The third remake of a classic Disney toon this year – coming hot on the heels of the underperforming Dumbo and the rather more successful Aladdin – The Lion King was always going to be a tricky prospect. The highest-grossing of Disney’s traditional, non-CG animated classics (its box-office total stands at $968 million worldwide – not bad for a film that came out 25 years ago), the original is arguably the most beloved film of the Disney Renaissance era.

So, how exactly do you remake The Lion King? Well, the answer from director Jon Favreau (who saw huge success with his adaptation of The Jungle Book a few years back) and his crew is to take the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. The Lion King 2019 hews closer to its source material more than any other Disney update so far – the action is very-near shot-for-shot, with huge swathes of the script ported over verbatim and the songs only ever-so-slightly riffed upon (as referenced in one particularly knowing gag).

As you might expect from that description, the story sticks to the template almost religiously. A Shakespearean tale of bloodlines and power struggles told with cute critters rather than men in tights and ruffs, the film follows the adventures of young lion cub Simba (JD McCrary) – the son of wise ruler Mufasa (a returning James Earl Jones) and heir to the kingdom of Pride Rock. But after Simba’s bitter uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) enacts a plan to seize the throne, a grown-up Simba (Donald Glover) faces a hard choice – settle into a care-free life as an exile, or face his demons and return home to fight for his father’s legacy.

This beat-hitting technique is likely to be a plus-point for fans who don’t want to see the original masterwork tampered with too much. But it’s also the film’s biggest weakness. What you end up with is a traced-over retelling of one of the greatest animated films of all time – a funny, endearing and frequently thrilling tale that comes with a huge side of overfamiliarity and a nagging underlying feeling of “What’s the point?” If anything, it’s probably best to go into it as you would go into a performance of the hit stage show: be prepared for a story you already know and love, retold with new tools.