Rent The Lion King (2019)
3.4 of 5 from 594 ratings
1h 53min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Disney's 'The Lion King', directed by Jon Favreau, journeys to the African savanna where a future king is born. Simba (voices of Donald Glover and JD McCrary) idolizes his father, King Mufasa (voice of James Earl Jones), and takes to heart his own royal destiny. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub's arrival. Scar (voice of Chiwetel Ejiofor), Mufasa's brother - and former heir to the throne - has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, ultimately resulting in Simba's exile. With help from a curious pair of newfound friends, Simba will have to figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his.
- Directors:
- Jon Favreau
- Producers:
- Jon Favreau, Karen Gilchrist, Jeffrey Silver
- Voiced By:
- Donald Glover, Beyoncé Knowles, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Oliver, James Earl Jones, John Kani, Alfre Woodard, JD McCrary, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Penny Johnson Jerald, Keegan-Michael Key, Eric André, Florence Kasumba, Billy Eichner, Amy Sedaris, Chance the Rapper, Josh McCrary, Phil LaMarr, J. Lee
- Writers:
- Jeff Nathanson, Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton
- Others:
- Andrew R. Jones, Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Elliot Newman
- Studio:
- Walt Disney
- Genres:
- Anime & Animation, Children & Family, Music & Musicals
- Collections:
- 2020, CinemaParadiso.co.uk Through Time, Remembering James Earl Jones
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 18/11/2019
- Run Time:
- 118 minutes
- Languages:
- Castilian Spanish DTS 5.1, English Audio Description Dolby Digital 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
- Subtitles:
- Castillian, English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- Play Movie with Director Jon Favreau Intro
- Play Movie with Audio Commentary
- Sing Along with The Movie
- Song Selections
- The Journey to 'The Lion King': The Music; The Magic; The Timeless Tale
- More to Be Scenes
- Music Videos
- Protect the Pride
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 18/11/2019
- Run Time:
- 118 minutes
- Languages:
- Castilian Spanish DTS 5.1, English Audio Description Dolby Digital 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, French Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, German Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
- Subtitles:
- Castillian, English Hard of Hearing, French, German
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 18/11/2019
- Run Time:
- 118 minutes
- Languages:
- Canadian French Dolby Digital 5.1, English Audio Description Dolby Digital 2.0, English Dolby Atmos, French Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, German Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, Italian Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
- Subtitles:
- Canadian French, English Hard of Hearing, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish
- DVD Regions:
- Region 0 (All)
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
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Reviews (10) of The Lion King
Can You Feel the Love? Again? - The Lion King review by BG
I prefer the original version, but I have to say that I was very impressed with the way they got those animals to act the way they did! It must have been a nightmare training those lions for a start. Usually you get a wildlife photographer on his own for a year, buried in a hide in the middle of nowhere in South America, and all he has to show for it is some footage of a chinchilla having a s**t.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Better graphics but nothing else - The Lion King review by MM
Aside from the CGI rendering, which is so realistic it might as well be a nature documentary, it's difficult to see what this remake adds to the original. Most of the songs are the same, but the changes they have made are certainly not improvements — "Be Prepared" is reduced to about 45 seconds of mostly spoken chanting, to make way for "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and some shouty auto-tuned rubbish by Beyoncé. Mufasa and Scar have decent voice actors but the rest are pretty mediocre: child Simba is just a generic whiny American kid while adult Simba sounds like a comedy actor who is out of his depth in a serious role. The film is almost a shot-for-shot remake but somehow manages to be 30 minutes longer without actually adding anything of value, which in a way is something of an achievement.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
A shadow of its former self - The Lion King review by Chewi
It's not terrible but apart from the ending, which was a little rushed in the original, I can't think of a single thing this film does better. Sure, the visuals are impressive, but the harsh realism overwhelms any sense of drama. The script is unchanged for the most part, which would be fine, except that it makes the relatively weak voice acting of some characters even more prominent. Zazu, in particular, comes across very flat.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Critic review
The Lion King review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso
Jon Favreau was able to find plenty of interesting angles to explore in 2016’s live-action remake of The Jungle Book considering it wasn’t exactly Disney’s best animated film. But since the studio has decided to dip into the richer pot of animated classics, they’re now playing with nostalgia that a lot of Disney lovers that grew up with these films have become passionate about. As a result, Favreau’s The Lion King doesn’t really mess with the formula of classic drama and musical numbers that made the 1994 original so prolific. This is both an attribute and a curse.
The story still works but mostly because it’s not changing much of anything. We’re treated to the big opening of the African plains celebrating the birth of the new lion prince Simba with gorgeous computer animation and a booming version of the familiar score with Hans Zimmer. We learn of Simba’s dignified and insightful father Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and his jealous and evil uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Drama for the throne ensues as Scar plots the deaths of Simba and Musfasa. And if you’ve seen the 1994 original, which seems almost like a rite of passage if you were a kid of the 1990s, you pretty much know the rest.
Plot-wise, The Lion King doesn’t add much of anything but that’s okay. Most of the performances are not too shabby. Chiwetel Ejiofor has a more vicious voice where he takes bigger swipes and makes more scathing snarls as opposed to the refinement of Jeremy Irons from the animated original. His version of the song “Be Prepared” has a tad more drive. Most of the cast delivers performances that feel very natural, where it almost seems like some of them may have been goofing off on a sound stage with motion controls to get their mannerisms just right.
The computer-animated environment has its pros and cons. On one level, the total control of a photorealistic environment allows for some profound staging to create a true sense of operatic wonderment. At the same time, many of the characters are portrayed as so accurate to true animals that seeing and hearing them talk is jarring at times, to the point that I almost wished the animators would break the illusion just for a bit to allow for more expression. It’s a mixed bag but ultimately I found myself a bit more entranced by the presentation more than the characters themselves.
When thinking about The Lion King, I found myself drawn back to the 2005 remake of The Producers, a film which is still funny but more or less the same thing as the original, nothing new with the exception of the performances and maybe some better sets and cameras. The Lion King is very much the same way and I can’t get too mad at the picture for doing so. It’s nowhere near the horrendous nature of the live-action Beauty and the Beast update, which unsuccessfully attempted to autotune melodies and add in the magical atlas which created deep plot holes.
If you’ve never seen the Disney classic or just wanna see a prettier update, The Lion King fulfills that level of entertainment. Just don’t expect it to do much else than that, never truly taking full advantage of exploring more of its world and its philosophies.