In Africa, the lion cub Simba is the pride and joy of his parents King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi. Mufasa prepares Simba to be the next king of the jungle. However, the naive Simba believes in his envious uncle Scar that wants to kill Mufasa and Simba to become the next king. He lures Simba and his friend Nala to go to a forbidden place and they are attacked by hyenas but they are rescued by Mufasa. Then Scar plots another scheme to kill Mufasa and Simba but the cub escapes alive and leaves the kingdom believing he was responsible for the death of his father. Now Scar becomes the king supported by the evil hyenas while Simba grows in a distant land. Sometime later, Nala meets Simba and tells that the kingdom has become a creepy wasteland. What will Simba do?Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rafiki is very clearly a mandrill in this iteration, as compared to the original version in which he indirectly referred to himself as a baboon and looks like a mandrill-baboon hybrid. See more »
Goofs
An African gray parrot is seen hitching a ride on an elephant's tusk in the international trailer despite not being native to southern Kenya. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Scar:
[to mouse]
Life's - not fair - is it, my little friend? While some are born to feast - others spend their lives in the dark... begging for scraps. The way I see it, you and I are exactly the same, we both want to find a way out.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The Disney logo has a hand-drawn animated design and resembles the 1960s Disney logo, the same design used in Jon Favreau's previous Disney film The Jungle Book (2016). See more »
As nature documentaries go, the modern remake of The Lion King (2019) gives some of the best a run for their money, quite literally. With a $250 million price tag, it achieves digitally what David Attenborough has spent his life capturing on camera. The result is jaw-droppingly photorealistic, but it also makes for a strange first impression. Imagine watching a Disneynature feature but with actors reading The Lion King screenplay over the top of it and the effect would be eerily similar. It takes time to accept lifelike looking animals talking like cartoon characters, but the ground-breaking technical skill in which they are brought to life makes the bumpy journey worthwhile.
Every tress of fur, crack in the arid soil and sun-swept vista is rendered in such immense detail that it's unsurprising that many people are calling this reboot live-action. It's a monumental technical achievement and the level of visual fidelity on display alone warrants seeing this film on the biggest screen possible.
However, in terms of the story, the film follows the original so closely that it can't help but feel second rate. Scene-by-scene, it dutifully ticks off the story beats of the 1994 original, with little by way of surprises in-between. It also doesn't help that film's photo-realism unavoidably limits the ability of the animals to convey emotion without looking unnatural or (naturally) cartoonish, and the result is a film that often creates indifference where there should be wonder. With jaw-dropping visuals, plenty of humour and solid renditions of timeless songs, it's hard to see this modern remake failing but, as it turns out, The Lion King's (2019) biggest achievement also ends up being its biggest flaw.
467 of 765 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
As nature documentaries go, the modern remake of The Lion King (2019) gives some of the best a run for their money, quite literally. With a $250 million price tag, it achieves digitally what David Attenborough has spent his life capturing on camera. The result is jaw-droppingly photorealistic, but it also makes for a strange first impression. Imagine watching a Disneynature feature but with actors reading The Lion King screenplay over the top of it and the effect would be eerily similar. It takes time to accept lifelike looking animals talking like cartoon characters, but the ground-breaking technical skill in which they are brought to life makes the bumpy journey worthwhile.
Every tress of fur, crack in the arid soil and sun-swept vista is rendered in such immense detail that it's unsurprising that many people are calling this reboot live-action. It's a monumental technical achievement and the level of visual fidelity on display alone warrants seeing this film on the biggest screen possible.
However, in terms of the story, the film follows the original so closely that it can't help but feel second rate. Scene-by-scene, it dutifully ticks off the story beats of the 1994 original, with little by way of surprises in-between. It also doesn't help that film's photo-realism unavoidably limits the ability of the animals to convey emotion without looking unnatural or (naturally) cartoonish, and the result is a film that often creates indifference where there should be wonder. With jaw-dropping visuals, plenty of humour and solid renditions of timeless songs, it's hard to see this modern remake failing but, as it turns out, The Lion King's (2019) biggest achievement also ends up being its biggest flaw.