So after this being a staple of my.daughters childhood we were both excited to go see this', however we left deflated and empty. The lack lustre character voices left this a limp and unsatisfying. Rafiki was almost a non entity. What happened to his over excited witch doctor persona-he became a faded almost not there baboon without presence. Zazu...not one comment landed with humour and was flat. The morning report was read out not sang. The 3 Hyenas. They had absolutely nothing sinister or calculating in them at all, they did not deliver the shivers. Scar. Well yes.visually he looked defeated but his delivery of speech and terror was far from evil and nasty . It really missed the point of his persona he was weak and pitiful for all the wrong reasons. The lack of effort in the rendition of be prepared was shocking and underwhelming. Simba and nala were weak voiced and why was Beyonce allowed to over sing her part. It's isn't meant to be warbled. You could almost visualise her reading the script it was so uncomfortable. Timon and pumba again lost their presence. It was mostly awkward. Mustafa was a delight as the voice continued to carry his persona and relieved James Earl Jones did something to keep it feeling in line with the story . Surabi had the most presence and passion.

The visuals at times didn't match the message.

Utterly utterly disappointed.

How a cartoon and stage show can deliver tgis effortlessly and seamlessly time after time yet millions of pounds, millions of hours of cgi and skill managed to make it a poor relation to the story we all know and love.