Andrew Wood

This is the most 70/100 movie I have seen in a while. I give it a C- grade, which is a passing grade but just shy of being able to recommend it to other people. Here's why below: Pros: - Since it is all CGI, (credit where credit is due) I found myself pleased with the technical aspects of the movie. I think overall the CGI is pretty good; the set pieces/stills of the movie stand out, I love the moments where the camera is just panning around an environment since I can remember the mountains and the plains. The stills are visually pleasing and easy on the eyes. I also didn't pick up on any faults in the CGI for our characters. - The voice acting gets the job done. While I can't say I was completely gripped by the voice acting from beginning to end, I will say it was pretty good. There are occasional flourishes where the voice actors up their game, and I admire the work they did for this movie. Those are all the pros I have for the movie, and I have a neutral point to bridge to the cons. Neutral Point: - The music. Look, I like Hamilton, I like In The Heights, and I like Moana, and from the moment the first song played, I could tell this was Lin-Manuel Miranda from just the transition from regular dialogue to singing. I do not think this is his best work. I think the two songs that stuck with me the most are "Bye Bye" and "Tell Me It's You" simply because the vocal hooks are just pretty good. When I watched it in the theatre, I could hear multiple people next to me repeating those hooks throughout the movie. Everything else, I can't even tell you a single lyric from those songs simply because I found them to be forgettable. Alright, let's get into the cons. Cons: - Timon and Pumba are just flat-out annoying. While I can't say they were "Marvel humor-like", I did pick up a couple of "Marvel-esque" quips made by them and I just rolled my eyes and sighed every single time they were on the screen. My brief surprise at seeing Pumba and Timon on the screen at the beginning quickly soiled itself and told me all I needed to know about the movie: the plot is not happening in real-time, rather the movie is a story being told by a campfire. - I did not find the designation of the name "Scar" cool. I get that Scar is an inherently jealous character in all the movies he is in, but I just feel like the delivery of Taka becoming Scar just landed flat for me. - I found a bit of the rallying dialogue near the end of the movie on what would become Pride Rock to be a bit cringy and generic. - I found parts of the movie to be just straight-up boring. I could count several people in the double digits in the theatre having fallen asleep shortly after the beginning of the film. While I did find some parts boring, I can't say I wasn't watching. I don't see myself coming back to this movie. C-, 70/100.