MousekaScore: 97%

It’s finally here! Our ‘Lion King’ Movie Review! For us, this has been the most anticipated live-action movie thus far, with the exception of ‘Aladdin‘. Initial reactions of the new movie from the start were very positive, as shown below but critics were not that generous giving the remake a rotten score of 55% on Rotten Tomatoes. That however doesn’t seem to matter because as of now the movie has taken in over $595 million dollars world wide in just under a week.

Dont listen to the reviews – GO WATCH THE LION KING ???

— Ziyaad (@ziyaadessop) July 19, 2019

Now for us, going into the movie, we had very high expectations, as to be expected. But at the same time, we had some reservations on how the emotions of the characters would come across in a live-action movie, that is 100% CGI and Virtual Reality. In addition, we had some questions about if the movie being all CGI, would seem real and actually immerse audiences in the African Savanah.

The lights go down and the the iconic ‘Circle of Life’ song begins and all of the shots from the animated film are recreated almost shot for shot in this breathtaking documentary style filming. The instrumentals and vocal are slightly tweaked, however you still just feel that same feeling as you did from the animated.

Going forward, the movie stuck to the story and didn’t really deviate much from it. There are a few little things that have been tweaked and/or added to the movie, which is 30 minutes longer than the animated. Characters like Zazu played by John Oliver has a more comedic side, going as far as asking others if they heard his joke. Timon and Pumba continue to be prominent, and in our opinion the “STARS” of the show. You can tell that the scenes had a sense of improvising in them which worked well. As far as young Simba and Nala go, they were great voice actors for their characters. Older Simba, played by Donald Glover, was good and we don’t agree with some critics giving him a hard time.

As for the songs, all of the original songs are in the film so don’t worry, along with some new ones, and a new Elton John song in the credits scenes in the movie. By the way, there are NO POST SCENE CREDITS. You can safely leave without missing a thing.

Lastly, the CGI. WOW! It’s unbelievable. From the opening scene, you feel like you’re watching a documentary on National Geographic. Of course when the movie actually begins, and these life like animals begin talking, some imagination is still needed. But in all honesty, this might be our favorite version of the two just based on the fact of how absolutely breathtaking the landscape is. Check out the video below for just a small glimpse on how ‘The Lion King’ was created.

Overall the movie was a carbon copy of the animated with a few minor tweaks and additions and the use of a “live-action” setting. With that being said, it was still a fantastic movie and we would ABSOLUTELY recommend going to see it. Anyone giving this movie a rotten score must not like the original much either because it is basically the same movie, and we’re ok with that. Let’s be honest, if they would’ve changed things to drastically, then there would be outcry. They did just enough. Bottom line. GO SEE IT. It is still the same fantastic movie it was back in the 1990’s.