Sir Elton John has offered his opinion on Disney's remake of The Lion King , three months after the photorealistic musical stampeded into theaters to take its throne at the the top of box office , surpassing Frozen as the highest-grossing animated film of all time

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The Lion King Cast Photos 7 IMAGES

Elton, who composed and performed several songs on the original soundtrack for the 1994 animated classic, recently shared his critique of the musical numbers in the 2019 iteration of the film, admitting that he was less than impressed with the finished product."The new version of The Lion King was a huge disappointment to me, because I believe they messed the music up," he said in an interview with GQ . "Music was so much a part of the original and the music in the current film didn't have the same impact. The magic and joy were lost."The celebrated songwriter returned to the studio for Jon Favreau's Lion King to rework some classic songs that he penned with lyricist Tim Rice on the original soundtrack; the duo also worked on an entirely new song for the closing credits , however, Elton has since expressed his desire to have contributed more to the musical aspects of the picture."The soundtrack hasn't had nearly the same impact in the charts that it had 25 years ago, when it was the bestselling album of the year," he said. "The new soundtrack fell out of the charts so quickly, despite the massive box-office success. I wish I'd been invited to the party more, but the creative vision for the film and it's music was different this time around and I wasn't really welcomed or treated with the same level of respect. That makes me extremely sad."Elton concluded that he was happy that the "right spirit" for the music "lives on with the Lion King stage musical."Elton is not the only person to have shared a distaste for the new, lifelike interpretation of The Lion King , as a handful of the original 2D animators revealed their resentment towards the remake shortly after it was released, citing the realistic style as too restrictive.On the other hand, the first impressions from early screenings were overwhelmingly positive , with the majority of attendees praising the stunning visuals, gorgeous score, and spot-on voice work, especially in reference to Billy Eichner's Timon and Seth Rogen's Pumbaa.In our own review , we commended the film for its "strong cast" and "outstanding visuals" but recognised that the beat-for-beat adaptation "could potentially disappoint those looking for a new take on the iconic story."

Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter