Review: 'The Lion King' is an impressive feat of CGI, but the voices are awkward
Ever since 2016's live-action remake of The Jungle Book, it's been clear that Disney has been honing their CGI technology to generate photorealistic animal characters — just look at how the central computer-generated pachyderm of Dumbo outshone all his real-life, human cast members — with all that effort culminating in The Lion King. If you're not convinced, look at the director credits for both The Jungle Book and The Lion King — they're both helmed by Jon Favreau. While it's clear that Disney has virtually perfected the creation of photorealistic animals, it's also dropped the ball on some aspects of The Lion King.
The musical drama is a remake of 1994's animated film, The Lion King, but with photorealistic CGI animals. It follows the journey of the young lion, Simba, who flees his destiny after a terrible accident. But his decision upsets the delicate balance of nature, and he must learn to embrace who he is to set things right.
There's no doubting what an incredible feat of animation The Lion King represents — especially because it doesn't look like animation. The film shows the full extent of Disney's impressive animation prowess in creatures big and small as they frolic in broad daylight, with every inch of detail visible to the audience. The animal characters also emote in as far as they can for animals — not human-like per se, because that would be the stuff of nightmares, but with enough expressiveness to show you what their emotions are so that the voice actors can do the rest.
It's not quite nature, red in tooth and claw though, despite the fluid action scenes between the animal characters — primarily because there's no red to be seen. Being a Disney film, there's a distinct dearth of blood, which takes you away from the immersion into the African savanna of The Lion King. The animal characters are also always clean and pristine, which feels peculiar after intense escape scenes or the like. Sadly, it's this lack of imperfection which tugs at your suspense of disbelief at times.
James Earl Jones and Chiwetel Eijiofor perform magnificently as Mufasa and Scar, mainly because they conform to what we think lions should sound like. While the other actors sound fairly suited to the animals they voice, with John Oliver being a little hit or miss as Zazu at times, Donald Glover and Beyoncé sound woefully miscast as Simba and Nala. The energy, the inflections, the sheer quality of their voices don't quite match the onscreen visuals of the two lions we see. It's this mismatch between voice and visuals that causes the latter part of the film (after Simba and Nala have grown up) to feel incredibly awkward.
However, the bumbling hyena trio Kamari (Keegan-Michael Key), Azizi (Eric Andre) and Shenzi (Florence Kasumba) are absolutely hilarious, even more so than the designated comic relief of Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen). It's a pity we didn't get to see more of the hyenas in the film, since their humour didn't feel as manufactured as Timon and Pumbaa's.
The musical numbers are sung well, as can be expected, with the classic songs that you'd expect to hear like Can You Feel Love the Love Tonight? and Hakuna Matata . But without a dance element to them, it feels like an odd nature documentary set to music. Granted, it would probably be prohibitive and too ambitious to have a dance choreographer come in to choreograph dance numbers for CGI animals (how would those movements even work?).
Story-wise, the film succeeds in evoking this sense of a Shakespearean epic, since it is basically a story of royal succession and a coup. And that's what the heart of The Lion King has always been, the coming-of-age story of the rightful king claiming his throne. It's a classic archetype, a tale that's as old as time, that is wonderfully executed in The Lion King.
There's no doubting the production quality of The Lion King. While it doesn't quite fit a musical as well as it wants to, its ambitious effort does pay off in the visuals, though the audio feels a little jarring at times. Ultimately, The Lion King is a magnificent achievement, the fruition of years of work in rendering photorealistic animals.
Also, be sure to look out for a fun, tongue-in-cheek reference to another beloved Disney film in the movie itself.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? If you loved 1994's The Lion King.
Score: 3.7/5
Running time: 118 minutes
The Lion King is a photorealistic, computer-animated musical epic that is a remake of the 2D-animated 1994 film of the same name.
The film tells the story of the animal kingdom of the Pridelands, where the lions rule over all. An accident results in the rightful king running from his fate, but he later learns about the consequences of his decisions. With the kingdom on the brink of ruin, he must return to claim his throne and save all the animals.
The Lion King is directed by Jon Favreau and written by Jeff Nathanson. It features the voice talents of Donald Glover (Simba), Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (Nala), James Earl Jones (Mufasa), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Scar), Alfre Woodard (Sarabi), John Oliver (Zazu), Seth Rogen (Pumbaa), Billy Eichner (Timon), John Kani (Rafiki), JD McCrary (young Simba), Sahadi Wright Joseph (young Nala), Florence Kasumba (Shenzi), Keegan-Michael Key (Kamari), and Eric Andre (Azizi).
The Lion King opens in cinemas:
- 18 July, 2019 (Singapore)
- 17 July, 2019 (Philippines)
Read also:
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Review: You'll believe an elephant can fly in 'Dumbo', but the humans are just phoning it in
Review: You'll never see animals the same way again after 'The Jungle Book'
Review: ‘Cinderella’ is an enchanting retelling of a classic tale
Marcus Goh is a television scriptwriter, having written for popular shows like “Lion Mums”, “Crimewatch”, “Code of Law”, “Incredible Tales”, and “Police & Thief”. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find him on social media as Optimarcus and on his site. The views expressed are his own.
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