It's always a shame when people think "more realistic" means "better" when it comes to animation.

The original "Lion King" wasn't made as a handdrawn, cartoony movie, because they simply didn't have the technology to make it look more realistic. Of course, they didn't have the tech to make it look like todays CGI movies, but they certainly could have drawn the characters to look more like actual lions.

But they didn't. Because why would you? Despite all the animals in the leading roles, we are still dealing with characters, with emotions and personalities, which real animals can't really express in the same way. Cartoony animals can. And in the original movie, they do. And the emotionial resonance that movie had sticks with so many people up until today. And can even be felt by people, watching it today for the first time.

None of this is true for this remake.

It recreates large parts of the movie shot by shot, the dialogues are often lifted straight from the original... but it doesn't have any of the charm, the emotion or the LIFE the original still has.

The entire concept behind this remake is so misguided. It's like remaking a Looney Toons cartoon with foto realistic animals. If you're trying you are clearly missing something.

Obviously the CGI is spectacular. It really is. It's a technical marvel, this movie! And I can't imagine how many people and hours it took, to put this together!

But what's the point, when, at the end of the day, the story telling is worse than in the movie it used as template? And make no mistake, the storytelling IS worse. Aside from the fact that the characters are incapable of showing emotions and lack ANY personality (my god, what have they done to Scar, one of the most charismatic villains in Disney canon?) because of that insistance on making it look "realistic", even the script and details in the presentation are worse. What works about the story of this movie is the stuff that was already good in the original. And every change they made is for the worse. The humor is a lot more cringe, the voice acting at times is really bad (couldn't they have hired a voice actor for strong, majestic Mufasa that didn't sound THIS old and tired?).

Great, they got John Oliver as Zazu. Because he looks a bit like an odd bird, is British and that's funny. So let's just replace Zazu's character with John-Oliver Comedy. Because he's not here to enrich the world, story or the character, he's here so we can slap his name on a poster and get internet-credit-points.

Awesome, we have Beyonce as Nala! Awesome! Of course because of the attempts at "realism", her character literally can't be told apart from the rest of the female lions (to the degree that they had to add random voice lines that CALL HER Nala, because otherwise nobody would know that it's her when they see her). And her performance doesn't add anything to the character. But WE HAVE BEYONCE, slap it on the poster, she's not there for the story or the character, she's there for the marketing.

We have JD McCrary as Simba!

He can sing and he's famous on the internet with the kids!

He can't really voice act, but that doesn't matter. Nobody will care about this Simba, they'll just fill in the gaps the lack of personality leaves with their memories of the Simba from the original.

This has to be the most corporate, empty, committee designed movie I have experienced in a while, and I do consider it an issue that it didn't only make a lot of money, but there are legitimatelly people who consider it an "upgrade" or "the modern version" of this story.

It's not. The original is the "modern version", because the original is genuinly timeless.

This version... No child growing up today will remember this movie in the way the original gets remembered today. People won't come back to this movie in a decade, in the way they come back to the original even today.

Because this movie will age. Heck, 3 years later, it already looks outdated in some places. That's the nature of a tech demo. Once the original flash of the moment when that tech was cutting edge has gone, people will lose interest.

What will stick are characters and story. And for THAT, you'll always be better served with going back to the 1994 masterpiece.