Scar (The Lion King) "handle[s] all of the dramatic heavy lifting." Even film critics who generally disliked the film tended to enjoy Scar's characterization and Irons's performance. Terrence Rafferty of "The New Yorker" wrote, "Among the celebrity voices on the soundtrack, two performances stand out," namely, "Jeremy Irons, as the villainous lion Scar" who "does an elegant, funny George Sanders impersonation." (Sanders himself had voiced Shere Khan for Disney in their 1967 version of "The Jungle Book"). Stephen Hunter of "The Baltimore Sun "described Irons's voice as "plummy-rich with rancid irony." Television Without Pitys Ethan Alter admitted to enjoying Scar, praising the character as
The Jungle Book (2016 film) Stone" awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, labeling it scary and thrilling, yet unique and unforgettable, and adding that it "fills us with something rare in movies today—a sense of wonder." "The Village Voice"s Bilge Ebiri hailed the film as fast and light and that it "manages to be just scary enough to make us feel the danger of solitude in the middle of a massive jungle, but never indulgent or gratuitous." "The New York Times" Manohla Dargis was less enthusiastic. Cath Clarke of "Time Out" compared Elba's character of Shere Khan to Scar from "The Lion King",