Winner of two Academy Awards for Best Music, both Original Score and Original Song, The Lion King would have won Best Picture had it not been an animated film. Arguably the greatest full-length animated Disney feature of all time, The Lion King is a drama of epic proportions, and a film that forever extended the boundaries of the animation genre. Hans Zimmer creates an original score that is second to none in cinematic history, and Elton John’s hit single “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” swept the nation upon the film’s release. With powerful and often mesmerizing visual sequences, the use of a timeless plot device, and brilliant direction, the film will stand the test of time as one of the best movies ever produced.
The Lion King takes place in Pride Rock, a serene jungle paradise on the African plain. In Pride Rock, every animal lives as part of a harmonious ecosystem, ruled by the greatest animal of all, the strongest and wisest lion, King Mufasa. When Mufasa’s wife gives birth to the lion cub Simba, the young heir’s Uncle Scar hatches a plot to overthrow his brother and take the kingdom by force. Forming a conspiracy with a pack of wild hyenas, Scar’s evil plan is to lure Simba and Mufasa into a valley where the hyenas stir up a herd of wildebeests which end up trampling Mufasa and leaving him clinging for his life on the edge of a cliff. With Mufasa’s life hanging in the balance, Scar seizes the opportunity to send his brother hurling to a bloody death.
With the king gone, and Simba too young to defend the kingdom, Scar and the hyenas ascend to power. Pride Rock is soon reduced to a desolate wasteland as its newest rulers ravage the landscape, while Simba is forced into exile. Fleeing to a faraway land free of predators, Simba befriends Pumbaa and Timon, a warthog and meerkat who live carefree lives feasting on grubs and insects. But as time passes, a chance encounter reunites Simba with his childhood destiny. Can Simba return to Pride Rock and reclaim his rightful position as king, or will he succumb to the temptations of an easy life, free from conflict and responsibility?
Widely regarded as the greatest animated film in Disney’s arsenal, and certainly the best of the computer-generated era, The Lion King is a cinematic masterpiece in any medium. If you tend to shy away from animated films as childlike or simply just not your cup of tea, you would be well advised to make an exception for The Lion King. It’s quite simply an extraordinary epic, replete with dazzling choreography, well-blended musical scores, and characters the audience loves to root for. In one particular scene, the Disney animators’ use of Leni Riefenstahl’s patented camera angles to capture the hyenas marching in lock-step under the singular review of Scar creates an abundance of subconscious images reminiscent of Hitler and the Third Reich. This illusion plants a manifestation of evil in the mind of the viewer that is instantly connected to Scar and his evil intentions. That’s the type of symbolic and all-engrossing power Disney utilizes in this wonderful masterpiece – loved by children, yet replete with deeply probing themes and breathtaking visual images for the adult audience—a perfect 10 of a movie.
Britt's Rating: 10.0/10
Article comments
1 - Shark
Hate to rain on your naive, tasteless, ill-informed parade, but to anyone with a brain, this movie is a massive piece of shit. The implicit messages -- mostly about aristocracy, conformity, patriarchy, & misc. Christoid/God crap -- are despicable.
Best irony: the predators, prey, and competitors along the food chain singing "Can You Feel The Love Tonight".
Oy. I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty melon baller than to watch this piece of facist propaganda.
Shark's Tag Line = "The Lion King: Leni Riefenstahl meets Walt Disney at the San Diego Zoo"
2 - troll
child programs program children...Disney or Sesame Street - choose your poison
troll
3 - Drizzt
All of u are sadist this is a great movie
4 - lionkingboy
this movie is good u all suck, conformists
bye
5 - jameson
Great movie... [Gratuitous vulgarity deleted by Comments Editor] shark u are suck how can u tell anything about "about aristocracy, conformity, patriarchy," if u don;t even know what is it!don't U? i bet u u've been crying like a baby watching it. do not be shy!! it's touching and that's the point. [Gratuitous vulgarity deleted by Comments Editor]
6 - tiff sharpley
the lion king is the best movie ever all [Gratuitous vulgarity deleted by Comments Editor] say other wise are jelous [Gratuitous vulgarity deleted by Comments Editor].
7 - Keely
I like how u hav put your review together. I agree with everything u hav said in it!
8 - kay
this is the BEST disney by far. it is so good, so shut up all you people who hate it.
9 - Rae
i have to say one of my favorite disney movies. Great movie in general and the music is fenominal!
10 - Shawn
I LOVE THIS MOVIE IT IS AN INSTANT CLASSIC. SHARK IS A DUMBASS
11 - becca and jade
oiii shark at the top you friggin idiot you can gorge your eyes out with a melon whatever as much as you want to you morbid little sod i like lion king and i bet im older than you you fukin numskull shut up!!!!! carry on sayin lion king is shit and ill shit on your head
12 - Ruvy
Becca and Jade,
Shark is a lot older than the both of you put together. Now that he is back commenting here, I'll let him mash up with his own teeth, though.
And Shark, ever late to the party that I am, I'll tell you this much. We milked that film for all it was worth in raising our kids.
It talks about responsibility, self recognition, understanding oneself, fulfilling one's duty. Whatever that is, it's not fascism. It's the core of values that maked decent young men out of children. And that is what I see today - two young men who are responsible, understand themselves, seek to fulfill their duty, AND WHO ARE NOT LIKE A LOT OF AMERICAN KIDS - SPOILED MALL RATS WHO NEED SEX, CIGARETTES AND OTHER STRONGER DRUGS FOR ENTERTAINMENT, AND WHO ARE AS DEEP AS AN EVAPORATING MUD-HOLE!
13 - Hannah
you have my total agreement with everything you have announced about the lion king.
people before me, have no idea, even if a good movie hit them on the forehead !
14 - Jenny
You all smell this movie is da best!!!!!!!!!!!
15 - Brendan
I love this movie! It's The best movie ever!
16 - Brodie
Best film of my childhood. Love it. Fair enough to those who dont like it though.