Why The Lion King Remake is the Worst!
Why The Lion King(2019) is the worst Disney remake of all time:
Santiago Brion
Hello. Before I begin, I wanna say thank you to those who gave me positive feedback on my last blog post. It means a lot.
Yesterday afternoon, I rewatched The Lion King remake hopefully to get my opinions changed about my first time seeing last summer. It didn't. I still hate it and hears why.
Before I jot down my complaints, I wanna go all the way back to 2010. Tim Burton had the idea to remake the classic Disney film, Alice in Wonderland, he made it happen and the result was a mixed bag but it managed to become a financial success and then other remakes started to follow including Oz the Great & Powerful(technically it was a prequel to The Wizard of Oz), Maleficent and its sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Cinderella, The Jungle Book(Which is the best live-action remake ever!), Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp and Aladdin. Now, it's not a bad idea to remake these films to make money but we'd rather have original Disney films instead of having adaptations of their previous work, because we've seen these movies before. I didn't want to see the Mulan remake at first because it has no Mushu or Li Shang, but the cinematography and direction looked great in the trailers and now I'm looking forward to see it.
The Lion King remake was something that nobody asked for in the first place. While, it was visually stunning, it was an empty imitator on a classic with a waste of a talented voice cast including Donald Glover, James Earl Jones, Beyonce, Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Oliver, Keegan Michael-Key, Eric Andre, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen. All of them were great casting choices, but they were wasted on a soulless remake. The only good things about this movie are its visuals, music and voice cast. Which can only be translated in animation! Despite Hollywood's best intentions it just didn't work. This was made due to the success of 2016's The Jungle Book. Why is this even called Live-Action? It isn't. It's Photorealistic CGI animation.
Every scene was noticeably very identical to its previous film from it's opening sequence to Mufasa's death, the Hakuna Matata musical number, to its climatic conclusion.
Now, I love Donald Glover/Childish Gambino's music. I've mostly watched him everything including Community, Solo: A Star Wars Story, his Adidas commercials, his music videos and Atlanta. I thought him as the voice of Simba was a great idea and Beyonce as Nala? Genius. But, here's the thing, Nala's mother was nowhere to be found during Scar's reign. Sure, she probably died. but they didn't show it and her father was never seen in this remake either. James Earle Jones was good as Mufasa for the first time but for the second time, he sounded very bland. Chiwetel Ejiofor tried his best voicing Scar but he wasn't nearly as good as Jeremy Irons' take on the iconic Disney villain and Be Prepared was just way too short. The filmmakers didn't even have the opportunity to show how he got his well... scar and why he really wanted to rule the Pride lands and can we talk about why the history of the Pride rock wasn't explored?! Cause I sure as hell wanted know how that iconic and huge piece of rock came to being. John Oliver was also a great choice to play Zazu considering that he's got his own satirical news show on HBO but he was more serious than funny. I really loved Billy Eichner & Seth Rogen as Timon & Pumbaa. It was a great casting choice because both both Billy Eichner & Nathan Lane are openly gay and they both voiced the same character and I just love that. Seth Rogen was funny as Pumbaa but not nearly as funny as the original Pumbaa. Another wasted opportunity in this mess of a remake was the fact that Simba's adolescent years were never shown. It would've been great to see him as a teenager and why did we have to see a piece of Simba's mane go from one place to the other for 15 minutes?! They didn't even shorten that period of time!
Finally, my biggest complaint. The fact that the most important lesson of the original Lion King was NEVER spoken! "The past can hurt, but you can either run from it or learn from it." In my previous blog I've said how this lesson helped me in life. This movie isn't the one that I loved when I was a kid. As much as I wanted to enjoy The Lion King (2019) I just couldn't. I love the original way too much and its Broadway musical.
Thank you guys for reading this post. Be sure comment your thoughts and what movie you think should've been remade in the first place and I know that my friends are going to disagree with what I've typed, but I don't care it's my opinion and I'm entitled to it and nobody will change my mind. Stay safe, wash your hands and have a good day.
Santiago Brion
Hello. Before I begin, I wanna say thank you to those who gave me positive feedback on my last blog post. It means a lot.
Yesterday afternoon, I rewatched The Lion King remake hopefully to get my opinions changed about my first time seeing last summer. It didn't. I still hate it and hears why.
Before I jot down my complaints, I wanna go all the way back to 2010. Tim Burton had the idea to remake the classic Disney film, Alice in Wonderland, he made it happen and the result was a mixed bag but it managed to become a financial success and then other remakes started to follow including Oz the Great & Powerful(technically it was a prequel to The Wizard of Oz), Maleficent and its sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Cinderella, The Jungle Book(Which is the best live-action remake ever!), Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp and Aladdin. Now, it's not a bad idea to remake these films to make money but we'd rather have original Disney films instead of having adaptations of their previous work, because we've seen these movies before. I didn't want to see the Mulan remake at first because it has no Mushu or Li Shang, but the cinematography and direction looked great in the trailers and now I'm looking forward to see it.
The Lion King remake was something that nobody asked for in the first place. While, it was visually stunning, it was an empty imitator on a classic with a waste of a talented voice cast including Donald Glover, James Earl Jones, Beyonce, Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Oliver, Keegan Michael-Key, Eric Andre, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen. All of them were great casting choices, but they were wasted on a soulless remake. The only good things about this movie are its visuals, music and voice cast. Which can only be translated in animation! Despite Hollywood's best intentions it just didn't work. This was made due to the success of 2016's The Jungle Book. Why is this even called Live-Action? It isn't. It's Photorealistic CGI animation.
Every scene was noticeably very identical to its previous film from it's opening sequence to Mufasa's death, the Hakuna Matata musical number, to its climatic conclusion.
Now, I love Donald Glover/Childish Gambino's music. I've mostly watched him everything including Community, Solo: A Star Wars Story, his Adidas commercials, his music videos and Atlanta. I thought him as the voice of Simba was a great idea and Beyonce as Nala? Genius. But, here's the thing, Nala's mother was nowhere to be found during Scar's reign. Sure, she probably died. but they didn't show it and her father was never seen in this remake either. James Earle Jones was good as Mufasa for the first time but for the second time, he sounded very bland. Chiwetel Ejiofor tried his best voicing Scar but he wasn't nearly as good as Jeremy Irons' take on the iconic Disney villain and Be Prepared was just way too short. The filmmakers didn't even have the opportunity to show how he got his well... scar and why he really wanted to rule the Pride lands and can we talk about why the history of the Pride rock wasn't explored?! Cause I sure as hell wanted know how that iconic and huge piece of rock came to being. John Oliver was also a great choice to play Zazu considering that he's got his own satirical news show on HBO but he was more serious than funny. I really loved Billy Eichner & Seth Rogen as Timon & Pumbaa. It was a great casting choice because both both Billy Eichner & Nathan Lane are openly gay and they both voiced the same character and I just love that. Seth Rogen was funny as Pumbaa but not nearly as funny as the original Pumbaa. Another wasted opportunity in this mess of a remake was the fact that Simba's adolescent years were never shown. It would've been great to see him as a teenager and why did we have to see a piece of Simba's mane go from one place to the other for 15 minutes?! They didn't even shorten that period of time!
Finally, my biggest complaint. The fact that the most important lesson of the original Lion King was NEVER spoken! "The past can hurt, but you can either run from it or learn from it." In my previous blog I've said how this lesson helped me in life. This movie isn't the one that I loved when I was a kid. As much as I wanted to enjoy The Lion King (2019) I just couldn't. I love the original way too much and its Broadway musical.
Thank you guys for reading this post. Be sure comment your thoughts and what movie you think should've been remade in the first place and I know that my friends are going to disagree with what I've typed, but I don't care it's my opinion and I'm entitled to it and nobody will change my mind. Stay safe, wash your hands and have a good day.
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