Jon Favreau’s The Lion King may be making a killing at the box office – having already made over $700 million going into its second weekend – but it’s far from a critical hit.
Currently sitting at a splat-worthy 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, the photorealistic majesty of the animation seemed to act as a double-edged sword. Yes, it was revolutionary. But it also took a great deal away from what made the 1994 film a bonafide classic – including any physical display of emotion.
And from the looks of it, critics aren’t the only ones who share this opinion. Another habitant of the House of Mouse has made his disgruntled and disappointed voice heard, and it’s none other than Tony Bancroft, one of the two directors behind the 1998 picture, Mulan.
Taking to Twitter, he made sure his followers knew his blunt opinion of the film: underwhelmed. You can check out what he had to say below.
I just saw The Lion King. It’s the “meh” heard around the world. #disney #lionking #sorry #notsorry
— Tony Bancroft (@pumbaaguy1) July 24, 2019
Mind you, Bancroft’s not just another filmmaker barking about The Lion King‘s “meh” qualities. He’s just a tad bit more accredited than the rest of us.
If you didn’t put two and two together with his username and profile picture, Bancroft was actually an animator on the original film 25 years ago. Specifically, he was the supervisor in charge of Pumbaa, voiced by the iconic Ernie Sabella.
Now, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen’s Timon and Pumbaa have been the one consistent source of praise The Lion King has received. But given the fact that Bancroft wasn’t impressed by the picture as a whole, as well as his role in other hand-drawn animated movies like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and most recently, Mary Poppins Returns, we can guess that he wasn’t too pleased with them, either.