The Lion King 2019

     The setting of this film is the African savanna.  A young lion prince flees his kingdom after the murder of his father.  While on his own, he learns the true meaning of responsibility and bravery.  This is the same story from the 1994 animated version with the voices of different actors, different arrangements of some of the songs and a couple of original tunes.  The scenes are extremely realistic computer-animations.   
     Because of the realism, you can forget some of the time that you are not watching real animals.  I did not have that happen?  The violence is more intense and can be upsetting since this is not the cartoon classic animated movie.  The hyenas are insatiably hungry and always scavenging.  There is a terrifying and tear-jerking wildebeest stampeded sequence.  Some claw and teeth filled fight scenes but there are also positive themes and messages.  Scenes of families, friendships, losses, taking responsibility and community.  This release will be inevitably judged against the 1994 version.  That version was an Oscar-winning blockbuster and the second-highest grossing feature film of that calendar year.  It is also one of the last great hand-drawn Disney animated films.  I thought this film was good and I thought the computer-animations provided good visuals.  5* (I really liked this movie)

178 min, Animation directed by Jon Favreau, written by Jeff Nathanson, Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton with the voices of Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Oliver, James Earl Jones, John Kani, Alfre Woodard, JD McCrary, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Penny Johnson Jerald, Keegan-Michael Key, Eric Andre, Florence Kasumba, Seth Rogen, Bill Eichner.

Note:  Imdb 7 out of 10 with 152,565 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 53% with 399 critics 88% audile with 76,321 ratings, indiewire.com Grade D, David Ehrlich, Roger Ebert 3*( Matt Zoller Seitz, Metacritic 55 out of 100 with 54 critics (20 positive, 29 mixed, 5 negative) 6.7 out of 10 user score (600 positive, mixed 151, negative 194), Letterboxd 2.9* out of 5*, Common Sense Media Sandie Angulo Chen, age 8+, 1* education, 4* positive, 3* role models, 3* scariness, 1* sex, 1* language, 1* consumerism, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 7574 reviews.

Special Note:  Director Jon Favreau brought James Earl Jones back as the voice of Mufasa because he saw it as carrying the legacy across.  Hearing Jones say the lines is really moving and surreal plus the timbre of his voice has changed.  He sounds like the king who’s ruled for a long time.  Jones was 63 in The Lion King 1994 and 86 in this film.  Simba’s eyes are a hazy blue as a baby.  Cubs are born blind and cannot open their eyes until about 10 days after the birth.  Blue is a result of delayed melanin production but this changes as the cubs grow and their eyes are golden-brown by three months old.