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THE LION KING (Dir: Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff).
The 1990s Disney Animation renaissance continued with The Lion King, their biggest hit (when adjusted for inflation) to date.
The movie tells the story of young lion and future king Simba (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a juvenile and Matthew Broderick as an adult). Simba’s father Mufasa (James Earl Jones) is killed by his brother and Simba’s uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons). Scar leads Simba to be believe he is responsible for Mufasa’s death and goes into hiding. Believing Simba has been killed by Hyenas, Scar takes his place as king of the Pride Lands. However, Simba is rescued by comic relief duo meerkat Timon (Nathan Lane) and warthog Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella). When adult Simba learns of his uncle’s despotic machinations he returns to fight Scar, reclaim his crown and restore order to the Pride Lands.
Majestic seems a fitting word for The Lion King. Recalling earlier classic The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967) with its animal cast, particularly in the characterisation of Scar, a upper-crust Disney villain in the Sheer Khan mode. The movie feels both fresh, in its break from the fairytale genre, yet classic Disney with its anthropomorphised animal antics.
It is easily one of the Studio’s most visually appealing features of the 1990s. It’s beautiful backgrounds of African landscapes is the match of the superior character animation. This is highlighted particularly in the opening scene as the African animal populous gathers to welcome the newly born Simba to the Pride Lands. So impressed were the Disney execs by this scene, that it was used wholesale as the movie’s trailer. Happily the rest of the film has no problem in living up to this breathtaking beginning.
With outstanding animation, excellent voice work and a handful of hit songs by Tim Rice and Elton John, The Lion King reigns as one of Disney’s greatest post-Walt animated feature films.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for a longer, more in-depth review of The Lion King. Link in bio.
THE LION KING (Dir: Jon Favreau, 2019).
Disney’s reboot binge continues with yet another high tech adaptation of an animated classic, this time renaissance era blockbuster The Lion King (Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff, 1994).
As I am certain you are aware, The Lion King tells the story of young lion and future king Simba (voiced by Donald Glover). Simba's father Mufasa (a returning James Earl Jones) is killed by his brother and Simba's uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Scar leads Simba to believe he is responsible for Mufasa's death and goes into hiding. Believing Simba has been killed by hyenas, Scar takes his place as king of the Pride Lands. However, Simba is rescued by comic relief duo meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen). When Simba's hideout is discovered by cub-hood pal Nala (Beyoncé) she tells him of his uncle's despotic machinations. The two lions, with Timon and Pumbaa in tow, return to fight Scar and reclaim the crown.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BELLS MOVIE TIME! Link below.
THE LION KING II: SIMBA’S PRIDE (Dir: Darrell Rooney, 1998).
Walt Disney Pictures' The Lion King (Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff, 1994) would prove a massive hit for the studio. A straight-to-video follow-up was put into production almost immediately, eventually hitting Blockbuster shelves four years after the original.
Simba is now the over-protective father of cub Kiara, born at the end of the first film. When venturing into the forbidden Outlands, the curious cub encounters social outcast and heir to disgraced Uncle Scar's pride, Kovu. They strike a friendship which eventually turns to forbidden romance as Kovu's outcast family plan to use the pair to get to Simba and overthrow the king.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
THE LION KING 1 1/2 aka THE LION KING 3: HAKUNA MATATA (Dir: Bradley Raymond, 2004).
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME to read a longer, more in-depth review of THE LION KING 1 1/2! Link in bio. The third and final feature in Disney’s original Lion King trilogy; burdened with the clunky and less witty title The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata internationally.
Just as Tom Stoppard’s 1966 play Rosencrantz and Guidenstern Are Dead retold William Shakespeare’s Hamlet from the perspective of the comic supporting characters, so too The Lion King 1 1/2 relates the Hamlet inspired The Lion King (Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff, 1994) from the point of view of co-stars Timon and Pumbaa. A neat framing device of Timon and Pumbaa watching and commenting on the original movie introduces the fairly novel conceit and also provides us with their hitherto untold backstories.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
