Simba to run away and then ascends to the throne himself with help from the hyena pack. Meanwhile, Simba befriends a comedic duo: feisty meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and his warthog best pal, Pumba (Seth Rogen), who have a “no worries” approach to life. Later, as a nearly grown lion, Simba (Donald Glover) is reacquainted with an old friend who forces him to confront whether he can return home and challenge Scar.
RELEASE DATE:
July 19, 2019.
REVIEWS
With its remarkable visuals and well-cast voice ensemble, this remake is appealing but darker than the original. Disney’s live-action editions have yielded mixed results, but this one benefits from the legendary music, the gravitas of Jones’ voice as Mufasa, and a stand-out cast across the board. Ejiofor’s performance as Scar is particularly wonderful, which is no surprise, considering his classical dramatic training. Glover and Beyoncé have good voice chemistry in the final act of the movie, and she — as you’d expect — is perfectly fierce sounding. And Eichner and Rogen are quite funny as the latest personificationof Timon and Pumba … until it’s time for Rogen to sing, and then audiences might wonder why an actual singer wasn’t hired. Since a big part of the joy of the movie is the musical performances, Rogen’s casting is a bit of a head scratcher. But he mostly makes up for his lack of singing prowess with his comedic timing and banter with Eichner.
FINAL VERDICT
While entertaining and enjoyable, this remake doesn’t offer much memorable original content aside from Beyoncé’s new song, “Spirit,” and a few lines of dialogue. Despite its stunning effects and all-star cast, the movie doesn’t fully live up to the hype of modernizing the classic for a new generation.