Many praise the visuals, the music, and Timon and Pumbaa.
By Adam Bankhurst
Members of the press were able to attend early screenings of Disney’s remake of 1994’s masterpiece The Lion King, and the first impressions are overwhelmingly positive.
Many praise the visual effects and how true to the original this new version is. Many say Billy Eichner’s Timon and Seth Rogen’s Pumbaa steal the show, while the music is as emotional and powerful as ever.
Here’s our roundup of the first reactions to The Lion King.
IGN’s Laura Prudom said The Lion King is “easily the best of Disney’s remakes…an unparalleled technical achievement that’s like watching a nature documentary.” However, she’d “never rewatch it over the original.”
IGN’s Terri Schwartz’ overriding reaction is “SIMBA IS SO CUTE.” The Lion King features some “absolutely jaw-dropping visual effects,” and JD McCrary’s young Simba stole the show.
IGN’s Jim Vejvoda thinks The Lion King may be the “first animated movie to win the same Oscar twice.” He gave it “Two paws up.”
Steven Weintraub, editor-in-chief of Collider.com, thinks he’s never heard as much clapping during a movie as he did during The Lion King. Also, the visual effect, music, and story were all incredible in his opinion.
Peter Sciretta, owner/editor of SlashFilm.com, called The Lion King a “breathtaking visual cinematic achievement,” and thought Timon and Pumbaa stole the show.
Danielle Radford of ScreenJunkies and GetFandom said The Lion King was “like National Geographic with great songs, which is a good thing.” She also praised Florence Kasuma’s Shenzi.
Skyler Shuler, editor-in-chief of The DisInsider, called The Lion King a “game changer in the VFX department.” He also praised Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen’s work as Timon and Pumbaa, respectively.
Mike Ryan, senior entertainment writer for Uproxx, really loved The Lion King and thinks it’s “the most beautiful effects movie [he’s] ever seen…the game has changed kind of thing.”
Erik Davis, managing editor of Fandango, praised The Lion King by saying that it was “absolutely stunning in every way.”
Variety and TheWrap writer Courtney Howard promises fans of the original that everything they loved about the “1994 masterpiece remains unchanged.”
Alisha Grauso, editorial lead at Atom Tickets, loved the visuals, and called The Lion King a dazzler with a gorgeous score and spot-on voice acting.
Ben Pearson, senior writer at SlashFilm, missed the “exaggerated emotions of the characters from the original,” but thought it was better than he anticipated it being.
Scott Menzel, editor-in-chief of We Live Entertainment, applauds director Jon Favreau and says he “directs the hell out of this film.
Wendy Lee Szany of The Movie Couple promises that “nostalgia hits HARD,” and that the stampede scene still got her.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who can’t wait to see The Lion King as the original is his favorite movie of all time. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst.
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