32. The Lion King (1994)

In 1994, Disney released a movie that was just intended to fill time before their next big hit; they never really had much faith in it. That film was The Lion King, which would go on to become Disney’s most successful movie of all time and hold that spot for almost twenty years. It’s easy to see why The Lion King was such a sensational hit, it’s fun, it’s clever, it looks great and it has a very memorable cast of characters; but for all its good points, is The Lion King really a perfect movie? No, it probably isn’t, as, for all its good points and although it might be blasphemy to say it, the film does have some minor flaws.

The animation is once again top-notch stuff, as always Disney prove just how skilled they are when it comes to animating animals, capable of both capturing what actual animal movement is like, while still injecting a sense of humanity and personality. The animation here is a lot more calm and restrained than that of Aladdin and though there are action-packed and energetic scenes, many of them are a lot slower and quieter. This makes sense because The Lion King is a much more emotional and atmospheric film, so the animation is more careful and controlled, to give way to the more serious conversations and shape the similarly more adult themes and attitudes of the film. This is captured effectively by the incredible backgrounds, which are all wonderfully detailed and unique in their own way, they look like traditional landscapes painted by classical artists, they really are a wonder to behold. Despite the slower, humbler style of the film, there are still a couple of big, showy animated sequences, particularly the stampede, which is excellent – there is lots of movement, loads going on at once, a lot of interesting uses of angles and different kinds of shots, it’s a really well crafted sequence that matches the impact that scene has on the rest of the story. The colours in this movie are especially great, those of Simba and his friends are so warm and inviting, Simba’s golden coat and rich brown mane are almost soothing and make you feel like you can reach out into the screen and touch them; conversely, the colours of Scar and the Hyenas are dark, menacing and uninviting. Similarly, the lighting in this film is probably the best we’ve seen yet from a Disney movie, moments like the sun rising on the African plains in the opening honestly make it look as if the movie has been filmed on a real set; it really is impressive just how much emotion and atmosphere this film conveys through such little touches in the animation and art style.

‘To eat or not to eat... that is the question.’

Aside from the animation, The Lion King’s greatest strength is probably its story, which is much more serious and grounded than we’re used to from Disney; few of their traditional concepts – fairy tales, true love, wishes, dreams, magic – are present here, as the film tells a more adult story about personal identity, responsibility and our toxic relationship with the past. The first half of the movie is more of a traditional Disney movie, it is much brighter with its visuals, much more loud and extreme with its characterisation, with more energised songs and humour; the second half, however, is much darker both in tone and appearance and at times can play out as quite a serious adult drama with some of its dialogue and very powerful imagery, most notably Simba talking to Mufasa in the clouds. In these respects, the core of the narrative takes a lot of inspiration from Bambi – an animal is born into a kingdom as its prince, we see him grow up and have to deal with losing his parent, then we jump to adulthood when he has to take responsibility and finally become the King he was always meant to be and the film ends with the birth of his new child, just as it started with his birth. The film is of course different in many ways, but it’s clear that the writers had Bambi in mind at some points and of course, there’s nothing wrong with that, because Bambi is one of Disney’s most mature and grounded films, something reflected in The Lion King. Though The Lion King does still have a lot wacky, Aladdin-style humour with characters like Timon and Pumbaa and the hyenas and addresses its themes of maturity much more directly, lacking some of the subtlety of Bambi, it does have its own strengths in respect to how fun and memorable some of these characters are and how well it is able to engage directly with the message it’s trying to get across.

Again, unlike most Disney movies, the message of The Lion King is not a blatant, simplistic or obvious one; we are used to morals such as “don’t judge a book by its cover”, “always be honest” and “be yourself” and while these are all good lessons, they’re also relatively obvious and basic in the way they are conveyed. The Lion King pushes a much more complex message – “Don’t dwell on the past, but don’t run from it either. Accept it and learn from it or you will never be able to move on.” This is a very real problem that people struggle with every day and though obviously not many people watched their father die and blame themselves, most people suffer guilt or regret over mistakes they have made in the past and yearn to go back and change them, unable to accept that what’s done is done and move on with their lives. The movie also deals with the idea of who we are, versus who people expect us to be, which is aptly communicated through great moments such as when young Simba steps forward to join Mufasa, only to find that he has stepped in his father’s footprint, which is literally much too big for him to fill. Simba’s character struggles with a lot of problems that people have to face every day in the real world and the way in which the movie addresses these problems is not patronising or simplistic – The Lion King delivers an honest message about personal identity, overcoming regret and finding peace in a strong and effective manner, without being ham-fisted or overly sentimental.

Nod ya head (the lion’s coming)

The cast is rather large, but mostly well utilised; Simba himself is a relatively interesting protagonist, in that we get to see him as a child and adult – though we do not quite watch him grow and change to the same extent as we do with Bambi, the shift in personality feels very believable and natural. While obviously everyone knows this now, it may have been shocking for audiences at the time to experience the fact that young Simba is kind of a brat: he’s irresponsible, he’s disobedient, he’s arrogant and gets himself and his friends into a lot of trouble, simply because of his pride and need to prove himself. However, rather than being frustrating, this is extremely refreshing, as Disney kids tend to be overly cutesy and innocent and not much else or, if they are annoying, they are clearly not intended to be, so it is even more annoying that we are encouraged to root for them when we so clearly don’t want to; it’s nice to see a kid that is actually... well, a kid. We are SUPPOSED to be annoyed at Simba’s childish behaviour, his actions aren’t excused or celebrated and are actually explicitly addressed by Mufasa and Zazu. Not only that, but Simba must pay the ultimate price for his inability to learn from this, as he spends the second half of the movie dealing with guilt over the fact that his reckless behaviour may have gotten his father killed; the movie does not excuse Simba and allows him to learn from his mistakes and grow into a more responsible and caring person. Adult Simba is a lot more calm and likeable, but has also clearly suffered from confidence issues as a result of his trauma; he is not arrogant anymore, but has gone too far in the other direction and is now unable to have any faith or confidence in himself, afraid that if he does, he will just repeat the biggest mistake of his life. This is really powerful and realistic character development and some of the best Disney has ever displayed, The Lion King doesn’t chart the course of a young boy’s life as thoroughly as Bambi does, but it does capably show the transition from boy to man and the way in which our childhoods can shape us.

The other characters are a bit more stereotypical, but not in a bad way, for the most part anyway. Timon and Pumbaa are a fun, traditional double-act, you can almost see them in an old Road to... movie or something, the way they play off one another is familiar, but it works. The comedy may not be laugh out loud funny and more just cute, but these two are definitely a lot of fun and never really become too obnoxious, even if their role in the climax is a little goofy; these two are alright. Zazu is, of course, a character we’ve seen many times already, the stuffy, pompous killjoy; this is starting to become a rather tiresome concept by this point, but Zazu at least is still pretty good and Rowan Atkinson’s voice, with his famously odd and overly expressive style of pronunciation, is perfectly suited to animation and Zazu doesn’t appear enough to ever get on your nerves. Nala is just boring, there’s really not much to say about her, she basically only exists to be Simba’s love interest and to bring him back to Pride Rock, that’s it; she has no real personality, she’s just dull and really feels there just because Disney felt like Simba NEEDED a girlfriend, which to be honest, I don’t really think he did. Rafiki is a fairly different and unique Disney character; he’s obviously a fairly standard “old and wise but also a little eccentric” mentor character such as Yoda or Mr. Miyagi, but we haven’t really seen this archetype in a Disney movie before so he feels fresh and different here. He only really has one big scene, but he definitely takes charge of that scene as he pretty much encapsulates the entire message of the movie, so despite having limited screen time, his presence is very important and felt throughout the film.

Mufasa is charming and likeable, if a bit too perfect at times, but of course he doesn’t stick around for the whole movie, so this never becomes a problem. He’s similar to the Great Prince of the Forest in his role and the way he commands authority and respect, but he is much gentler and has a lot more time and dialogue; though this means he is not as effective or powerful as the more enigmatic and distant Great Prince of the Forest, it does mean that he is given more of an actual character, so it balances out. The hyenas are pretty standard comic relief villainous sidekicks, but I dunno, I just don’t really find them funny; in fact, they’re kind of annoying to me, I don’t think I really like them. Scar is a very enjoyable villain, even if he is basically just Jafar as a lion – he’s calm, collected, refined, sarcastic, camp, foppish and very devious; like Jafar, he can at times be pathetic and laughable, but at others can be legitimately threatening and frightening, when he displays just how cold and selfish he really is. Scar also takes a lot of inspiration from Shere Khan, his first scene being very similar to one of Shere Khan’s introductory scenes, where he toys with a mouse while waxing poetic, just as Shere Khan does with Kaa. Both characters are very smug and charismatic, they think very highly of themselves and speak as if they’re playing Richard III or Iago (the guy from Othello, not the bird); this makes both characters very fun to watch as they always dominate every scene they’re in and Scar is an interesting twist on this type of character in that he is not nearly as powerful, threatening or respected as he seems to think he is. Though perhaps a bit simplistic, Scar is a charming and memorable villain with a solid motivation and a great sense of style and flair, his animation in particular is probably the best of any character.

‘There is another lion...’
‘Really, Master Rafiki? What’s his name?’
‘His name is... Kimb-’
‘HAHA OK MASTER RAFIKI THAT’S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU’

The songs are... a little hit and miss, some of them are very fun, but Tim Rice struggles to fill Howard Ashman’s shoes as the lyrics suffer and the two “serious” songs really pull down the set as a whole. “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” is upbeat and catchy, the music is really great and the visuals are awesome, the way the colours splash across the screen looks really cool and takes advantage of animation and how it can be used to better transition into musical sequences in a way that few Disney films have really done before, or since. Unfortunately, that playful, intelligent lyricism just isn’t there – the lyrics aren’t bad, some of them are really quite good, but there’s nothing on the same level as the last few musicals. “Hakuna Matata” suffers a similar fate, being just as upbeat and catchy, but just as lacking in clever lyrics; there are still some good moments, such as when adult Simba appears for the first time, jumping in to belt out the last part of the song, which always gives me chills, but there’s just something missing here. “Be Prepared” is the only song of the bunch to really capture that style we’ve seen the last few Disney musicals, with delightfully rhythmic and clever lines such as ‘a shiny new era is tiptoeing nearer’; unfortunately, the rest of the songs are just a little lacking in this department.

But while “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” and “Hakuna Matata” are at least fun, the other two songs don’t even have that going for them – “Circle of Life” is by no means a bad song, it’s very slow and everything, but because it serves as the intro, it works just fine, though this does mean that you can’t really count it as a musical number, it’s more like another part of Hans Zimmer’s score (which incidentally, is fantastic) that happens to have a bit of chanting in it. “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” is the “Whole New World Number” and I’m sorry, but I think it sucks; I know people like this song, but I just don’t get it, I think it’s so maudlin it’s embarrassing. The lyrics are so lazy, the melody so overly sentimental and emotionally manipulative, the subject so completely pointless – why should I care about Simba and Nala? I have seen so little of their interactions, especially since they’ve become adults, where they have only shared one scene and yet I’m not only supposed to believe they’re in love but that it’s some beautiful, great love? Come on. Of all the Disney love songs that seemed to exist just so a pop star could do a cover for the credits, this has got to be one of the worst, not surprising considering it was written by a pop star in the first place! This song is just lame, it’s almost laughably corny and yet it takes itself completely seriously, I just don’t get it. The songs for The Lion King are mostly decent and at least a little fun, but to me, they just fall kind of flat and don’t really fit the tone the movie is trying to create, certainly not in the second half, anyway. I’m not so sure the movie really needed songs, to be honest, but whatever, they’re hardly the worst ever, they’re just okay.

Someone’s gonna feel the love tonight

(Seriously though there’s something really unsettling about how seductive they tried to make a lion look)

At the end of the day, for all its hype and success and nostalgic worship, The Lion King still is what it always was – a very good movie. It successfully juggles playful, light hearted fun with serious personal themes and philosophical discussion in order to craft one of Disney’s more mature and well thought out narratives; this is assisted by really strong character development for the protagonist, who is surrounded by a memorable supporting cast. The animation and, in particular, the little touches to the animation – the colouring, the lighting, the angles – is spectacular and the songs that are fun are very fun, even if they do feel a little irrelevant. It’s a touching, thoughtful and emotionally powerful movie with a lot to love, even if “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” does totally suck.


Other Thoughts:

• Apparently Scar wants to set up the Third Reich.

Nazi Hyenas are our superiors

8/10

Next Week: Pocahontas!

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Twitter: @JSChilds