Thursday, July 18, 2019

A Look Back at The Lion King (1994)




The Lion King is a 1994 animated musical film. It's the 32nd Disney animated movie as well as the fifth film made during the Disney Renaissance era. The movie was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Feature Animation and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures. The film was written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton and directed by Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers.



The story is Simba's twisted uncle Scar plots to take the throne from his father Mufasa. Years go by and Simba must now reclaim the throne for his family and the fellow lions of Pride Rock. However Scar won't give it up so easily.








  • Negatives




I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.








  • Mix




The acting for a majority of the film is great. James Earl Jones provides the right powerful tone for Mufasa's king-like character, Jeremy Irons was perfectly cast as Scar. He does an amazing job with Scar's more cunning sounding lines. And pretty much everyone else does a great job with their respected characters. The only one who isn't bad but does just an okay job is Matthew Broderick. There are times when his line delivering is good other times he just sounds a little bit stiff.








  • Positives





One thing I never noticed about The Lion King when I was a kid was there are a lot of mature themes. Themes such as accepting death, what it means to be a king, and mistakes leading to self improvement. There's even a theme going on with the hyenas about them being oppressed under Mufasa's rule.




Another aspect that makes this film so great is the music. It's just done to perfection. I mean you doesn't sing The Cycle of Life, Hakuna Matata, and of course Be Prepared.




The other part of The Lion King that makes it such an enjoyable movie is the animation. The all of the movements for the characters are flawless and the entire environment is showcased in such a grand scale. Also there are creative camera angles and beautifully done cinematography.




The final thing I'll give the movie credit for is the characters. Let's start off with Scar. He's a great villain. He's clever, cunning, and is shown to be truly evil. Simba may not be very charismatic but does provide a lot of the character growth for the movie, Timon and Pumbaa are very good comic relief and I enjoyed their scenes. Rafiki in my opinion is a fan favorite. Not only does he provide Simba the courage to head back to Pride Rock but he has such a wonderful how giving out his wisdom with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor.








The Lion King is a wonderful Disney film. It has quite a few mature themes, the music is beautiful, the animation is amazing, and the characters are all well written and wonderful in their own right. The only grey area is the acting. While a lot of the acting is great, Matthew Broderick could have used a little bit more work for adult Simba's voice.








My final rating is Great








That's all for me. Come back on Saturday, July 20th for my review of the upcoming The Lion King remake. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.

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