“The Lion King” has been remade as a more live action CGI-laden film by Disney. Jon Favreau is the director with Jeff Nathanson the credited writer. It is based on the script originally penned by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. The voice talent includes Donald Glover, Alfre Woodard, Seth Rogen, and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. James Earl Jones returns to voice Mustafa, which he performed in the 1994 animated film by well…Disney.
Glover voices the adult Simba, the lion prince who wandered off after his father’s demise which allowed his cruel uncle Scar, voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor, to take over the pride and decimates the land.
The visual effects and scenery were quite spectacular as expected. No one really put in a bad performance, which is good. The comic relief between Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner, as Pumbaa and Timon, worked well enough. Pumbaa is a warthog while Timon is a meerkat, in case anyone forgot.
There was not much wrong with the movie, however it was basically an almost complete retread of the 1994 animated version. There are some elements to marvel at, however it falls short in the originality department. The whole thing just feels unnecessary. although it’s still a reasonably entertaining unnecessity.
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