Disney's The Lion King (1994)

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So this is one of those movies I do not seem to agree with the majority opinion on. The Lion King is pretty commonly seen as one of the best animated Disney films, whereas I feel the movie is just okay. Following the story of Simba, he is a fairly rambunctious lion cub who will one day become the King of the Pride Lands. His Uncle Scar, of course, has his plans to eventually take the throne for himself.

The early stages of the movie are where the show is at its strongest. It does a great job establishing the relationship of Simba and Mufasa, his father, and it feels like an actual parent-child relationship. Despite being lions, the characters feel very human. Even his relationship with Nala, another young female cub, feels very genuine. The show does a great job building up its cast, establishing relationships, and setting up for the big events to come. Even the visuals are great in the early goings of the show. Going from all the vibrant colors of the pride land to the Mammoth Graveyard, so devoid of life, is a great visual to have.

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However, I don't think these positive aspects carry on past the beginning of the film. Very minor spoiler here, because I think so few people don't know this happens regardless of if you've seen the film, Mufasa dies and Scar makes Simba believe he was responsible for it, so Simba runs away. After meeting Timon and Pumba, this is where the movie starts to go down for me. They act as comic relief and most of the jokes just aren't funny. Pumba is just a string of fat and fart jokes. I do like some good old-fashioned fart jokes, but none of these are particularly good, and if you take them away Pumba barely exists as a character.

Then there is the re-appearance of Nala from his childhood. Where their relationship felt very natural as kids, after the time-skip they meet up again for the first time and suddenly they are a romantic thing. Then suddenly Rafiki, the Baboon from the opening scene, appears and meets Simba for the first time since birth. It is this random monkey that Simba knows nothing about dispenses his wisdom that Simba finally returns to the Pride-lands to save everyone from Scar. The show went from a lot of great pacing and setup to things just kind of happening one after another.

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There are things in this movie to love though. Scar himself is fantastic the entire time he is on screen. Like most Disney villains he lacks any kind of depth, but he does his thing so well. The way he moves and speaks shows how highly he values himself over others, as well as showing off just how much he loves being this way. It's a great mix of arrogance and a deceitful aura that works perfectly. And despite how he just talks the villain song instead of singing it, Be Prepared is one of Disney's best songs.

By the end of the movie I just didn't feel like the movie kept up the promise from the early parts of it. Everything up to, and including, the death of Mufasa is great. Everything after just feels like a quick series of events happening and then the movie ends. There a whole lot to say about it because it feels like barely anything happened. I do find myself liking Scar a lot more now than I did when I originally saw the movie, but aside from that, I don't see why it ended up being considered one of Disney's best.



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4 comments
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This is one of Disney's most classic and amazing works. I really love this movie (in so many ways).

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This movie is one of the best among Disney classics for me, how to forget it? With its teaching that not everyone in the family is looking out for your well being.

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This movie is one the most popular coming from Disney. As for me, this movie is a bit of tearjearky.

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I was never a huge fan of Lion King or Beauty and the Beast. On the other hand, I absolutely loved Aladdin. One of my all time favorite Disney animated movies.