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The
Lion King (1994)
Since it's return to producing animated feature length
films with "The Little Mermaid" in 1989, Disney has
alternated between films of high quality and interesting
stories and typical Saturday morning cartoon fare. With
both genres too, music is always an integral part of
the story. And so, sandwiched between the average "Aladdin"
and the drab "Pocahontas," was "The Lion King," meant
to be another of the film-house's epic animated tales.
The opening sequence shows us that this will be one
of Disney's more elite productions. Every animal in
the world seems depicted on screen as Elton John and
Tim Rice's "The Circle of Life" is sung over an Africa
chant-like soundtrack. The sequence is so grandiose
and so overpowering that one cannot help but be a little
emotional as it plays out before us. The lyrics nicely
set up the supposed theme of the film as the beautiful,
lush, colorful images appear to flow across the screen.
When the song ends abruptly, at a powerful point in
the animated sequence, and a loud drum beat turns the
screen to black, the title of the film also appears.
These are the only opening credits we see.
As the film unspools, the visuals will continue to
be enjoyable. The animation here paints with all the
colors of the forest to bring this false, tropical paradise
to the screen. We can almost smell the fresh air, it
is that vivid. The individual characters are all reasonably
drawn with young Simba, a lion cub and the main character,
easily the most likable Disney animal since Sebastion
in "The Little Mermaid."
The songs, however, are not as impressive as we might
hope. John sings none of the tunes; Instead the characters
do most of the singing themselves. Jonathan Taylor Thomas
(of TV's "Home Improvement") provides a wonderful voice
for Simba but the cub's singing voice is dubbed by Jason
Weaver. Jeremy Irons, Ernie Sambella, Nathan Lane, Cheech
Marin and Whoopi Goldberg, however, provide both dialogue
and singing voices for their characters and these make
most of the songs cacophonous messes. John's "Circle
of Life" may be covered well in the beginning of the
film but his "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is destroyed
here. "I Just Can't Wait to be King" sounds okay, mainly
thanks to Weaver, but this is the only time the characters
add to a song in the film. Finally, it must be mentioned
that a song like "Be Prepared" would be discarded because
of it's horrible music on any other Disney project.
It's inclusion here drags the film to a grinding halt.
For what it's worth, the soundtrack score by Hans Zimmer
(who either riffs off of John or has John riff off of
him) adds several nice touches to the film.
While the animation in the film is of high quality
and the songs are, for the most part, at least passable,
the plot itself is quite deplorable. Based on some typical
Shakespearian tragedy, the film has an evil lion, Scar.
As the kings brother, and therefore Simba's uncle, he
thinks he should be on the thrown. For the first 20
minutes of the film he tries to kill the young heir.
When he is unsuccessful, he settles for knocking off
the king and scaring Simba out of the town, so to speak.
In a scene that pays homage to "Bambi," another sorrowful
death scene is played out here with another young innocent
being exposed to the harsh realities of death. Simba,
caught in a plot by Scar which makes him feel guilty,
flees the jungle (or at least his little piece of it).
If this wasn't disturbing enough, also along the way
appear the lowly and evil Hyenas (voiced by Whoopi and
Cheech) to further scare the little kiddies by chasing
and then trying to kill Simba. We are constantly forced
to watch them either taunt or lie in wait for the young
cub. Pretty disquieting stuff.
Simba, on the lam, meets Poombah and Timmon, a homosexual
pipsqueak and his flatulent warthog friend. These guys
are the comic relief in the film (as fat guys and homos
usually are) and proved so popular with the kiddies
that they actually got their own TV show spun-off from
the film. As much as Simba didn't "get" Scar, he doesn't
seem to understand this duo either. Since they are supposedly
harmless, Simba spends his formative years around them
as time passes in an eye blink.
Eventually, Simba has a romantic love interest, in
a grown up girlfriend (voiced by Moira Kelly) who leads
him back to his home to dethrone Scar and take his rightful
place as king of the jungle. In the film's closing moments,
a newborn cub is raised to the sky once again, as Simba
was in the opening sequence of the film, to be acknowledged
as the new heir apparent. "The Circle of Life" plays
once again as young children are lead to believe that
the only "life" that matters is monarchial political
systems and heterosexual reproduction. Another wonderful
familial message from the folks at Disney.
The plethora of familiar voices may please movie-goers
with Matthew Broderick (as the grown Simba), Rowan Atkinson
and Robert Guillaume (TV's Benson) in the cast in addition
to the aforementioned stars, but none is more noticeable
than James Earl Jones. In what becomes a laughable point
in the film, Jones, who is the voice of Simba's father,
the deceased king, speaks to Simba from the sky. Jones,
of course, has one of the most recognizable voices in
the biz. When we hear him speak, especially without
seeing him - as we do here, we can't help but think
of Darth Vader, the character he voiced in "Star Wars"
in the 70's. When Jones speaks to Simba from beyond
the grave in "The Lion King" we can't help but expect
him to intone, "Remember the force, Simba." Sadly, he
doesn't.
"The Lion King" is another one of those Disney cartoons
that kids love even though it's not worthy of their
admiration. Consider the political implications. Think
about how it treats those in our society who are different.
Keep in mind that it's no accident that Scar is condemned
for making the women in the tribe hunt once he is king.
What sort of anti-feminist statement is this? "The Lion
King" may have great animation and likable songs, especially
when performed solo by John on the soundtrack, but it
doesn't have nice themes. Is this the kind of story
you want ingrained into your children's subconscious?
Remember, it's "The Lion King," not "The Lion President."
Note: Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkof. Screenplay
by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton.
17 writers worked on the story. Lebo M did most of the
vocal arrangements with Andre Crouch also credited.
Review written in 1996
Report
Card
Script:
F
Voice Characterizations: A-
Animation: A+
Originality: F
Music: C+
Final
Grade: D-
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