Okay so I've been enjoying reading a few of the reviews on the Lea facebook page and I've been itching to write my own. Mostly because everyone around me (family and stuff) heckle me with questions and my opinion on the new film because they know I love TLK.

First things first:
- Why a remake? I get the main reason: new generation to influence with a beautiful movie, but TLK has had so many special re-releases over the years compared to other Disney movies that I'm just like "meh..". Can't deny that the graphics are beautiful but it did not make up for any of my dissapointments.

- My biggest pet peeve was the mixed use of original/non-original voice actors. WHY oh WHY not "force" all of the living original voice actors to return for the remake?! It would have made it much, much better for me. Every time Mufasa spoke I was just like "yeah, this fits and feels like it's supposed to be". All the other voice just didn't do it for me, except for Seth Rogen whom I did NOT expect to be as funny/good as he was. The timbre in his voice really goes well with Pumbaa so I enjoyed pretty much only his contribution as a non-original.

- Speaking of the voice-acting: Beyonce being cast was not my cup of tea, but I can't deny she's one of the biggest stars around now, and her singing speaks volumes whenever I hear it. Which brings me to my next big no-no: Oversinging the CYFTLT song. Whenever she sang very quietly, slowly and with a softness IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. But then she started over-singing some of the notes in that Christina Aguilera way which I really, really hate. WHYYY??? Would've been much better without all of that showing-off.

- What the hell happened to Shenzi?! The "new" hyena wasn't bad in any way IMO, but-it-just-wasn't-Shenzi. Same thing for Banzai and Ed really, as fas as I'm concerned they failed hugely with the new take on this memorable trio.

- And finally the well-know facial expressions/emotions opinion: If you're going to go with reality, have reality to a max. (which they did very well when it comes to graphics). However, if you're going to have the animals move their mouths to simulate the talking, you could at least have them use more eyebrow movements. That would have helped at least a little bit if you won't add eyebrows to the animals.

So all in all: ditch Beyonce, keep Seth Rogen (and original voice-actors), add a sprinkle more emotion and we would've all accepted the movie a bit more. To top it all off they could have also dedicated a big part of the credits to the crew of the original movie since they really made the story. This movie is pretty much a frame-to-frame remake so give credit where credit is due.


(did I cry though? Absolutely. Any time the movie starts or any song starts I bawl my eyes out, this movie was no exception so I'll give them that..)