The Lion King

The Lion King is considered by many to be one of the most recognized, most quoted, and most beloved animated Disney movies of all time. It was considered a peak performing film during a time when Disney was already going through a very successful renaissance, received two Academy Awards, created its own franchise with several sequels, spin-offs and even Broadway musicals being created out of its idea, and it is still one of the highest grossing animated movies of all time. No one can deny the event that was caused by this film and how it left an impression on Disney and on the world in general, but if the nostalgia goggles are removed for a second, returning to the film will show a film that is still really impressive and gets a lot of things right, but might not be the King that many believe it to be. In the pride lands of Africa, a lion cub named Simba (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is the newborn prince to the reigning king, Mufasa (voiced by James Earl Jones). Although the young cub can’t wait to be king, this future is halted by Mufasa’s brother Scar (voiced by Jeremy Irons) who despises Mufasa and the new king-to-be for stealing what he believes was his rightful thrown. After creating a wilder beast stampede, Scar gets his chance and throws Mufasa to his death, causing Simba to run away from the Pride Lands in guilt as he believes it was his doing that caused the stampede. After meeting two other outcasts, a meerkat named Timon and a warthog named Pumbaa (voiced by Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella), he decides to forget about his past and live a life on ”no worries” with the two of them. Now fully grown (now being voiced by Matthew Broderick), he learns from his old friend, fellow lioness Nala (voiced by Moira Kelly) that Scar has ruined the Pride Lands and says Simba must be the one to take him down and restore balance to the land. He must come to grips with the sins of his past, forgive what he believes was his biggest mistake and defeat his murderous uncle and claim his title as the Lion King. This movie definitely offers a level of maturity that not many other Disney films would’ve offered before, which has its own share of pros and cons behind it. While it is strong in presentation and atmosphere and houses some truly great timeless scenes, the film’s simplistic nature, failed delivery on a good moral and unfitting songs suffocate the movies positives.

One of the most stand-out aspects of this film is just its overall scale. Everything from the animation to the tone of its overall narrative, there is a lot of weight and presence put behind this film that really makes it feel different other previous animated Disney flicks. Considering how well this film did in theatres even to this day (with the film returning every few years to allow the audience another chance to see the majesty of its visual in widescreen once again), its no surprise that it was able to wow people in such a way, and it wasn’t just through the grandness of the animation or the musical score, but also in the story itself. The narrative was brought to life by several writers who all saw the potential for this kind of story set within the Savannas of Africa, and the film was retooled several times throughout the years, eventually settling on something far less traditional for Disney (who usually base their animated properties on fairy tales of famous classic literature) and decided to base the film off of the Shakespearean tragedy of Hamlet, which centers around a young man having to deal with his traitorous uncle who slowly starts to murder their family from the inside to claim power. With that in mind, it gives a pretty good indication that they wanted to up the anti for this flick and tried to replicate that familiar level of intensity through its characters, imagery and content, which is some areas it actually does. Mufasa’s death scene has become one of the most infamous moments in any animated film for how harrowing and shocking it is, and with good merit. Its not like how Disney showcased the death of a parent previously like in Bambi (which is done off-screen and quickly glossed over), you are forced to look at the corpse and really let the moment sink in and understand what has been done and taken from these characters, and the film is constructed, paced and written in a way that it feels very natural and fitting, and not just an excuse to shock audience members with something needlessly dark. Its a very well done element and easily the most impressive scene in the entire film. However, while the tone and set-up for this plot is pretty solid and actually quite complex in nature, this can’t really be said for the rest of the movie which doesn’t feel that much more upped by comparison. The screenplay for this film written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton contains a lot of great ideas, allusions to classic forms of storytelling, and a really solid message at its core about ”deciding to learn from your message rather than live in fear of them”, but it never feels like they ever truly reach their full potential and the disjointed nature of the plot leaves certain moments feeling a little underdeveloped and not fleshed out enough to really be as deep and mature as the film claims itself to be (the message itself is even slightly ruined come the end of the film with how portions of the climax pan out). The characters aren’t written in a very complex way, the dialogue can be a little too jokey and comical at times, and the directing for this film by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff leads the film in a direction that is not up to pare with how this kind of story needs to be delivered, even if there are moments that are taken in that appropriately grim angle and it works out well because of it. With a premise as grand as this movie has, it needed an equally grand set of characters and execution to deliver on it, and when that isn’t properly done and it features a lot more expected Disney cliches,  it’s clearly shows a disconnect.

The cast, as already stated, don’t feel like they match the more complex tone and story that the film is trying to go for as they’re mostly played very safe and nothing out of the ordinary for kids films at the time with very recognizable archetypes. Simba as a lead has some good stuff working for him as his outline and even message and development are good on paper, but he’s not really written in that great a way or matched with enough intrigue or depth to properly match the level of turmoil presented here. Plus the voice acting for him done by both Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Matthew Broderick feel a little too much like an element of the time period and can be a little bland, but they do have moments where they pull off the dramatic stuff fine enough (Taylor Thomas does sell that death scene very well). The side characters aren’t the best and can feel like they take over a lot of screen due to how many of them there are, but they get some good moments as well helped out by a pretty entertaining cast; Robert Guillaume as the mandrill shaman Rafiki is given some great moments despite his limited screen time, James Earl Jones has a great voice for a commanding leader and he does pretty good as Mufasa, Rowan Atkinson as the hornbill majordomo Zazu gets some funny lines, the hyenas voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings are entertaining to watch, Timon and Pumbaa don’t always work and can feel little forced, but they get a laugh every once and a while, and Nala does just feel like a basic love interest, but she again works fine enough for what they movie requires. Scar as the villain is good but with some noticeable problems, as on the one hand, his designs is great with his darker complexion, massive dark mane and fittingly ‘’scarred’’ face, Jeremy Irons is nice and slimy in the role and gives the character a lot of personality, and he is one of the few Disney villains to succeed in killing a main character, but he’s a bit too simplistic with a very simple motivation and almost no backstory, and he loses a lot of menace and enjoyment in the latter half of the movie where he just kind of sits around and complains about everything, its really not that interesting.

The animation in this movie is equally big as the film’s concept, making up a good majority of capturing the scale that the film’s is conveying. With some great shots of landscapes, some very striking and effective uses of color and lighting, and with simple but emotive designs. The songs, though loved and remembered by many, don’t actually work in the bigger picture. They don’t match in tone or style with how the story is portrayed. This kind of story is much more operatic and would benefit from very musical-style songs that match the tone and convey strong emotions and character motivation, yet this kind of pop radio-style form of music isn’t one that sparks development or furthers plot, but rather just pure entertainment, which leaves many of them feeling entirely pointless and lacking any strong meaning. From the title alone, each song is predictable in how it will be executed and what kind of tone it will copy. Even with some good instrumentals, it can’t save the bland lyrics and overly ambiguous attempt at making them radio songs (which makes sense considering they written written by Tim Rice and Elton John). With that said, Be Prepared is amazing and is definitely one of the best villain songs Disney’s ever done with nice poetic lyrics, a hypnotizing color palette going from murky green, sickly yellow and hellish red, and a delightful tone masking a grim subject matter, its beautifully done. Circle of Life is also pretty good, with a brilliant opening that really sets the scale and mood of the film, and great background orchestration provided by Hans Zimmer and his team, along with the implementation of a choir and African instrumentation led by South-African composer, Lebo M.

The Lion King is a big movie with big atmosphere and a big big premise, but less than big characters and writing, but regardless of its shortcomings, the impact this movie had is staggering to the world of Disney and animation in general and deserves credit for accomplishing that alone. While not perfect, the stuff that does genuinely work about it is legitimately really great and made more than worthy of all the respect thats been placed on it for all these years.  It will certainly stand a lot stronger and taller than the eventual remake, and it will still live in the strong hearts of those that relishes in its presence. Its doesn’t quite break the circle, but it’s a lively movie, nonetheless.