Numbers don’t lie and from that analysis, The Lion King Remake was a huge success grossing over 1 million dollars in box offices around the world. Additionally, it’s only 40 million dollars away from being the top-grossing animated movie of all time. The Lion King was bound to be a huge hit. It really didn’t matter what approach Disney took for the remake. However, fans don’t seem to agree with this success. Many of them have expressed their disappointment in the movie. If you’ve watched the movie, then maybe you’ll agree that The Lion King wasn’t what we expected. Here are some reasons why Lion King Live-Action Remake was a flop for me.
Highly Rated Predecessor
Nobody really expected the remake to be better than the original. It never is. However, we expected something similar and awe-inspiring considering Disney was taking a different approach. However, the remake was a disappointing mess. Compared to how meticulous the original Lion King was, the remake looked like the interns at Disney produced it. Everything just seemed worse than the original. Even the soundtracks sounded off.
Actor Delivery Was Wanting
We were warned early on about having Beyoncé voicing Nala. True to word, she butchered the character. Her voice lacked the emotional range that such a character requires. She wasn’t the only actor whose delivery was wanting. Disney focused on having a celebrity lineup that would sell tickets instead of a talented line of actors. To be honest, Timon and Pumba voiced by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen respectively were the real stars of The Lion King Remake. They were both spirited and embodied the true persona of their characters.
Over-expectations
Being a live-action movie, the visuals are quite different from the original Lion King movie. While most of us expected real-ish animals that looked like their original characters, we weren’t ready for the freak show that is live-action movies. Scar was just downright scary-looking and other characters like Pumba and Rafiki were so cringe-looking to a point where it was painful to watch. To make matters worse, the movie is in 3D so all that disappointment is right in your face.
Overemphasis On Graphics
Once again, Disney focused on the wrong things losing sight of the things that really mattered. As someone put it, Disney had the potential of having a great movie but they insisted on their Nat Geo special. Some of the scenes that made everyone cry in the original movie like Mufasa’s death was easily overshadowed by the heavy graphics distracting the viewers from such critical moments. Despite their misplaced priorities, some of the characters’ looks were just bad while others like Mufasa had a cold, stern look throughout the movie.
Disappointing Soundtracks
Lion King’s most iconic soundtrack was sadly underwhelming. Beyoncé and Donald Glover’s duet on Can You Feel The Love left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth. This is the one thing we were looking forward to given that the duo has musical backgrounds. However, Beyoncé’s vocals drown everyone else’s making it seem like the rest were her backup singers. This happens again in The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Seth Rogen’s vocals are almost non-existent. However, we got some pretty good original soundtracks like Spirit and Brown Skin Girl.
