- Released: June 24 1994
- Directed by: Roger Alters, Rob Minkoff
- Running time: 1 h 28 min
- Rating 4.5/5
Synopsis
A lion named Simba must face his past to claim the throne from his tyrannical uncle and restore balance to the Circle of Life.
My Thoughts
While the story isn’t the most original, that being the one of a coming-of-age story, it is executed masterfully here. We see this kid who grew up all overconfident and bratty being faced with the harshness of what the world might bring. Then, finally, after abandoning all care in the world for a long time, he finally comes to terms with who he is and what he has to do, and faces his past. I do agree with a criticism that’s been brought up that no one supports Simba once he does come clean about supposedly being the one who ended Mufasa’s life, but outside of that, it is very well done and holds a powerful message of facing what’s left in the past.
The animation is nothing short of breathtaking. Of course, this is to be expected, with this being Disney and all that. But this truly is 2D animation at its best. Everything moves so beautifully fluid and it’s just so eye candy to look at. The animation can be really effective for the moods, too. It’ll be lively, more cartoon-y and uplifting in some of the more cheerful scenes, such as the "Just Can’t Wait To Be King" and "Hakuna Matata" songs, but it also adjusts to the tone for the more serious scenes, such as the "Be Prepared" hyena marching sequence or the darker scenes where Simba faces who he is.
The color palette, too, works like this. We get more abstract and vibrant colors in Simba’s upbeat and confident childhood moments, but they gradually tone down and become more realistic as he grows up and faces who he is.
The characters are rather good, too. Not all of them have a lot of development, but even the simpler ones get the point across. Simba as our protagonist goes through the most development, and it is executed very well. Mufasa doesn’t have the most screen time, but he is clearly a great king and father, making it all the more sad when he perishes. We get some comic reliefs in the form of Timon, Pumbaa, the hyenas and Zazu. I may not be the most fond of the comic reliefs in The Lion King, especially Timon and Pumbaa with their potty humor, but they’re not the worst. It also helps that they’re not overly present in the movie. It still keeps the central focus where it should be: Simba.
One character I am slightly mixed on is Nala. While she obviously does her job okay as a love interest and supporting role in the story, she doesn’t have too much to her personality-wise, and is somewhat underused. I always wished she got more to do in the story, since she is our central female character. Right now she is his childhood friend, later reasons with Simba to get him back, to the kingdom, falls in love with him and finally is just a participant to the final battle. I just wish she had a more flashed-out role and a more distinct personality.
Scar is a very fun villain. He has a very great vocal performance by Jeremy Irons. He’s just a character that’s fun to hate. My one gripe with him is that he really doesn’t do that much once he’s finally a king. He has reached his goal, but then is an outright dreadful king for no particular reason. I always thought he wanted to upstage Mufusa, including in how they ruled. Sure, he’d rule with an iron fist, but wouldn’t he at least be known as a legendary king in the lion’s monarchy? Right now he’s just The King Who Caused Everything To Go To Shit and really not much more. He’s definitely an awesome villain who is up there in the top five best Disney baddies, but I wish he was used more as a king.
The voice acting is good. I already mentioned Irons’ great performance as Scar, but we have tons of other fun and great voice actors here as well. One of my favorites is James Earl Jones as Mufasa. He has this wonderfully soothing deep voice that really works for this awesome king/dad character.
The songs are mixed for me. Don’t get me wrong, this is really more personal preference. I know little to nothing about music technical, so I really can’t judge there. I guess I’ll just lay down which ones I like and don’t. "The Circle of Life" is definitely one I enjoy and even catch myself humming sometimes. While I like the playfulness and the more toony aesthetic going on during "I Just Can’t Wait To Be King", I’m not the biggest fan of the song itself. Hakuna Matata is easily the one I care the least about. Yes, it’s catchy, but I don’t find it all that pleasant to listen to, and it’s more an obnoxious ear worm to me than anything. I do like "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", and of course there’s "Be Prepared", which is easily the best song out of the entire movie for me. It’s grand; it’s epic; it’s got some really nice colors, primarily neon greens and reds and more stylized visuals, and of course perfectly lays down what Scar is planning and how he gets wins over the hyenas to fight for his cause. I listen to that one quite a lot. There’s also the song "Morning Report" on the special edition DVD I have, which I also really don’t like, so I’d say it’s about on the same level as "Hakuna Matata" for me.
Going back to the visuals, the backgrounds are also really nice to look at. They make Africa look very lush and beautiful when needed to, but the landscapes can also take on a more somber or scary look when needed. The color use is, once more, done very well.
The pacing was good, though I feel like the second half where Simba grows up is maybe a bit shorter in comparison to how long his young scenes were. Nothing really that breaks the movie, but I’d have loved to see more of Simba growing up. Or, even better, more development for Nala as she left the kingdom to look for help, which was mentioned but never actually shown.
One thing I would like to address is how this movie handles hyenas. I am still saddened to this day by the film’s treatment of these animals. Yeah, whatever, call me overly sensitive or whatever, but these animals were already hated before this The Lion King. The movie just portrays them as outright evil incompetent scavengers, which is just not how they are. Hyenas are intelligent and actually hunt just as much, if not more, than lions. Lions even frequently end up stealing hyena-made kills. I just wish the movie wasn’t as black and white about the hyena representation. I know they later tried to fix this in The Lion Guard (though they again spread misinformation about hyenas, and the damage has already been done, of course), but it’s kinda too little too late. Still an awesome movie, just not the best handling of these animals that caused even more needless hate for them.
Arguably one of Disney’s best, The Lion King is a movie that still holds up very well. While there are some minor issues like its handling of the message and not all of the songs and characters being the greatest, it has more than enough to make up for its flaws. With beautiful visuals, great voice acting and a lovely coming-of-age story, this is one I’ll no doubt come back to many and many times more.
I’ll be covering the 2019 redo of this movie hopefully later this year! Spoiler alert: it’ll be a positive review.
Don’t any of you dare bring the Simba/Kimba discussion into this review I will find you and I will make you wear a funny hat if you do.
The voice acting is good. I already mentioned Irons’ great performance as Scar, but we have tons of other fun and great voice actors here as well. One of my favorites is James Earl Jones as Mufasa. He has this wonderfully soothing deep voice that really works for this awesome king/dad character.
The songs are mixed for me. Don’t get me wrong, this is really more personal preference. I know little to nothing about music technical, so I really can’t judge there. I guess I’ll just lay down which ones I like and don’t. "The Circle of Life" is definitely one I enjoy and even catch myself humming sometimes. While I like the playfulness and the more toony aesthetic going on during "I Just Can’t Wait To Be King", I’m not the biggest fan of the song itself. Hakuna Matata is easily the one I care the least about. Yes, it’s catchy, but I don’t find it all that pleasant to listen to, and it’s more an obnoxious ear worm to me than anything. I do like "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", and of course there’s "Be Prepared", which is easily the best song out of the entire movie for me. It’s grand; it’s epic; it’s got some really nice colors, primarily neon greens and reds and more stylized visuals, and of course perfectly lays down what Scar is planning and how he gets wins over the hyenas to fight for his cause. I listen to that one quite a lot. There’s also the song "Morning Report" on the special edition DVD I have, which I also really don’t like, so I’d say it’s about on the same level as "Hakuna Matata" for me.
Going back to the visuals, the backgrounds are also really nice to look at. They make Africa look very lush and beautiful when needed to, but the landscapes can also take on a more somber or scary look when needed. The color use is, once more, done very well.
The pacing was good, though I feel like the second half where Simba grows up is maybe a bit shorter in comparison to how long his young scenes were. Nothing really that breaks the movie, but I’d have loved to see more of Simba growing up. Or, even better, more development for Nala as she left the kingdom to look for help, which was mentioned but never actually shown.
One thing I would like to address is how this movie handles hyenas. I am still saddened to this day by the film’s treatment of these animals. Yeah, whatever, call me overly sensitive or whatever, but these animals were already hated before this The Lion King. The movie just portrays them as outright evil incompetent scavengers, which is just not how they are. Hyenas are intelligent and actually hunt just as much, if not more, than lions. Lions even frequently end up stealing hyena-made kills. I just wish the movie wasn’t as black and white about the hyena representation. I know they later tried to fix this in The Lion Guard (though they again spread misinformation about hyenas, and the damage has already been done, of course), but it’s kinda too little too late. Still an awesome movie, just not the best handling of these animals that caused even more needless hate for them.
Arguably one of Disney’s best, The Lion King is a movie that still holds up very well. While there are some minor issues like its handling of the message and not all of the songs and characters being the greatest, it has more than enough to make up for its flaws. With beautiful visuals, great voice acting and a lovely coming-of-age story, this is one I’ll no doubt come back to many and many times more.
I’ll be covering the 2019 redo of this movie hopefully later this year! Spoiler alert: it’ll be a positive review.
Don’t any of you dare bring the Simba/Kimba discussion into this review I will find you and I will make you wear a funny hat if you do.
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