Just come out of the cinema.
Thoughts:- it was good but something was lacking, that little spark of greatness.
It was a very faithful retelling of the animation, perhaps too faithful; unlike the recent Aladdin film it added nothing new other than very pretty visuals.
The real looking animals struggled to convey character and emotion very well. Also I found that the female lions, and the hyenas were each very indistinguishable.
Also strangely the biggest let down for me was the sound, I found it very lacking. Maybe it was just a problem with the particular cinema screen; it felt very flat, hardly any surround sound, all very centered not enveloping. I would have expected subtle ambient animal/insect sounds and echoes to add depth but there didn't seem to be any, also sadly the music didn't carry much energy because of it.
As good as Chiwetel Ejiofior is, he doesn't compare to Jeremy Irons.
Zazu, Timon and Pumbaa were good.
Visually beautiful.
.
I'm speechless