The first reviews of the Lion King are in, critics rip Disney apart for a remake of a ' soulless Chimera of a film'

The review embargo on Disney's live-action (or photorealistic, if we're honest) remake of 1994 animated classic The Lion King finally lifted on Thursday, and it's safe to say that the critics are... busy.

There is a mixture of reviews for the new Lion King, with reviews ranging from celebratory to scathing takedowns. (The movie officially opens July 19.)As of now, Rotten Tomatoes, a website that aggregates film reviews, has a very meh 57% film. Another website, Metacritic, has it at a score of 55, describing the reviews as "mixed or average."In 1994, an animated film by The Lion King's name won hearts all over the globe and practically achieved a religious status. The film told the lion cub Simba's story, who flees his homelands after assuming that he is responsible for a terrible tragedy. The live-action film's trailers and teasers generated hype and curiosity.

The film did not seem to have lived up to its huge expectations, however, going through the reviews in foreign media. The reporter from Hollywood wrote, "After the initial fascination and moments of enchantment in watching the extraordinarily lifelike animals talk and relate to each other as human beings do, you begin to get used to it to the extent that it is no longer surprising, which in turn allows the familiarity of everything to start flooding in. "It's as if every creative decision was subordinate to the misguided insistence of the film on realism, on keeping believable the mannerisms and movements of these magically intelligent creatures.

Thus, all the pleasures are not only second-hand but diminished: we're watching a hollow bastardization of a blockbuster, at once totally dependent on the pre-established affection of the audience for its predecessor.

"Photorealism is striking and impressive, but something feels strange about the voices. It's not like people can't imagine talking lions, of course. But it's distracting in a way that's not ideal, it's uncanny and disjointed at the same time as if real zoo animals are being anthropomorphized. So the Lion King now has his very own pristine cover album, rendered in intricate, realistic detail.

The visuals were praised by Vox critic, but he said the dubbing seemed rather off. "Photorealism is striking and impressive, but something feels strange about the voices. It's not like people can't imagine talking lions, of course. But it's distracting in a way that's not ideal, it's uncanny and disjointed at the same time as if real zoo animals are being anthropomorphized. So the Lion King now has his very own pristine cover album, rendered in intricate, realistic detail.