When it was announced a live action remake was going to happen, I was mildly intrigued. Then Jon Favreau was announced as the director and I was officially excited. He did a fantastic job with the jungle book so I had faith in the movie. I defended it, I told people to wait for it to come out before judging it, I was confident it would be a great film. Then I saw it and walked out just before the 3rd act.
I have never been so disappointed watching a film. I became bored once Simba and Mufasa were patrolling Pride Rock. What made the Jungle book so fantastic was it told the same story but in a different way. It gave the characters more development and motivations. It had so much heart and originality at times and the only thing I can praise of this film is the visuals and design of the characters.
In no exaggeration, this remake is more than a shot for shot remake. It is quite literally a exact copy of the original. Exact same script. Exact same score. Exact same music and songs. Exact same story. There is nothing new whatsoever. It's like the makers put the original copy into a live action projector and waited months to build it all up. What angers me more is when you watch it, it's clear there was no effort made and they made it just for a summer cash grab.
Watching this, I found so many ways they could have made it new fresh and still faithful. They could have made Scar a villain with a redemption arc, they could have made Simba aware of Scars villainous ways but can't prove it, they could have explored why Scar hates Mufasa and why he's an outcast, we could have seen how Timon and Pumba first met and how they became friends, we could have even see Simbas journey growing up once he meets Timon and Pumba but no, they chose the lazy route.
The fact this film is a exact rehash, the emotional scenes all feel cheapened and quite frankly, very dull. Scar, in this film, is very dull, boring and a one note villain whereas Scar, in the original was a multi complex character with humorous one liners, cunning and charisma.
Now I don't like criticising acting. I defend actors all the time but on this occasion, it's necessary. The best actors in the film is Seth Rogen as Pumba and Billy Eichner as Timon. They are easily the best actors and the best thing about this film. They manage to get through a predictable script very well and quite humorously but not as funny as I would have hoped. James earl Jones as Mufasa is a nice throwback to the original but that's it. Chiwetel Ejiofor is such a talented actor but his performance is very one note and very bland though he's not entirely to blame when he's basically just repeating lines from the original.
The rest of the actors such as JD McCrary and Donald Glover as Simba, Beyonce Knowles as Nala and John Oliver (him especially) sound like they're reading the script whilst recording their lines. The worst thing about having an exact same script is at times during the film, it doesn't make sense such as the new rendition of "i just cant wait to be king" and Simba and Nalas play fighting. Its small and minor but still noticeable.
Ultimately this film could have had so much potential and could have been a massive mega hit like The Jungle book was but instead it's a lazily produced and dull remake with good visuals but no heart or soul.
⭐⭐
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