Review 35: The Lion King
Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is a young lion who will one day take over his father Mufasa's (James Earl Jones) place as King. However when Simba's uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons) kills Mufasa, he runs away thinking the whole is his fault. He then becomes friends with a meerkat named Timon (Nathan Lane) and a warthog named Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella) and stays with them for a long time forgetting his past by doing so. Years later Simba now an adult (Matthew Broderick) is found by his childhood friend Nala (Moira Kelly) finds him and tells him Scar has taken over the Pride Lands and Simba realizes he must face his past, defeat Scar and become the rightful king.
The plot is amazing and layerd with so many themes. It's a story about growing up and taking our place in the world. It's also about the wisdom we inherite from our parents and the generations that came before us how sometimes we must discover on our own the value of that wisdom and what we do with it.
At the heart of it all is a story of the emotional relationship between us and our parents and how we respond to that and that the wisdom from our parents and how we move through lives with that wisdom. The Circle of Life that the film brings to the forefront is just as much a Circle of Death: For a child to grow up and become an independent adult, your parents have to get older and eventually pass away.
Learning how to deal with the injustice in our lives is, in fact, something that the Pride Lands has failed to do. They don't acknowledge evil, wrongdoing or ill intentions, it's all ignored and pushed out of sight as greatly symbolised by the Elephant Graveyard the Hyenas inhabit which is explicity rjected by Mufasa. Thanks to his rule, the pride lands are in balance and because of Simba's Infantile omnipotence, he's at the centre of it. Therefore there's no need to prove himself, hence his fascination with the Elephant Graveyard which is where he can defy parental authority and show his bravery.
It's bassicaly Disney's version of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
The Lion King harkens back to Golden Age of Disney. Like Bambi, it uses Animals allegories to tell human stories.
What sets The Lion King apart from other Disney animated films is that it has a far more serious and mature tone. Not just in terms of themes and tone but also in terms of setting, Africa as portrayed in this film is portrayed as beautiful, lush,
It's also a story about a father and a son and all of that is what makes The Lion King unique. It also deals with other themes such as conquring your fears and friendship; Simba must face his past but he's scared to do it, but he's not alone, he has Nala, Pumbaa and Timon to help him.
Finally, The saga of Simba, which in its deeply buried origins owes something to Greek tragedy and certainly to Hamlet, is a learning experience as well as an entertainment.
Directors Roger Aller and Rob Minkoff's animation direction is unobtrusive, the production design is beautiful (creating Africa in the most extraordinary ways, the contenant can be seen and heard in every frame as if it's a character in the story), the scenery is breathtaking, the action set peices are larger than life, (a notable highlight being a blood pumping wilderbeast chase) the score by Hans Zimmer is monumental and deserved that Oscar, the animation is gorgeous (bringing to life the vastness and the wildness of Africa, the colours are rich and vibrant and , it's well paced, the sound is outstanding with animals noises such as galloping Antilope, tooting Elephants, Monkeys jeering and the wind blowing make the Pride Lands feels so much more immersive and alive. The character design is eye-catching (All sorts of African animals are drawn and bought to life with impecably imaculate detail); the songs ("Circle of Life", "Hakuna Matata", "Morning Report", "Be Prepared" and "I Just Can't Wait to Be King") by Elton John and Time Rice are mindblowing and the ending was superb.
The whole voice cast is wonderful, Matthew Broderick is great as Simba. Simba starts out as a young lion cub who is born to be king of his pride and has to go through a lot difficulties to get there and believe in himself before he can become what he is fated to be.
Following the death of Mufasa, his journey is about learning how to reckon with the role of pain and injustice in his life. He flees the Pride Lands where he befriends Timon and Pumbaa and just wants to live a carefree life away from all responsibilities. Because of the guilt of supposedly being the cause of Mufasa's death, it makes it easy for him to embrace that life and surpress his feelings.
The tradgedy of his situation is that he's been given no means of adressing the unpleasent apart from running away from it and he starts acting like a different animal than he really is. Having to deal with that trauma at such a young age is
relief from the trauma, and that is why Hakuna Matata was the perfect idea to help him out. He needed Timon and Pumba's philosophy of Hakuna Matata to heal until he entered an age where he was strong enough to confront Scar.
Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella are funny as Timon and Pumbaa. Through them, Simba learns of the joys of the Jungle.
Moira Kelly is luminous and lovely as Nala
James Earl Jones is excellent as Mufasa. His voice proves to be an ideal fit for
Rowen Atkinson is wonderful as Zazu
Robert Guillaume lends a great deal of wisdom and playing Rafiki. Rafiki is the High Preist/Wise Man of the Animal Kingdom. He translates and reminds Simba of Mufasa's guidence to help him become a fully realised self.
Jeremy Irons is a simply magnificent villain playing Scar, Murfasa's brother and Simba's uncle. Envious of his brother and his newborn nephew Simba which causes him to lose his position as next in line to the throne so he seeks to to take it by force. Once he does that, his rule leads to a famine, because he's uncaring that he is sentencing everyone to death. He represents that bitterness of holding on to resentment of hardships we've experienced.
The Lion King is one of those films that lives within your heart until the day you die, 5/5.
The Anonymous Critic
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