Why The Lion King Sucks

The Lion King (1994) is a cinematic masterpiece. It created a world we all fell in love with, featuring iconic characters and crafted a majestic story that still hits you even if you’ve seen it 100 times. It accomplished all of this with a runtime clocking in under 90 minutes. Not only that, but its theatre show is one of the highest-rated productions on Broadway, making over eight billion dollars over its 20-year run. I can talk about the legacy of The Lion King and how it reshaped both animation and Broadway as we know it, but that’s a story for another time. Instead, we are talking about the most recent addition to The Lion King family, Jon Favreau’s 2019 remake.

From the first moment of The Circle of Life, we know what we’re getting. It’s shot-for-shot a remake of the original. The only difference is that we get realistic CGI effects instead of the classic 2D animation. The camera pans over to Mufasa and Sarabi, two incredible creations. They look as majestic and powerful as ever. As the scene plays out, you start to notice something. You might not be able to place it at first, but something seems off. The scene takes a realistic approach, and while it can be stunning, you lose the little nuances that made the original stand out.

When Rafiki climbs Pride Rock and greets Mufasa with a hug, you feel a connection. There’s a history here that we don’t see but know exists. The smile on Zazu’s face when he bows to the king, the cub’s sneeze before Rafiki takes Simba, and even when Rafiki holds the prince up for the entire kingdom to see, you know that this world is enormous. All of these moments add to the weight and power of this opening sequence. It’s a moving moment, and I get chills every single time I see it. The remake is identical to the original but with zero emotion. The faces are the same throughout, for the most part. Sucking the life out of the scene. So, how does the Broadway show, which stars humans with clunky lion heads, end up being an overall better adaptation?

The Lion King on Broadway is easily of the most entertaining shows you’ll ever see. It takes everything you loved about the original and builds on it. We receive new songs like Endless Night, and They Live in You, while also getting new subplots like Scar’s quest to find a queen or Nala leaving the Pride Lands. Both additions are great. Scar wants to preserve his legacy. It only makes sense for him to want an heir to the throne. As far as the songs, they don’t change the story at all, but you get more emotion from both Simba and Mufasa, respectively. You extend the runtime by adding character development. Meanwhile, the 2019 film spent 45 seconds on a rat and over a minute on a literal ball of crap.

The film did make one good change, and that was giving Nala a song. Spirit is great, and Beyonce kills it, but come on, it’s Beyonce Knowles-Carter, did we expect anything less? The issue with Spirit is that while Beyonce sings it, Nala is not featured during this scene. This is when Simba makes his journey back to the Pride Lands. The track that usually plays during this part in the original is The Grasslands Chant. Now, I’m not going to say that Grasslands is a better fit after complaining about how little it strayed from the original, but Beyonce’s one song should have been saved for the character she was playing. They didn’t even have to create a new song. They could have taken Shadowland, Nala’s song from the Broadway show.

Disney owns every single thing associated with The Lion King. Instead of copy and pasting the original through a new lens, why not pull from all your resources? Take the story of the original, and themes from the Broadway production, and combine them with the stunning visuals of the 2019 film. You can even pull elements from The Lion King 2, and have half of the Lionness join Scar. The characters needed more emotion, yes, but that’s not even my biggest issue. Somehow they took one of the most excellent works of art in modern cinema and refused to make it worthwhile.

This has been an issue that’s plagued the Disney remakes since the beginning. They rarely deviate from their animated counterpart, and it just makes for a lackluster experience. Films are art, and the Disney renaissance is some of the greatest animations you’ll ever see. The remakes will never surpass the originals, but they still need to be a story worth telling. This is why the new Mulan film at least stands out. Who knows if it will be any good, but at least it’s unique.

The Lion King remake is simply a lifeless rehash of a story everyone has seen. It’s a shame because the potential is there, and it could have been something extraordinary. Instead, we get a film that no one will remember in five years.