In the 1994 version of “The Lion King,” Scar did not look like any lion you’ve ever seen but he did look exactly like the nightmare lion of your imagination. In the new, “live action” remake, Scar looks like a photorealistic CGI lion with a scar on his face.
The overall effect of the new “Lion King” is that you’re just watching technology work. For those transfixed by nature, there are a great many documentaries narrated by David Attenborough that offer more surprises than this narrative.
Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor), still the best and most important character in the movie, lives in the shadow of his brother King Mufasa (James Earl Jones) while Simba (Donald Glover) steps in Mufasa’s pawprints. Scar soon facilitates Mufasa’s demise (wildebeest, stampede) and, “With a heavy heart,” snatches the throne.
Downcast, guilt-ridden Simba flees Pride Rock pursued by a nasty pack of hyenas, including the wily Shenzi (Florence Kasumba) and her dullard foot soldiers Kamari (Keegan-Michael Key) and Azizi (Eric André). Simba gets lost in the desert but his walkabout ends when he meets Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) and Timon (Billy Eichner, not surprisingly the most unique of the voices), who turn the princely cub into a “Hakuna Matata” millennial. The frightened son of a king embraces a vegetarian, grub-based diet, sings “Don’t worry, be happy,” and wholeheartedly embraces his friends’ “Treat Yo’ Self” mentality.
Simba receives a visit from his old friend Nala (Beyoncé), who has a very beautiful voice but is not a very interesting character - her role is simply to convince the recalcitrant Simba to come home and live a life of responsibility in the pride.
What is it that Jon Favreau even “directs” here? In his 2016 “The Jungle Book” film, there was at least one human actor. This is a scene-for-scene remake of an animated movie with no live actors, and few lively voices. Even the small alterations from the original are curious misfires. Favreau changes the timing of the beloved Elton John ballad such that it should be retitled, “Can You Feel the Love This Afternoon.” (Parents: Never fear, the leonine eroticism goes no further than a gentle nuzzle.)
Nala and Simba return to witness how Scar has accelerated global warming in the habitat (his desiccated vista from Pride Rock resembles Jair Bolsonaro’s scorched earth vision for the Brazilian Amazon.) The film takes advantage of our deep-seeded admiration for royal bloodlines and palace intrigue - we know instinctually that Simba ought to be king and that he must produce heirs with Nala. Favreau does not take the opportunity to modify the original film’s monarchical leanings and doubles down on Mufasa’s British Empire aping statement, “Everything the light touches is our kingdom.”
A new version might have also reflected true pride dynamics and elevated Simba’s mother Sarabi (Alfre Woodard) to a leadership role, like she would have on the actual savannah. But Disney’s desire for realism extends only to CGI, to making sure every lion hair stirs perfectly in the breeze. But technology in and of itself does not compel - and the reliance on merciless verisimilitude is the death of film art.
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