With the stunning Black Is King, Beyoncé has made another blueprint, a Lemonade for Black men.

| Jul 21, 2023

Black Is King is a beautiful reimagined story of The Lion King told through a Pan-African lens that celebrates Black and African culture through showcasing a variety of music, artist, and stunning visuals.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Jan 17, 2023

Showcasing Black excellence, beauty, and resilience, Black Is King is a celebration for us, and a beautiful body of Black art for everyone to consume and enjoy, but for us to truly delight in its cultural meaning.

| Original Score: A | Feb 9, 2022

Surreal in its storytelling, Black Is King dispenses with dialogue, as singers, dancers, locations and costumes flow with dreamlike energy.

| Jul 19, 2021

Beyoncé's visual album is an exquisite celebration of Black skin, Black bodies, and Black culture, in all its many facets.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 12, 2021

Stylistic choices by directors and filmmakers like Kwasi Fordjour, Emmanuel Adjei, and Blitz Bazawule elevate the result into something that digs beyond aesthetics and shows an authentic appreciation for the culture's ancestral roots.

| Jul 12, 2021

Black Is King is a fascinating, sometimes overwhelming mélange - of beautiful, breathtaking images, astounding musical numbers, poetic spoken-word interludes, and snippets of dialogue...

| Original Score: A | Jul 12, 2021

While one can appreciate Beyonce's attempt...this was always going to be too shallow a context to address a movement and tradition so rich and vital.

| Jun 5, 2021

Let the music lead. The images and Beyonce's performances are intense and moving, to the point where you wonder why the project needed to be connected to that awful 'Lion King' remake at all.

| Mar 30, 2021

Black is King works because it is honest: a film of hope and belonging, represented by those whose cultures and diaspora continue to survive and thrive beyond a displacement that is similar, but not the same.

| Mar 16, 2021

"I am a whole mood," says Beyonce in one lyric. Black is King is a whole other level.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 22, 2020

A hero's journey. A celebration of African redemption. A spectacular ninety-minute music video. A glorious affirmation served up in a time of violence, hate, and social unrest. 'Black is King' is all this, and more.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Oct 20, 2020

It is literally a visual companion to the spin-off album of a computer-generated remake of a 1994 cartoon.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Sep 14, 2020

Though produced in collaboration with creatives from around the globe, there's an unmistakable feeling that the film is meant more for Black Americans than the wider African diaspora.

| Sep 11, 2020

I was mesmerized. It's a visually sumptuous feast.

| Aug 18, 2020

Beautiful, a lot of symbolism and imagery set to very good music...

| Aug 14, 2020

Black Is King is a feast for the eyes with beautiful cinematography and styling choices. The way Beyoncé was able to weave several cultural references from across the continent is something to behold.

| Aug 13, 2020

Whatever Black is King says to you, once you begin watching, it's not easy to look away.

| Aug 10, 2020

The Queen Bey is in a zone.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 10, 2020

Kneel before the queen, it says - and then rise up into your future.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 10, 2020