2019's 'The Lion King': Refutation Essay

‘The Lion King’ is a 2019 American musical film and a remake of Walt Disney Production's classic animated film that had come with the same name in 1994. ‘The Lion King’ is a photorealistic computer-animated film that is directed and produced by Jon Favreau, while the writer of this film is Jeff Nathanson, and the distributor is Walt Disney Pictures. In this essay, I'll try to demonstrate where ‘The Lion King’ stands in the view of the critics and its audience of all ages coming from 1994. My claim is that it serves no meaningful purpose other than making money. So, my refutation is about how it serves a meaningful purpose, not just focusing on revenue generation. While there are numerous reasons why we can find it visually very pleasing, there are none that can prove it to be more than another money-grab Disney motion picture.

The film, in no way, is true to its original classic counterpart and looks as if it was created in a way that would only bring money to the production house. Sr. Rose Pacatte says: “Not all remakes are successful, but this version of ‘The Lion King’ shines”. Many may state that the fans of the original animated film will not be disappointed, while it is true when it comes to the visual effects of the 2019 remake, there are a hundred reasons that say it will. The only aspect where ‘The Lion King’ genuinely shines is its stunning visuals. However, it lacks development in the narrative. Though the beauty and charms of the film do justice to the scenery of the animated Africa of 1994, the chronicle doesn't unfold in a very neat and catchy manner and has disappointed fans to the utmost. It lacks the expressive animals of the original film, making it lack the heart at its core. It feels as if Disney gave birth to a duplicate of 1994’s ‘The Lion King’, making it lack originality. The disappointment of fans across the world in 2019’s ‘The Lion King’ was visible, felt, and expressed by everyone else, establishing that the remake was unable to leave an ever-lasting impression and shine how it was meant to.

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The CGI version of ‘The Lion King’ presents its audience with lifelike experiences of the animated world of Africa and its wilderness, and though these graphics are mind-blowingly good, at some point during the film gives a feel that the sole purpose of the use of CGI technology was aiming at motives none other than receiving tons of revenue generation. A lot of people say that the remake of ‘The Lion King’ is a marvelously realistic version of its predecessor. The film does show fantastic scenes where everything feels as if it is actually real; the realistic version doesn't do justice to the lifting of Scar's eyebrow in patronizing superiority. Expressions showing firm upper lips and contemplative head tilt to cross-eyed bewilderment and perplexity of the Lion King, the remake comes nowhere near the original classic. Amanda Greever says: “If you loved the original, chances are fairly good you'll love this one, too”. Though we do love the story, there is nothing in the remake that takes its audience to the glory of 1994's ‘The Lion King’. The nostalgic feeling that people were looking for in 2019’s ‘The Lion King’ was nowhere to be found, leaving its audience disheartened and utterly disappointed. There are no doubts about the fact that the original movie was loved and appreciated for what it was across the world and still continues to be loved, but for someone who loved the original, the remake doesn't come up to the expectations and is definitely not something which would also be loved by the target audience.

However, ‘The Lion King’ (2019) left us awestruck with its strong and powerful graphics. The incredible use of CGI technology left people thinking about whether there was the use of real animals during the making of the film. Nicola Austin says: “Jon Favreau's reimagining of ‘The Lion King’ is undoubtedly a visual triumph”. Although only a few scenes were filmed in Kenya, and the rest of it was filmed on a stage in a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, Playa Vista, we were convinced that we were witnessing all of the actions live in Africa, which for 2019’s ‘The Lion King’ was a visual triumph indeed. While all this is true, it is not relevant because I believe that art fails when the main objective behind its creation is to earn money from it. ‘The Lion King’ (2019), due to the worldwide established glory of its predecessor, was able to make over 1.6 billion US dollars in cinemas throughout the world. However, it left its fans miserably disappointed and dismayed as it served no other meaningful purpose than moneymaking. The feel of 2019’s ‘The Lion King’ was unable to resonate with what the original version of ‘The Lion King’ had given us. The subject matter of violence and the use of gender roles in ‘The Lion King’ within the confines of the narrative add to the far-reaching influence of the film. While the remake did its best to present its audience with lifelike experiences by focusing on the graphics of the film, it lacked the degree of influence it could have on its audience with a moralistic set of principles that fortify religious values, due to being narratively stunted. Although ‘The Lion King’ was successful in bringing tons of money to a media conglomerate through its stunning visuals, it was unable to serve any other meaningful purpose. Grant Watson says: “It is ultimately just a reproduction of brand in an attempt to make a billion dollars. On that level, and only on that level, ‘The Lion King’ is a success”. The problems revolving around sexism, violence, racism, and cliched depiction and representation of gays and Jews can't be seen as meaningful purposes, especially when it has children as its main audience, being a Disney animated film. It failed miserably in coming up to the expectations of its audience as a remake of a great classic Disney animated film, ‘The Lion King’. The remake was supposed to be something different, a modernized and greater version of the good old film, but it was extremely stunted when it came to the narrative and disappointed fans of ‘The Lion King’ with its disappointing nature across the world. We see that there isn't any display or creativity, and on top of that, it lacks originality. Despite its breathtaking visuals and use of high-end technology, the only meaningful purpose it could serve was literally nothing. It was to the dismay of the world that the remake was able to generate billions of dollars without having served any meaningful purpose. It also got one of the worst critical average ratings ever in the history of Disney's animated movie production, 53% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. It is also being seen as a dead-end to originality and creativity while being deviated way too far from the original film. ‘The Lion King’ develops into a mimetic film, and a duplicate of the 1994 take, having no contemporary spin that the audiences were looking forward to. The lack of impression in the film saddens its audience to the utmost lengths as they were unable to experience the expressive and human-resembling animals of 1994’s ‘The Lion King’, hence leading to an intense lack of nostalgia-inducing scenes and depictions. The computer-generated imagery did let us enjoy the visual scenes massively, but the lack of impressions was where it lost most of its audience. Without the expressive details and display of meaningful purposes, it looks more like a documentary on nature that has some good songs incorporated in it. The defining moment of Scar in the song 'Be Prepared' didn't do justice to the original scene, and the song was also ruined to immeasurable lengths. Scar of 2019’s ‘The Lion King’ lacked the bewitching essence of his ferocious forerunner of the original film in his nature. We were unable to see the employment of any sort of effort to deliver meaningful purposes, and what was visible was the aim of making money out of a big-time classic.

The stunning, feast for the eyes and visuals weren't able to compensate for the lack of meaningful purposes that the audience was expecting in the remake of ‘The Lion King’. Due to the glory associated with 1994’s ‘The Lion King’ and the special effects of the remake serving as remarkable visuals, the 2019 version of ‘The Lion King’ was able to give nothing to its audience and still manage to make billions out of it. My claim was that it serves no meaningful purpose other than making money, and my refutation was about how it serves a meaningful purpose, not just focusing on revenue generation. It lacked originality and had entirely transformed into a mimetic by the end of the movie rather than displaying creativity and a developing narrative. The element that could induce nostalgia that the audience was mainly looking for was made unavailable to the audience to connect to, saddening and disheartening the audience at greater lengths. The lack of expressions in the animals of the film resulted in little to no emotional connection between the audience and the purpose of the beginning of the production of the film on the 25th anniversary of the release of the original 1994 take on ‘The Lion King’. It also tends to deviate way too far from the original, making it lose its primary essence of giving the fans something that they could correspond and correlate with. Although it does depend massively on the visuals for a film, especially if it is a remake of a great classic, to make its mark that doesn't mean that only the visuals have to be everything and that they can compensate for all the missing meaningful purposes that the creation could have served. Other than stunning visuals, incorporating traditional feels, originality, creativity, and emotions into a remake is a must when producing for your audience something they have loved and continue to love to this day.

Works Cited

1. Greever, Amanda. Review: A Grown-Up 'Lion King' Still Strikes at the Tender Heart of Childhood. 24 July 2019. Web Article. 30 November 2019.
2. Pacatte, Rose. Reel Time. 14 August 2019. Web Article. 30 November 2019.
3. Watson, Grant. Review: The Lion King (2019). 27 November 2019. Web Article. 30 November 2019.