I was supposed to see it with Adam last night, but it was raining, and I didn't want to walk 25 min in that, and then back after the movie, so I didn't go.
I went this morning on my own.

People who know me, know I have "my very own opinion" lol, and maybe sometimes odd ways of making them come accross, but in no means I intend anything to be offensive or anything like that.

As you all know, I was never (ever) excited about all this, and especially not impressed at all with Beyoncé.

Right... here's what I thought of it.
*spoilers*











Lindewe Brown singing Circle of Life, great! Seen her a few times in the show in London, she's always been great.
So when I heard that about 2 weeks ago, I did get very excited about that.

The animation was absolutely stunning!
At moments I thought they used the technique they did with Dinosaur. Everything is real, apart from the characters.

Adult Simba's voice, made me think of Matthew a lot, it fitted him, that insecurity he gave to the character.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight, I wish it lasted a bit longer to really get into when the music kicks in, shame it got so "rudely abruptet" (hehe)

I liked the new added scenes, with the mouse, screen filler maybe? But I did think it was just a nice touch.
I also liked the scene where Nala wanted to run away and find help, trying to hide from Scar.

I liked Scar's voice, it suited him.

Timon was funny, but, he sounded a bit whiny when he speaks.
Pumbaa, don't have much to say about him, didn't think he was too bad, but also not that funny really :/

And the cuteness of the cubs? And baby piggy? OMG!

So far, not all bad.

However ...

Young Simba's voice didn't do it for me.
It completely missed that sass and arrogance, of being king, ruling the kingdom, and telling his uncle what to do when he's king.

No emotions/expressions, and too little movements.
I know it had to look real, but still.
Mufasa is confronting Scar that he wasn't at the presentation. You hear voices, but both lions just stand there, doing nothing.

Young Simba is singing out loud "I just can't wait to be king" but his mouth barely opens when belching it out at the end of the song.

Scar tells Simba to run away and never return, and Scar just ... stands there, no movement of his head, nothing.

I thought it was quite boring to watch.
Felt a little like a National Geographic documentary with a voice over on it sometimes.

Music wise, I expected a lot more during the scene where the hyena's chase the cubs. I kept waiting for something while a hyena poked his head through, but it didn't came.
"Spirit" brought nothing to the scene it was played with. I was so waiting for the score to come, and it didn't.
Now, weather I like that song or not, has nothing to do with it, I just didn't think it fit that particular scene. They really should have kept the original there.

The Mufasa in cloud scene.
Well, it was a cloud. And a voice. But certainly not as impressive as in the animated version.
Shame. As that's one of the most iconic scenes of the movie.

As soon as Nala finds Simba again, it went way too fast.
Simba didn't even think for a second, and neither did Nala.
Felt like the last time we seen the musical in London, where the actors just rambled their lines to get it all squished in within the time frame.
I did expect a much nicer moment of them meeting again.
"Can you feel the love tonight", I didn't feel the love.

I've always said, I like Beyoncé's singing, but don't like to hear her speak.
Which is mainly why I wasn't that thrilled she'd be in this (and, I didn't quite like how they announce her "with", like she's so much more special then the rest).
Hell, I was a Destiny's Child fan long ago ^^
And her singing this song, was a big let down for me.
I was really hoping, she would have me change my mind with this, with her being in this movie, but it didn't.
It didn't leave a mark at all.

Also, during this song, her singing, and also young Simba's singing certain words, there's no need to go all "Mariah Carey" and like ooooohhhoooohhhhooooh.
I just felt it wasn't needed at all.
But that's just preference I guess.




I'll leave with another positive though, I did feel that towards the end, the emotions or expressions became much better and clearer. I could definatly see fear and sadness in Simba and Scar their eyes/faces so much more, which was great! (finally)

Also, Mufasa's death, it did much more to me then it did 25 years ago.
I don't know how else to say it as "Scar slapping him in the face" which makes him fall, it had a bigger impact on me like this.



All in all not extremely bad, but also not great for me.



I think that, if this was my very first Lion King encouter, I wouldn't have loved it as much as I do with the original.
And, my bank account would have love me so much more
Trying to think about it, if I were 11 again ...
The music, the characters, everything in total made me want to see it again straight away (and I did, saw it 3 times at the movies back then).
But now, I didn't really get the feeling "oooh, I wanna see it again straight away!"
More as in like "yeah, I'll see it again, but I can wait a few days/weeks".

It's a nice movie, the story is still there, like it's always been, but it didn't touch me, or moved me, in a way it did years ago.
(mainly because of all the negative points I summed up)
I don't think this version would help me through the rough times I've been through, like the original one did years ago.
Playing the music I had on repeat every single day for months on end.
And I don't think I would search for every forum I could find, and ended up with some of the friends I did end up with because of the original!


Ooh, and "It's never too late", I like that wish Elton'd put that in his setlest for his farewell tour now, hehe.