The Lion King (1995)

It sparked an instant and on-going hurricane of praise that has now lasted almost twenty years. It spawned a couple of popular direct-to-video sequels, the first being one of the first of its kind and the other considered one of the best of its kind. It is widely recognized as being one of the greatest animated achievements of all film history, even being voted the number one animated film by the unwashed masses in ABC's "Best in Film" special. The Lion King is without question one of the most successful of all animated movies, much less those restricted to Disney alone. It was deemed popular enough for Disney to give it a theatrical re-release this year, followed by a new blu-ray/DVD release. These theatrical reissues are rare these days, so I considered myself lucky to be able to revisit this one on the big screen. I am almost ashamed to confess that I have never been a huge fan of this particular movie. Even though I am a big fan of many of the Disney animated features, this one would often escape my attention and memory. I think it had something to do with how many times I watched it as a kid, which was many times. However, from the famous "Circle of Life" opening, all the way to its reprise at the end, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this movie.

The story is basically Hamlet with a twist. Being a big fan of the source material, it is both jarring and strangely appropriate to see its characters portrayed by animals. It involves a young lion cub named Simba, whose father, Mufasa, is the king of the Pride Lands somewhere in Africa. Mufasa is killed by his evil brother Scar, and Simba runs away and grows up and comes back to challenge Scar and take over the kingdom. Even with the scattered comic relief and musical numbers, this is a very serious film. The murder of Mufasa, for example, is surprisingly heartbreaking for a cartoon (Think of the opening scenes of Up, and multiply by four.). This scene, by the way, is an extremely impressive visual moment. Mufasa is trampled by a humongous stampede, which was created with computer effects, which are woven seamlessly with the traditional animation. It made me miss the days when computers were used to assist a movie, rather than making the whole thing itself. This was also made back in the day when animated movies would feature celebrity voices that were picked to fill the character, rather than characters invented to fit celebrity voices. Mathew Broderick as Simba, James Earl Jones as Mufasa, and Jeremy Irons as Scar were all perfect casting choices. Scar in particular is an excellent villain, with a lot of thanks to the animator that made his expressions so very much like Irons'. He has a dark sense of humor, while also being wholeheartedly wicked. He could have been alright without the buffoon sidekicks voiced by Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin. I also still do not care for the characters of Timon and Pumbaa, two rather obnoxious critters whose scenes are brief, but straining on the comical nerves. Although I understand the necessity for comic relief in such a serious movie, their jokes get groans rather than laughs ("They call me Mr. Pig!" being especially egregious.).

A few faults aside, this really is a wonderful movie; I don't know what I could have been thinking all these years. It is charming, moving, and wholly entertaining. When I went to the theater, I expected to see a lot of parents with toddlers, but was surprised to see that the audience was primarily teenagers, all about the right age to have seen the movie originally and simply wish to revisit a good memory. More surprising still, they were all enjoying it, reacting appropriately throughout and even applauding at the end. The only other movie I've seen which was met with applause was The King's Speech. This proves, for one thing, that re-releases of classic movies, even recent ones, can be profitable. Also, I think that all major animation studios, including Disney, should watch The Lion King again and learn a lesson in how to properly make a family film, because they're obviously doing something wrong.

9/10