The Lion King (1994)

“Oh yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.”

Filmology Rating: 3.66 out of 4

The Lion King is a film you may have heard of produced during the Disney(TM) Renaissance. The story was inspired by the lives of Joseph and Moses from the Bible as well as Shakespeare's 'Hamlet.' When Luke's father is destroyed by the evil sith lord, Darth Vader, Luke is forced into exile where he grows up, meets two new-wacky friends, and eventually is brought out of hiding by an old and wise mentor who once knew his father. Luke, someone destined for greatness, returns stronger and must confront his inner self to defeat Darth Vader and bring balance to the force. 

This film may have taken a few notes from 'Star Wars.' However, little is that the film's fault because it's just the hero's journey. That's how 'Star Wars' came to be. George Lucas just took a radical structure from Joseph Campbell and used it. 

Like 'Star Wars', 'The Lion King' is the hero's journey. That is what the core of the film is. If you go away from that, you get the prequels and the direct-to-video garbage 'Lion King' sequels. So, I imagine the new iteration of 'The Lion King' won't stray far from the original. 

Enough of pretext. 'The Lion King' is fine. It's not some grand story. It's a very nuts and bolts kind of film. The majority of this film's popularity roots in the songs and animation. Similar to that of 'Frozen.' The score is possibly one of the most well-known scores ever, at this point. It's become the millennial's 'Wizard of Oz.' Hans Zimmer and Elton John deliver wonderful music that elevates what could be a slightly underwritten film. I am not the biggest Hans Zimmer fan. This is definitely his best score with 'Pirates of the Caribbean' in at a close second. Otherwise, he hasn't really done much else in terms of quality. He did do 'The Dark Knight' trilogy. But, like most Hans Zimmer scores, it's just full of bwAAAAAAAAS. Personally, I believe we have Zimmer to blame for the lack of creativity in musical scores today since the peak of Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams. Luckily, Alan Silvestri is still doing those 'Avengers' movies. Otherwise, Silvestri is really it.

What's great about the songs in this film is that they're not just ear-wormy, they serve as story progression and inform us of character and motives, like any good action scene or musical number should do. 

The voice acting must be mentioned because this was a revolutionary time in animation where movie stars began voicing animation. This trend began with Robin Williams in 'Aladdin' and continued into this. James Earl Jones did the voice for Mufasa, Simba's father. His death has always been sad for most and it's because of injustice. Nine times out of ten, a sad character death in a film is due to injustice; a character dies who does not deserve to. Believe it or not, it's everywhere. 

Jeremy Irons as Scar is also great. Scar is the type of character who whispers in the ear of the chess player; he isn't some kind of towering presence. He works in that way. Matthew Broderick as Simba is one of those characters who falls under Scar's manipulation. Simba is convinced that his father's death is his fault. So, he runs away from home. I never really thought much about Broderick's performance because it is very minimal and it sounds like anyone could have stepped in to do his role. Jones and Irons are really the two that bring the characters to life. 

The animation is also a time where Disney began investing in both hand-drawn and computer animation. This type of animation always looked superior to other formats, like Pixar, because of the mixture of the two techniques. It gives it a hand-made touch and charm to it. 

Seeing how difficult this film was to animate, it seems cavil of me to say the film is very short and could have used more. The only real complaint about the film that isn't just surface-level material is that all of Simba's character development happens off-screen. He starts singing with Pumbaa as a cub, then he's magically older by the end of the song. One scene was all we needed to show that he doesn't care anymore. Hence the "Hakuna Matata."Maybe have a scene where it shows Simba being lazy and not King-esc. Just something.

However, this film tackles the circle of life; life and death. This could be a troubling subject for some children, but it's executed in a way where death is taken seriously, but where there is still hope after such a tragedy. 

This was the highest grossing film of 1994 and become the second-highest grossing film of all time. Second only to 'Jurassic Park.' Home sales was also a big market during the 90s and 'The Lion King' became the biggest-selling VHS tape of all time. The film was inducted into the Library of Congress for being "culturally significant." Overall, it's fine.

Rating: See It

-Nolan