The Lion King - Review

Like all kids born in the 90's, I was raised on Disney movies. We had a large chunk of the VHS collection constantly cycling through the VCR like Aladdin, Dumbo, Bambi, The Little Mermaid, The Jungle Book, etc. Surprisingly, one of the movies we didn't own was The Lion King, so even though I am the proper age, I never grew up with this movie. I remembered watching it on TV once and being scared of the Wildebeest chase and... that was it. I knew who all the characters were, I knew the story and of course I knew the songs because of just how popular this movie was, but I never grew up with this movie. I had seen it a couple times many years later, but with the live-action remake coming out soon, I thought I should give the original another viewing with my film school eyes. Glad to say that I can finally see why this movie is beloved by so many. The Lion King is a great movie.

The first thing that stood out to me was the scope of it all. This is a big movie. I re-watched this movie on a VHS tape played through a VCR with an RCA-to-HDMI port on a 55" HD TV (boosted from standard definition to high definition). Long story short, it was not the "proper" way to watch it and it still had the epic feel and effect. Right from the classic opening shot with the sun rising over the African plains and you hear that famous African singing voice, it feels huge. Everything about this movie is cranked to 100. The look of the world that these animals live in looks breathtaking with it'z size and bright colours and wonderful animal designs. The songs are all catchy as hell with wonderful set-pieces to with them. Circle of Life, I Just Can't Wait To Be King, Be Prepared (my personal favourite), Hakuna Matata, Can You Feel The Love Tonight, all of them are so memorable and grand. On top of all that, the cinematography also makes the show feel huge. Remember that Wildabeast scene I had mentioned earlier? Yeah, it was huge when I was a kid, it feels even bigger now. Just the shots that they used and the depth of field tricks make the scene... you know what I am going to say... huge!

So the scope is definitely something I noticed as a kid but couldn't really appreciate until I was an adult, especially after seeing a whole slew of mediocre animated movies throughout my life. However, one thing I can really appreciate as an adult is the voice acting performances. Especially from James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons. Both of these actors I think were the absolute perfect choices to play Mufasa and Scar. Mufusa being this larger than life, wise and powerful ruler, needed a strong, commanding but yet soothing and comforting voice. Enter James Earl Jones. Scar being this, sly, evil, betrayal seeking character who also has this proper side to him needed this sophistaced, yet dark voice. Enter Jeremy Irons. For my own personal favourite performance in this movie, it's Jeremy Irons as Scar. He's just so good. But of course, you need to have some comedy in your Disney movie, and I know that many people find Timon and Pumba annoying, but I was genuinely laughing out loud many times when they were on screen.

Lastly, the message is simple and powerful. The past can still hurt, however, you can either run from it, or learn from it. It's a great message for kids, but it's also a great message for adults. Sometimes we all need to be reminded of that sometimes.

I can see now why The Lion King is the quintessential Disney movie. It has everything you would expect from a great Disney film. Memorable characters, lots of laughs, a powerful story, beautiful animation, catchy songs, and, that one ingredient that is tough to point out, but you know when you see it, Disney magic. Let's see if they can recapture that same magic in live-action very soon.