so.....just got back from seeing this.
it wasn't as bad as some critics have said, but it did feel like something was off or missing. There was a bit of a disconnect given the "photorealism" of the animal characters, which doesn't lend itself well to expression and emotion when the characters talk and sing.
Also, I think the film did feel a bit "derivative" if that's the right word to use. The one part where it did deviate from the original was, inexplicably, Can You Feel the Love Tonight.
I mean, the song literally has the word TONIGHT in the title. The lyrics include the words twilight and evening. And yet, in the movie, the scene was.........IN THE DAYTIME??!!
I mean.....wtf?? That really took me out of the film and out of the song in particular. And I still can't wrap my head around why they would change that, when pretty much the rest of the film was faithful scene by scene.
Did no one bring that up during editing?? "Hey wait a minute, the title and lyrics of the song don't match the way we shot the scene. Hello??!!"