103 of 1001 Movies: The Lion King (1994)

The Lion King is still as famous as it was when it came out in 1994. The music, the story,  the characters, and the setting all add to the appeal of this Disney movie. It's by far one of their more epic releases from the company. There are tunes you'll still know years later if you heard it as a kid, and the story introduces a lot of themes that can be difficult to discuss with kids, but are handled in a manner that try to appeal to both adults and children. This movie shows why the story has been brought to Broadway and released in theaters in 3-D years later.

Simba is set to take over as the king of Pride Rock for his father, Mufasa, in the future. There is someone else who wants that title though, and who will not stop at anything to get it. Scar is Mufasa's brother, and he feels he should be the king. So he makes a plan with the help of three hyenas, so he can inherit the throne. After the plan is carried out Simba feels responsible for the death of his father, and runs away leaving Scar to be the ruler, and while Simba is away his home is left devastated. New and old friends of Simba's though come together to help battle back for his right to be king.


Interestingly, Disney had what they call a "Renaissance" period, which is when they had a string of cartoons that were the revival of people having interest in watching Disney animation. This began with the movie, The Little Mermaid in 1989. The Lion King is considered one of the higher points of that era though, and understandably so. When watching this movie back now in high definition it is absolutely stunning. There is so much attention to color, and detail that it makes the movie come to life. The animators knew how to perfectly capture the time of days, and those colors reflected back onto the animals themselves. You also have a scene near the end where Simba and Scar battle it out in the fire, and it's amazing how they included the feature of seeing the animals through the fire.

There is also a very good reason this soundtrack has one of the most memorable scores, and that is because Hans Zimmer put it together. The same guy we now know as working with Christoper Nolan for Inception, and the Batman movies put together this score a while ago, and fused his talent for adding to the story, and creating one of the most memorable scores known. He just continues to show why he is good at what he does.

Also, the voice overs are very suiting to the characters. Jonathon Taylor Thomas is the young Simba, and Matthew Broderick sounds like a suiting fit to play the later older Simba. Ernie Sabella and Nathan Lane voice Pumbaa and Timon, probably the two most recognizable voices of the whole movie. Another very notable voice from the movie was James Earl Jones as Mufasa, and Whoopi Goldberg as the hyena, Shenzi.

The Lion King has something for adults and kids to enjoy. As a kid, it is amazing to watch. As someone who was only 5 in 1994, I can still very much recall my anticipation to watch this movie, and even bring it to school to have everyone else watch it. It has appealing characters, an interesting story, and for the short run time it develops itself well. There is a reason this movie has been done in IMAX, 3-D, and put on Broadway, and that is because people still want to keep coming back to it. Don't let being an adult from letting you watch it sometime though.

Rating 8 of 10.