The Lion King 2019

With the original having been made just twenty five years ago and considered one of the greatest films of all time, The Lion King 2019 has a lot to live up too. While it is still an animated film, going from 1994's traditional animation to today's computer generated imagery, it is done in such a way that it almost resembles live action. The design of not only the animal characters but also the landscape and environment make it very photo realistic. Having pretty much the same story beat to beat, there are moments wherein the dialogue and character's actions actually change certain plot holes that the first film overlooked like showing Nala leaving Pride Rock to look for help or Scar letting Zazu look for help rather than knocking him out and never pointing that out. With an entirely new cast, all except James Earl Jones as Mufasa, everyone involved gives powerful performances just as powerful and memorable as done before. While the photo realistic style is impressive, it does hinder the film since while the animals are able to talk they are unable to emote as much and don't have a lot of facial expressions. A lot of the time a character may be angry or sad but the face doesn't really show it compared to the voice work. This is very evident with John Oliver's Zazu as his beak stays the same no matter how he is supposed to feel. However, what they lack in their facial expressions they make up for it with their eyes and body language. Another aspect that is hindered because of the more realistic style is that the film reuses the Elton John songs but the characters still move around the same way and the environment doesn't become colorful or expressive. While some may find it hard to tell certain lion characters apart because of their color change or enjoy the many real looking designs such as Pumbaa being a warthog, director Jon Favreau should be given some praise for attempting it to resemble what they all actually look like. While it may never reach the peak of the original, The Lion King 2019 is still a bold experiment for its attempt at creating a photo realistic landscape and the love for the first is obviously felt. Over all: 94%

2019 top list so far:
1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Toy Story 4

3. Shazam!

4. Spider-Man: Far From Home

5. Rocketman

6. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

7. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

8. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

9. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

10. Us

11. Aladdin 2019

12. Pokemon Detective Pikachu

13. Captain Marvel

14. The Lion King 2019

15. Yesterday

16. Pet Sematary 2019

17. The Upside

18. Dark Phoenix

19. Cold Pursuit

20. Glass