Throwback Review: The Lion King (1994)

Welcome everyone to the the next throwback review, where we are returning to the era of the Disney Renaissance. Last time we were here, we took a look at the 1992 classic, Aladdin, in time for the release of the remake of that film. We will be doing the same, but this time we will be going into what many people consider to be the crown jewel of that era, the Lion King. Yes, that’s right the sensation that broke numerous records, and left a huge cultural impact that is still felt to this day. It’s one of those classic movies that parents always show their kids, and that everyone has at least on some form of home media, in short people have a lot of nostalgic feelings for it, and its not hard to see why when re-watching this movie, which amazingly like many other classic Disney films still holds up very well to this day.

In the land of Pride Rock, a new lion cub named Simba is born. Destined to be king of the land one day, he is the son of Pride Rock’s current ruler Mufasa who is doing all he can to get Simba ready for this momentous occasion, giving him advice on how the world works, and what duties he must uphold, but Simba will only become king only when the time is right. He himself is really excited to become king always discussing the prospect with his best friend, Nala, and his uncle, Scar. Scar however wants the throne all to himself, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it, even teaming up with the enemy of the lions, the Hyenas. He puts his plan into motion by killing Mufasa during a Wildebeast Stampede, and convincing Simba that he was the one who was responsible for this which leads to Simba running away from Pride Rock. Since the Hyenas fail to kill the cub as instructed Simba is left deserted outside of Pride Rock where he meets the duo Timone, and Pumbaa. These two decide to raise him as their own, teaching him to let go of all his worries. As Simba starts growing older though, and some memories of the past are brought back into light, he must decide if he is going to step, and do what is right in order to become King.

As beloved as this film is, it has been meet with a lot of controversy recently. Whether its similarities to other animated works like Kimba the White Lion or Hamlet, or the cultural issues concerning the ethnicity of the cast in this particular African setting, Lion King is just one of the many Disney films that have had this type of problem. But I’m just going to focus on the movie itself, and not go too deep into those conversations (the former, I haven’t seen or read those stories so I cannot comment on that, while the latter is an issue but one that I’d rather not go into too much). Even in terms of the story itself people have criticized Simba for being an idiot for not making the right choices, and being too reckless. To be honest my only real problem with Simba’s arc is that maybe we could have seen more of his life with Timone, and Pumbaa, and see more of how this new life affects him, other than that I found it very compelling. Just like the Little Mermaid most of the “problems” with this film’s story can actually be explained pretty well. Simba being reckless, and stubborn are what make him relatable, as just like us he makes mistakes too, and he must learn to move on from the mistakes of the past, and focus on making up for it in the present. That powerful message resonates very well, and is something that many people including myself can learn from. When it comes to the emotion on display it truly hits hard with many a perfect scenes that make the viewer invested, and may make you tear up a bit (I think you know which ones I’m talking about). Same applies to the atmosphere which is just something else. Very epic in scope, and powerfully thematic, almost feels biblical at some point, the movie is truly at its best when it comes to the well done, and hard hitting story. Though as much as I love the story, and message for this film, there is a bit of a tonal issue present throughout. I mean that as in the comedic aspects of the film feel a little bit out of place compared to the rest of the film’s mostly serious tone. Now don’t get me wrong most of the comedy here is still really funny. It’s just that all of the fart jokes, and slapstick humor just doesn’t really mesh too well with this epic emotional melodrama. In many ways it does feel like Disney was trying to commercialize this film a bit to make it a bit more appealing for kids by adding some funny, and cute comic relief characters which is not the first, and last time they would do this (Mulan, and Pocahontas especially suffer the most from this). While it doesn’t ruin the movie, its something I feel could have been toned down a bit, if it were I would probably consider this film nearly perfect because every thing else is done so well.

The thing that holds up the most from this movie is the hand drawn 2-D animation on display, as it truly still looks absolutely stunning even to this day. There’s just so much vibrancy, and colorful imagery on the screen that its just so hard to take your eyes off of it. The backgrounds are absolutely striking, and have a sense of epicness, and awe to them, like Pride Rock, a feeling of darkness, and horror such as the Elephant Graveyard, and a nice colorful, expressive, and beautiful tone which is present in the Jungle. The character designs have that classic Disney feel to them with very expressive emotion on the faces of the animal, which us probably some of the most expressive I’ve ever seen in an animated feature (something the remake looks to lack). The same also goes for the nice crisp, and smooth movements which do a wonderful, and impressive job of capturing the movements of the animals, especially the lions themselves, and are also very expressive as well. Oh and there is also some 3-D animation used here in a couple of scenes and it is a nice improvement of Aladdin’s use of the format, and it even brings some sequences like the Stampede sequence (which took 3 years to make), come to life in a big way making the proceedings feel epic and intense. Speaking of epic that’s the perfect way of describing Hans Zimmer’s powerful score here which just gives me goose bumps every time I listen to it, and it marches with the setting, and tone of the feature perfectly, and I do like Lebo M.’s involovement since he is responsible for many of the African elements in the score.

Now like I always say, sometimes your fantastic story ain’t gonna mean much if the characters aren’t very well developed. That is certainly not the case as each character is fully realized, and are very memorable in their own right. Of course there’s Simba who voiced very well by Jonathen Taylor Thomas as a child, and Matthew broderick as an adult, but there’s also his childhood friend, Nala who also undergoes a lot of development throughout the story, has nice relationship with Simba, and is voiced nicely by Niketa Calame-Harris as a child, and Moira Kelly as an adult. James Earl Jones brings a lot of gravitas to the wise Mufasa doing a good job of showing why he is much more than some plot device, while Jeremy Irons is delightfully sinister, as the truly evil Scar who is equal parts soft spokenly charming, and viciously cruel, and cunning. There is also Robert Guillaume (who sadly passed away in 2017) as the eccentric, and wise advisor for the King, Rafifki, who is just delightful, and has one of the most important character-building scenes in the movie that is both funny, and powerfully poignant at the same time. As for Nathan Lane as the smart Alec, Timon, and Ernie Sabella as the happy go lucky, and gassy Pumbaa, well like while their schtick does feel a little out of place, its still pretty entertaining, they are really funny together, and I liked their surrogate fathers like relationship with Simba. Other supporting player like Rowan Atkinson as the begrudged assistant of the King, Zazu, Midge Sinclair as Simba’s mother Sarabi, and the crazy Hyenas, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, and Jim Cummings respictevily, they all manage to leave an impact in some way even if they don’t get as much focus as the others.

Now what’s a Disney Renaissance movie without a great soundtrack, and of course this movie has that in spades. I mean when Tim Rice, and Elton John write songs for your movie, their probably going to be at least pretty good. What I like about this soundtrack in particular is how all of the songs, and the musical numbers themselves, are different from each other in terms of setting, and tone. The iconic opening sequence set to “Circle of Life” is directed perfectly feels epic in tone, and scope, gives me goosebumps every time I watch it, and again Hans Zimmer’s powerful score enhances it greatly. Then there’s the very fast paced, and colorful, “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” which has a lot of energy, and gorgeous, hand drawn animation which is just so beautiful showing off the many designs of the animals, and colorful backgrounds, and the song itself is pretty catchy. There’s also Scar’s villain song, “Be Prepared”, which is one of my personal favorite evil villain song’s from the studio thanks to the dark, and ominous undertones, and Jeremy Irons is just having a blast playing the bad guy here. “Hakuna Matata” is a nice, relaxing, happy go lucky, tune that many people wish they could do what the song is telling them to do which is have no worries for the rest of your days. Finally “Can you Feel the Love Tonight” is the romantic song played during Simba, and Nala going out with each other as adults, and for what it is, it gets the job done even if it is probably my least favorite song of the soundtrack. Overall these songs are classics for a reason, and help bring the movie to life even more than it already was without them.

So while not my favorite Disney film from that era, I still find the Lion King to be a sweeping story that I always enjoy watching to this day. This film helped show what a powerhouse Disney Animation was, and how much more they were capable of in terms of the stories they could tell, and the visuals they can employ. I can definitely see why people come back to this film time, and time again, and it keeps reminding me that Walt Disney Animation Studios is among the best animation studios working today, and why I always look forward to whatever they come up with next, and how these live-action remakes they keep making just cannot capture the magic of these originals. Again not without its flaws, but still an achievement in many ways.

Rating: A-

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