Possibly one of the most popular Disney classics ever The Lion King definitely shaped mine; and I assume lots of 90s kids, childhoods. We were forever scarred by Mufasa’s death and desperate to find love inspired by Simba and Nala, but hey! Hakuna Matata!

As an official Disney geek (yes I made it official myself) it may surprise you that I wasn’t totally excited about this remake. Okay, unpopular opinion time… I am not a Beyonce fan, which made me really underwhelmed about the prospect of the film. But I actually really enjoyed the majority of the film and really I was sold from the moment I saw baby Simba and his unreal cuteness. Let’s start at the beginning…

I LOVED that the Circle of Life pretty much mimic’d the opening title sequence from the animation, although a friend of mine said he didn’t like it because it reminded him too much of it and he found himself really comparing the two. Personally, I don’t think you could avoid comparing them, that was almost the point. I loved that James Earl Jones reprised his role of Mufasa because his voice is epic. I liked that the original songs were used but updated to make a little more modern and the choreography in them was made a little more believable; well as believable as talking animals can be anyway.

Seth Rogan and Billy Eichner were hilarious as Timon and Pumbaa. Their appearance was really the first time that we saw big moves away from the original script but they were so funny I wasn’t upset by it. BUT then Beyonce refused to sing the melody in Can You Feel The Love Tonight which frustrated me like crazy AND they added that obligatory live action Disney song that she sang that I wasn’t a fan of. But it’s fine, I knew I wasn’t going to love her role in it, although I must say that she had amazing diction.

I left the cinema determined I wanted a baby lion cub and if that isn’t a sign of a good film I don’t know what is. I’m still not totally decided how I feel about Disney remaking all of these classics because the animations meant so much to me growing up. But I guess if it helps the next generation get on board I can’t be against it.