Not a Movie for Nastalgia.
So what went well?
The visuals are stunning. These scenes are amazingly detailed and lifelike. They were also able to add a lot of weight to the scenes. The lions felt "heavy" unlike the original.
They also did a great job with smash cuts. Nala's ambush in the Jungle spooked me, and Scar's "kill him" in the gorge felt terrifying.
The musical composition is creative. The opening theme was wonderfully redone and the song as simba chased down the Sahara was energizing.
Some of the casting was good. I enjoyed Donald Glover as Simba, and seth Rogan played into the character of Pumba well.
So...went went not so well?
Look, the original cast brought a lot to their characters.
The sinister devious demeanor of scar is empty without Jeremy Irons (and be ready to be dissapointed because "be prepared" seems a little less than, if you ask me). Rafiki has none of his whimsy and charm without the voice of Robert Guillaume and his wry cackling laugh. And I want my Whoopie Goldberg back as Shenzi, please.
But worse still, is that the cgi acts more of a prison for the emotion of the current cast. This scar does not lurk and shift like the original, this Rafiki does not amble and jive like the old, this Shenzi does not leer or smirk like the animation's. The CGI is stiff, and the cast cannot play into stiff.
Lastly, the magic of a lot of moments are lost because the movie fails to capture the visual composition of the original; the stampede being the worst offender. At the very least they caught the opening flood well, but where is the close up zoom to Simba's face, capturing his horror? Why isnt Mufasa helplessly drowning in the stampede? I dont see the shot of mufasa's legs flicking against the wall, or the angled perspective against the wall, emphasizing the peril of his climb. Im missing the shot of scar's paws releasing Mufasa's; a stunning, direct visual of betrayal. Instead we have a lengthy sequence of him speaking, releasing and striking
That visually emphasizes nothing.
The CGI, while impressive, anchored itself too much in realism and robbed the movie of what made it dearly beloved, the emotion. And the cast, while great, just couldn't salvage what the animation broke.