It's these narrative moments that make the film work. Yes the visuals are nice, but the animals don't show the personality like they did in the animation because Lions can't cry/smile/laugh in real life so what were left with is a really pretty Disney Nature CGI-fest. It's expansions like this where the film does its own thing where it really shines. I also liked how their home is inhabited by other animals and it shows how Simba became part of that community in his exile. They even have a new philosophy and debate on Hakuna Matata versus Circle of Life that's actually genuinely interesting. They were allowed to improvise and give their own spin with new lines and humor.

They're essentially the same sort of characters, but Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen bring their own personality to them. A lots been made of Timon and Pumbaa in this movie, and rightfully so, they're one of the few things that is expanded and made to live on their own. However, when it's doing it's own thing, it actually kinda' works. It was different artists with different visions.

It lives under the shadow of the original often doing things because 'the original did it' without really seeming to have an understanding of why that worked in the original. That's this films biggest flaw, and it really did bother me. Look I'm not saying it needs to be a shot for shot remake, but if you are going to go through the effort of doing the exact same scenes, either do them better, or do them at least as good, don't just rush through them to check off a box. Here, he just kinda looks at it, sniffles a bit, and the scene moves on. I remember in the original there was time dwelling on Simba looking at the body and begging for Mufasa to get up.

Most notably, Mufasa's death scene (spoiler's I guess) feels weirdly rushed. The weird thing is despite being longer a lot of times it feels like it's rushing through the beats of the original. Really, there is a lot to admire about the movie, but still it can't escape the shadow of the original.

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