The Lion King

THE GIST: After the death of his father, the pride's king, is cruelly blamed on him, young lion cub Simba runs away. Years later, now grown and strong, he learns the truth and has to decide whether to seek justice.

This version of The Lion King is a faithful retelling of the original animated movie from 1994. The only difference is that this is a "live-action" version, but I put that in quotes because usually it means that the performers are real -- as in alive -- instead of being hand-drawn (on paper or on a screen).

Here, every character is computer generated, except that the technology has gotten so good that it's virtually impossible to tell that they aren't actual animals. In that, it hardly qualifies as "live-action" in my opinion.

At any rate, just like the original, the story is sweet, emotional, and engaging, and all the voice overs are excellent.

THE BOTTOM LINE: If you liked the original movie, you'll probably like this one too, since they're virtually one and the same. Just think of it as a modernization of the original, given the improvements in the visual effects field, but that obviously begs the question, "Was it really necessary? Wouldn't all that money and talent have been put to better use by creating an original story instead?" I guess it's open for discussion.

Grade: 8