Directors: Rob Minkoff, Roger Allers
Original Release: 1994
Choice: Our Girl's
My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5
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| via Wikipedia |
The Lion King is the highest-grossing hand-drawn animated film of all-time. I did not know that until this weekend. I suppose it's easy to understand. The visuals are absolutely breathtaking. Some of the artists traveled to Hell's Gate National Park in Kenya for research on the setting. Our Girl chose this one because she watched part of it at her after-school program and wanted to see the rest.
The story, very loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, is... okay. Simba is a lion cub, heir to his father Mufasa, king of the pride. A jealous uncle, Scar, contrives to kill Mufasa and take the throne himself. While Scar had hoped to knock off Simba at the same time, the cub survives and Scar convinces him to run away in fear of being blamed for his father's death. Simba takes up with a meerkat and a warthog in a life of leisure and anonymity. However, Nala, an old friend, finds him and brings him back to challenge Scar and claim the throne.
The film's score is composed by Hans Zimmer but the real musical star of the show is Elton John, who wrote the songs, lyrics by Tim Rice. Confession: I love Elton John. I know he's been much parodied over the years - by himself as much as by anyone else - but he and his lyricist Bernie Taupin certainly have to be considered one of the great song writing teams in the history of popular music. The songs I like best I love for the lyrics so maybe it's Taupin I really like. Still, no one on earth makes a simple chord change sound as impressive as Elton John does. The Lion King songs are good but they rank far below the duo's best work from the '70s. Here's my favorite, a song which expresses my own feelings about New York perfectly:
The movie's fun, though definitely better for kids than for adults. When I asked how she liked it, Our Girl got that dreamy look in her eye. I expect this one will come around again in the rotation.
I still remember sitting in the theater for some other movie, watching the trailers, and then the trailer for The Lion King began. This is the first time I'd ever heard of it. The trailer was the entire beginning sequence, up until Mufasa holds up Baby Simba and the screen goes black and the title shows on the screen. Talk about priming your audience! It convinced me to go see it just on that alone.
ReplyDeleteChelsea at the time was just 3 or 4, and she loves the movie to this day, and we both love the soundtrack - I still know all the words to all the songs, because we listened to it over and over. But I never watched the movie after that one time. Mufasa's death traumatized me - not kidding. It didn't seem to bother my kid at all, and now my niece and nephew watches it as well. I don't get it.
It certainly dazzles the senses. I was impressed the first time I saw it but I don't feel it holds up as well to repeated viewings as other Disney flicks.
DeleteYes, The Lion King Is a huge favorite at the time although I have not watched it since watching it many times with my children. In 1994
ReplyDeleteWe even when out afterwards and bought the sound track. Daughter was crazy about Pumbaa and Timon. She even had cards and would cut out the characters and make pin of them and yes I wore mine.
Daughter had studied Meekats an knew everything about them and you must admit that Warthog was a cutie.
I think the time when the movie came out was very close to us. Having lost our home the cat and all of our possessions in a wildfire October 1993 we had nothing but us the family. This was a nice diversion.
I like Remembering Grace, thought the trailer was outstanding. The music at part where the screen when blank was the hook !
cheers, parsnip
I can certainly understand how this movie would be important to your family, being connected to such a traumatic event.
DeleteI'm not nor have I ever been a fan of The Lion King. I hate the death scene. It's always just seemed ridiculous to me. It's unfortunate, because I love Hamlet, but, for being based on it, I've looked at this one as a complete failure. I'd probably only give it a 2.
ReplyDeleteI also love Hamlet and fail to see Lion King as any more than a faint echo. The artwork, however, is undeniably stunning.
DeleteMaybe? I don't know. I've always been more drawn in (heh) by the story than the art. So back when everyone was going all ape over McFarlane and Spawn because of the art, I was throwing up because of the story and writing. Then again, maybe it's just been too long since I watched Lion King.
DeleteMe, too, which is why this is a 3 and not higher. For me, a 2 is a movie I don't even want to finish. Lion King's basically harmless.
DeleteA 2 is something I'll watch but I'm not really happy doing it.
DeleteA 1 is please turn this off now before I have to shoot myself in the head. Or something. Gouge my eyes out. I don't know.
I'm generous with 3s, but stingy with 4s and 5s.
DeleteSaw this with a group of co-workers, all had children and it was a blast. But yeah, the habit if killing off parents is popular - even I use it! LOL
ReplyDeleteI saw it with fellow regression-happy 20-somethings and we certainly enjoyed it - best on a big screen.
DeleteDid Zimmer do the score for Blade Runner? No, never mind. That was Vangelis. (An excellent OST.)
ReplyDeleteHans Zimmer: the guy you call when John Williams is unavailable.
DeleteHe's done well over a 100 scores but now that I look at the list, not many I remember for the score alone. Lion King is his only Oscar.
If Williams is not available, you don't just call someone else. You grieve your great misfortune and adjust your vision to the loss accordingly.
DeleteNo doubt! There are some new faces in the film score crowd but, as yet, no one who with Williams's amazing gift for writing themes as iconic as the stories themselves.
DeleteThis was pretty much the culmination of the Pre Pixar Disney Renaissance (PPDR!), released just a few years after it was completely natural for me to be enjoying these movies (my favorite from the era will always be Aladdin, although from the days after Lion King, The Emperor's New Groove, followed by the surprisingly bouncy Hercules, which is probably well on its way to being completely forgotten, unfortunately, and then Mulan).
ReplyDeleteI have a higher opinion of it than you do. Not a hugely greater opinion, but not nearly as borderline dismissive, even considering that my perspective may be coming from nostalgia's sake.
Critically I think it works better than you're willing to admit. Hamlet or not it's still better at being Disney than most of what people consider traditionally Disney, especially as the whole destiny aspect goes. Simba's relationship with his dead father especially strikes me as continually evocative, especially the scene with Rafiki ("Correction: I knooow your fatha"), perhaps one of the most endearingly spiritual moments in all of film, more successful in that vein than anything Pixar has done since, the blatantly manipulative moments of Wall-E (which is to say basically all of it) or the increasingly maudlin Toy Story series (although to me the second remains the highlight no matter what people say about the third).
And you've got James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons. Two actors, especially voice actors, who can do no wrong. Sometimes I appreciate the acting above everything else, and am not afraid to admit it. A good performance, or performer, can salvage anything.
Then again, I'm also surprised that you gush all over Elton John and are not even willing to admit that The Lion King may very well be worth praising just for that. Because for some people, that's pretty much the only thing there is to talk about with this movie, and in some ways they're right about that, too. At a time when Disney was all but banking all their animated movies on the strength of the songs and who they could get to do them, this remains the standout, and that alone says something.
Ha! I should get out of the way and let you and Andrew have it out over this one. I certainly did not expect such controversy.
DeleteFirst, to clarify my own position: the overall production value of this film is top notch. Visuals are stunning. The voice cast is one of the best ever. The songs are great. The story is fine, just not enough to leave me wanting more.
To expand on my Elton John position, I deliberately avoided a broader discussion on this in the post but since you're calling me out now... During the summer of '94, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" was the song that would not go away. That was part of the formula during the Disney Renaissance - pick one song, usually the end credit piece, as the standard bearer. Even with a strong overall soundtrack, the one song would lead the way to CD sales and Academy Awards. It was the same dependable formula Broadway musicals had followed for decades: plug the showstopper. As a result, it's difficult for me to hear that song without an eyeroll. "Circle of Life" and "Hakuna Matata" are both better songs and, because they weren't so ubiquitous at the time, have aged better in my ears.
Sir Elton's music in general from that era was certainly good but also heavily formulaic. When I think of the Elton John songs I love, it's the older stuff.
It was a period where he was considering his career all but over, where he was a legacy act. But I think the success of this material convinced him to rededicate himself. And he has new material even this year!
DeleteOh... you're a fan, too! I'll admit I haven't followed his career much since. I do admire him tremendously. He's one of those people in the biz - along with Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana - who could probably call just about anyone tomorrow and arrange a collaboration.
DeleteI haven't seen this in decades but it brings back great memories for me. I took my nephew to see it in the theater when he was 4 years old, and he was so completely enthralled with it he jumped up from his chair and clapped when the movie ended. It was so cute and I can still see him there. I enjoyed it too and love the songs.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter's reaction was sweet, too. It's a different movie through the eyes of a child. That much is certainly clear to me. I have no doubt she'll request it again.
DeleteA classic film. I didn't know it was based on Hamlet. I'm glad they skipped a few parts from the play.
ReplyDeleteHaha! Yes, a lot more of the characters survive for starters - certainly an improving adaptation for a younger audience.
DeleteHonestly, I think the Hamlet thing has been overplayed. Yes, the fratricide element is there but the reluctance of Simba to seek revenge arises from a misunderstanding, not a moral/ethical/existential dilemma. The best thing LK's story has going for it is that it's beautifully simple, drawing from quite a lot of classic narrative elements.
I love the Lion King. It's one of my favourites.
ReplyDelete(and I love Elton John too)
Thanks, Lynda.
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