The Lion King

[X-Nightcrawler]

The Lion King (1994)

Life's greatest adventure is finding your place in the Circle of Life.



"Going back there means I have to face my past."

Plot:
Based on Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Disney's "The Lion King" tells the story of a young lion prince called Simba, who from a very young age is forced to face fate as strong as life itself. I'd tell you more details but I can't without giving away the important plot and character points you should better see by yourself.

What I Thought:
While "The Beauty And The Beast" (a fantastic movie) is the only Disney movie to be nominated for an Oscar as Best Picture, that great movie still falls very short from what I -and many- believe is Disney's absolutely best movie (and probably the best animated movie): The Lion King.

The truth is that since The Lion King is the only Disney movie that's more than a sappy romance and takes itself very seriously, it goes miles and miles above the rest. I can't say I'm a fan of the older movies. None of them ever left a mark in me other than the fact that they formed a part of my childhood. "Beauty And The Beast" was great, "Hercules" was great, "Mulan" was fantastic, but all of them are still missing the maturity and full depht Lion King gives. I can't even know where to begin licking this movie's balls, but I'll find a way.

I'll start with the first thing you'll notice when you put this movie to watch (maybe with your family or friends, but hopefully alone), which is the complete beauty of its art. This movie opens with one of the most amazing and eye popping openers I've seen ever. The animation and designs in this feature are fucking light years above anything we had seen to that point (and I still believe, to what we see today. Fuck Pixar and Dreamworks). The accuracy of the animal drawings and the beauty the serengetti is depicted is breathtaking. Enter the AMAZING music that begins in the first frame, with lyrics so astonishing and thematic that will resonate in your head long, LONG after the movie is done. The majestic design of the main characters will have you drooling and will make you instantly love them.

Those of you who have read Hamlet or are at least familiar with the story will know what our main character, Simba ("Hamlet") will face. Of course, when based on such a huge story, you can be sure you'll see characters much deeper than anything Disney has ever produced, but I'll get to that later. Point is that the plot is expertly written and the dialogue is brilliant (particularily Scar's, that guy is amazing). I loved the thick feeling of uncertainty you feel during the entire movie, they really manage to make you feel like Simba feels, so every twist and turn takes you by surprise. Yes, it's a children's movie and you'll most likely know how it will end, but everything in-between is a wild guess, particularily halfway through, when Simba has 'settled down' with the "Hakuna Matata" motto. You might also spot some hidden social commentary and symbolism, though it's not as heavy as in the sequel.

The fact that there are a couple of big jumps in time that separates the movie into "young Simba" and "adult Simba" sections, gives wide for character growth and believe me, they grow. They REALLY fucking grow, which is the strenght of both this and its STV sequel. Simba is the best character I have seen in an animated movie and frankly? One of the best I've seen in a movie, period. He goes through so much changes that you won't recognize him from the spoiled prince, to the coward, to the king. What's even better is that he KEEPS growing in part 2, which I will review next. Like I said, the big time period that passes halfway through the movie gives way for character growth and we'll see radical changes in Nala, Sarabi, Scar and even Zazu. But the biggest turning point is the now famous scene when Mufasa talks to Simba from the clouds, which is an exploding emotional moment for the movie and turns the epic knob quite a few notches. "The King is back."

The voice acting is absolutely perfect. The only problem I had with it is that I didn't like James Earl Jones' (A.K.A. Darth Vader) voice as the majestic Mufasa. Don't get me wrong, he does fantastic, but it was a personal problem that I couldn't get over the fact that that's Darth fucking Vader! I was expecting a "Simba . . . I am your father." But other than that minimum personal peeve, it's all fantastic. Props to Jonathan Taylor Thomas as the Simba cub, he hit the emotional levels (particularily in 'that' scene) like a fucking champ. Most amazing one is without a doubt, Jeremy Irons as the villain, Scar. Fuck me sideways he kicked so much fucking ass. Scar is an awesome character, the design was amazing but it could've been shat over if the casting hadn't been spot on. He WAS his character. Bra-bloody-vo. Mathew Broderick did amazing, sure, eventhough he underplayed it in some bits, he managed some great emotional moments and carried the weight of his charachter pretty darned well. Don't think there's anything else worth mentioning, everyone did very, very well.

And don't think it's all dark depht and human drama with Lion King. They placed the perfectly welcome humor touches in the forms of Timon and Pumbaa and the trio of evil hyenas. Their wacky antics and fart jokes somehow managed to be funny in between so much emotional intensity. It was just well handled humor courtesy of our pair of directors. Which brings me to the directing, which is (you guessed it) sublime (i'm going to run out of synonims for "good" if I don't wrap this up). The only moment I didn't like the directorial choice taken was the slow motion during Simba and Scar's fight, it somehow didn't go with everything else. But that aside, it's all brilliant. They managed to make you forget you're watching a cartoon and made it all very, very intense. Of course, the amazing score and songs by Sir Elton John helped a lot. Particularily in the opening scene, the intensity of the music and the beauty of the images will give you chills.

Overall Rating:
10/10 . The problems I had with it were minimal and very personal, so I wouldn't consider them flaws. If you haven't seen it, or you just want to see it again (as you should), prepare for the animated event of a lifetime. And when you're done, prepare to continue with the sequel: "The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride".

[Cronos]

excellent review as usual X


The Lion King is hands down my favourite Disney film, ever since i first saw it at the cinema i have loved it, the story is great and is very engaging from beginning to end even on repeated viewings, i still find it very sad in places. the animation is constantly beautiful, the backgrounds look great and the character animation is excellent throughout. the same goes for the voice acting which is great, Irons as Scar is purrfect and he pushes this character into being one of the most imposing bad guys ive seen in a film. its also the only disney film where i like all the songs in it whether they are part of the soundtrack or sung by the characters, they are all equally great and i also sometimes like to sing along with them . when it comes to The Lion King, it's one of the few films that no matter how many times i watch it i cannot find a flaw. its a beautiful film in every way and one i will treasure forever

10/10