Since Mickey Mouse was whistling and sailing on his Steamboat Disney has been making tons of classic animated films and while not everything they make is simply perfect, there is one exception to my time watching Disney films. Some films come to mind that look incredible and are considered “the greatest animated film ever”. Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Fantasia; these are some of the films that are considered one of or the greatest single animated film ever but sadly they aren’t. Now this isn’t me being biased and from the obvious title of this review you can tell by now that I consider The Lion King as the greatest Disney animated film ever but also the greatest animated film ever. I was considering reviewing this film after reviewing The Dark Knight and I took a different route and reviewed the live action version instead. But I said in that review that I can’t even review the original 1994 film because I will say it is a perfect animated film and that it is 5 out of 5 stars and I still stand by that opinion. But while I did just give away my final rating of this film I still want to review the film and give it justice but also I never actually said why it is a perfect 5 out of 5 star animated film. I vaguely said why I loved the film so much when I ranked all 60 Disney films but I only explained it in a short paragraph. So why am I reviewing this film and not a film that I saw back in 2022 that I planned on reviewing but will be coming next because it truly loved the film and if you haven’t seen my story on Instagram or my Top 10 Best Movies of 2022 video on my YouTube then well I guess this is the best way of saying I’m going to review The Whale; but yeah why am I reviewing The Lion King? Well I guess it’s because I felt like it was time to review the film and I also just want too. The Lion King was one of the first few films I watched a baby and have been watching since I could begin walking and talking. So why not finally review my favorite Disney animated film/animated film ever. I guess it is time to finally explain to the world why The Lion King is The Greatest Animated Film Ever.
Now look I have seen this movie so many times. Like I said I watched it since I was beginning to walk and talk so we will say age one and if I could be honest with the amount of times I watched it an actual general answer I would say is probably about a million times and no I am not over exaggerating as I am being one hundred percent serious. Maybe I am but at the same time I’m probably not. I actually didn’t ever want to review this film too because while I knew the reasons why I truly loved this film I actually didn’t know how I would fully explain it and well after many years of thinking hard about it and fully thinking about it I finally can say that it is time.
1994’s The Lion King was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. Allers helped write the story of Oliver and Company and Aladdin; was a storyboard artist on The Little Mermaid; was a head of the story for Beauty and the Beast and also directed Open Season. Not the greatest track record after The Lion King but he still had his name in some of Disney’s most incredible films. Minkoff was an animator for The Great Mouse Detective, The Black Cauldron and The Little Mermaid. His directing credits are kind of impressive as he directed both Stuart Little and Stuart Little 2, The Haunted Mansion, Mr. Peabody and Sherman and Paws of Fury. It’s crazy to be thinking this but man they both didn’t have any good films to say they directed after The Lion King but man was this one perfect. I can’t just give credits to the directors as the writing and animators and storyboard artists all did a fantastic job. But because that is a long list I will say they all did fucking great and move on to the main cast. The cast of this film is fantastic from beginning to end. The film stars Matthew Broderick (Simba), Jonathon Taylor Thomas (Young Simba), Jeremy Irons (Scar), James Earl Jones (Mufasa), Moira Kelly (Nala), Niketa Calame (Young Nala), Nathan Lane (Timon), Ernie Sabella (Pumbaa), Robert Guillaume (Rafiki), Rowan Atkinson (Zazu), Madge Sinclair (Sarabi), Whoopi Goldberg (Shenzi), Cheech Marin (Bonzai) and Jim Cummings (Ed). Finally I wanted to show my love and appreciation to three men who made this movie feel so special. First off we have Tim Rice and Elton John. Without them we wouldn’t have such an incredible soundtrack with songs like Can You Feel the Love Tonight and Hakuna Matata. But then we have Hans Zimmer. Rain Man, The Prince of Egypt, Mission Impossible 2, Gladiator, The Dark Knight, Inception, 12 Years a Slave, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Blade Runner 2049, Dune, Top Gun: Maverick; yeah this man has a pretty solid line up of films and reasons why he is legit a fucking legend and goat and this movie would had been maybe less than perfect without his musical talent.
Now how else do we begin talking about this movie? I guess let’s talking about the most perfect beginning to any film known to man and talk about the Circle of Life. When you first see the beginning of this scene you see the sun rising and the colors begin to lighten up on screen and we see different species of animals also rise as they are moving forward looking at a distance, looking at something that we are unsure of but atlas they are walking towards something. I used moving forward for a reason and will talk about this later on in the review but for now let’s continue on. Each moment in the scene where we have a wide shot or close up of the animals rising or moving/walking they look beautiful and the colors in each moment in the scene are vibrant. Hell I would honestly say the sun rising, the birds flying across a waterfall and even a close up of ants walking on a tree branch then changing focus to the background zebras walking across a path of land is so gorgeous and lifelike. Each moment of the first half of the scene is so beautiful and colorful and the way the animators/storyboard artists put together this scene is pure perfection. Oh and the song “Circle of Life” playing in the background literally is a perfect/beautiful work of art. All of this is just in the first minute and 30 seconds of the film and already I am engaged with the film and want more. The film didn’t need to go this hard with such an incredible ballad of Circle of Life and beautiful imagery of animals waking up and moving towards something or even the sun rising. But what comes next is even more incredible as we are introduced to some of our main characters, Mufasa, Zazu, Sarabi, Rafiki and Simba. While we are introduced to them we are introduced to them without introduction or explaining who they are. All we need to know is they are the animals we will follow in this part of the film but this little cub, Simba, he is important to the entire film. He will be the center of the film. Now if you, like me, have seen this film too many times to count or even if you understand film then you know this fact already but these animators, storytellers, they already know that you know this but they wanted to show you how incredible they can make an introduction be and they did that but times it by a million. They used incredible animation, a background song that goes hard for no reason, no dialogue at all to say who these characters are and how important they are in not only the story but to this little cub named Simba. We don’t even know the characters names until the beginning, hell we don’t even know Rafiki’s name and how important of a role he plays on Simba’s character until the middle of the film but it is in this scene we are introduced to the main focus of the film and of course the Circle of Life. This scene is iconic and you can try and argue with me but you won’t win this argument, the Circle of Life is such an incredible and perfect way to begin any film. I’m only three minutes into this movie and not only am I won over by the animation, music and opening scene but I am already in love with the film and it didn’t even have its first line of dialogue, I still don’t know the characters names at this point and I’m not even sure what the film will be about. I am won over and in love with the film 3 minutes into this movie, noting more perfect than that.
Let’s talk about Scar now shall we. I consider Scar the best Disney villain of all time. Now there are some big names on this list as there is Maleficent, Hades, Frollo, Jafar, Ursula, etc, but yet Scar somehow remains my number one. Now it’s not me being bias because of my love for this movie but it is because he is purely evil, selfish, an asshole, a man on a mission, a dictator if you will believe that statement, but how can a lion who wants to be king and the only way to do that is not only kill your brother but also kill your nephew just so you can be known as a “king”, how can that not be evil in any way but also not prove why he is the greatest Disney villain ever. I mean for god sakes Be Prepared is such an incredible villain song and it literally makes Scar look and feel like Adolf Hitler…one of the most evil human beings in the world. Yes I just compared a Disney animated lion to Hitler and news flash I’m not the only one. But it is only in the song I am comparing Scar to Hitler as the rest of the movie Scar proves why he is one of the most perfect villains in the history of Disney. Scar even has the first line of the film and while that isn’t a bad thing but the reason it is like this is because we were already introduced to our heroes and center pieces of the film now we need to see our final center piece but also our ace of spades, our antagonist and the reason why I call him the ace of spades is because without Scar this film really won’t feel as successful. Now you can say that about anyone or anything in the film but Scar holds each of these points in the film; power, success, good fortune and death. He holds the power of the film’s rising action/climax as without him Simba wouldn’t have gone to the Elephant bone yard and also then be the reason why Mufasa was killed. Success comes in multiple ways in this film as you can see it as without Scar’s success of killing Mufasa and also making Simba believe he was the reason Mufasa died then his plan of becoming king wouldn’t have been successful but also without Scar the success of Simba’s triumph in the end wouldn’t have happened as he held the fate of the film in his hands or in this case paws. Then there is good fortune and while like I said before he becomes successful but it was stroke of luck that Mufasa, a wise king in his own right wouldn’t have fallen for Scar’s tricks; but because it was Simba that was in trouble Mufasa fell for the trick and Scar’s fortune/plan became successful. But then there is the final point, Death. The Ace of Spades symbolizes death and in a way Scar is a murderer in his own right. He kills Mufasa but he also kills Pride Rock and everything around it from the grass and trees to pretty much the entire land. His good fortune, his success and all the power he seeks soon becomes misfortune and failure. To Scar he won but in actuality he just wants to be king and have higher power but in the end he fails at being what a king really truly stands for and that’s why in the end his death comes to the hands or once again paws of the ones that trusted him and were loyal to him the most as once again he held his own death in his paws and with telling the truth of Mufasa’s death it would then lead to his own. Now how does this justify Scar at being the greatest villain of Disney’s history? It’s because even though he failed in the end he was successful. His poor judgment and failure to being a real king is what lead him to fail but even so he got what he wanted and won as he killed his own brother and in a way exiled his own nephew as the fear of being the true reason his father died is why he never came back. Plus Scar thought he was killed by the hyenas and ultimately he won as Simba never returned and Scar became king. Plus the most evil thing you can do is kill your brother, blame it on his son and then be cold hearted and get your own subjects to murder him so you don’t get your “paws” dirty with his own blood. Come on that is evil as shit. But like Scar said in the first line of the film: “Life’s not fair isn’t it”. To Scar he has been treated unfairly and he actually is kind of right. You can’t fully say how fair or unfair life will be because that is fate but in his eyes life is unfair to him as his brother got the throne and then his brother’s son will get the throne. To Scar he was meant to be the true king but it was never meant to be. But what Scar should have done is forget about the past and move forward. Where have I heard that before?
There are two scenes I want to talk about, one briefly and the other I want to truly talk about but the first one will lead up into the 2nd one. First I want to talk about Hakuna Matata. The song is easily one of the most uplifting songs in the film and in Disney’s history as it comes after we just watched Mufasa get murdered and Simba run away from watching his father die and be blamed for it. Kind of dark if you think about it but this is a kid’s movie and not some movie I watched that this film was based off of which was then based off of a certain character and his events he went through…aka The Northman. Yeah 2022’s The Northman has some sort of ties with Hamlet and The Lion King, look it up its actually pretty scary. Anyway back to Hakuna Matata. This is the scene where we are introduced to Timon and Pumbaa and these characters play a huge role in Simba’s life. They kind of become his father figures but also they teach him a lesson without even knowing it. That lesson is Hakuna Matata. Now we know this whole song, it means no worries for the rest of your days. I could probably sing this song throughout the entire review but the lesson here is putting your problems behind you and while the lesson here isn’t the best it actually leads to Simba becoming a better person. Timon and Pumbaa are trying to tell Simba to not dwell or worry so much about everything that is outside of your control, which also includes your past. They don’t want him to forget about the past but to not worry about it. Yes the way they are saying it isn’t the greatest way but if you really look into it you can see how this lesson they are singing parallels to the lesson Simba learns from Rafiki. The scene where Simba has a heart to heart moment with his father is truly a powerful one. But it is Rafiki’s wise words that help Simba to go back home and defeat Scar. Rafiki tells Simba: “The past can hurt, but the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it”. Simba was running away from his past because he was afraid of what might happen if he went back home and faced his past. You can put your past behind you as Timon says but you also need to stop dwelling the past and learn from it. Worrying about your past will make you over think about your life right now and it will hurt you. The past will hurt but you can keep running from your past or you can use your past and the events that you are running from and you can learn from it. You can move forward with your life. The wise words from both Timon and Pumbaa but also Rafiki are pretty much telling Simba to keep moving forward. The past may hurt but you can change that and make your present and even your future brighter and make yourself feel better in the end. Keep Moving Forward. The quote from Rafiki inspired me, so much so I used it as my senior quote in high school and it’s something I’m still trying to achieve in life. The Lion King taught me this at a very young age but I didn’t fully grasp it until I was a young adult. I myself have been hurting from my past from either deaths or even heartbreak, I let the past take over and yes it may hurt but I can’t change the past, I can only move forward and learn from my past and in the end do better in my life. I took this quote to heart and for good reason and I continue to use this key moment in the film as a way to keep moving forward in life. The Lion King truly knew how to pull with my heart strings.
You are probably wondering why I have brought it up multiple times and haven’t talked about it, the Stampede scene. This scene is very powerful and destroys every Disney nerd or person in general in the heart; the scene where Mufasa is killed. Now as a child my eyes were tearing up, as a teen/young adult those same eyes are tearing up and even now as a full grown adult I still have tears. Imagine watching your father die in front of your eyes and not being able to do anything. As a child and pretty much my whole life I never could imagine losing a parent, let alone my father and yet that moment finally did happen. I remember watching this scene in the live action film in theaters and crying my eyes out. I knew what was going to happen but somehow it became my first time ever crying in a public movie theater. But now I cry because I can relate with Simba. I lost my father and seeing this animated lion try his best to wake up his father and cry his eyes out for help, I feel that pain every day. I watched my father die from a unfortunate disease everyday and when his time was up and he was gone I truly felt that feeling of losing someone you truly care about the most, a parent. This scene makes everyone cry because unlike Bambi where we don’t see the parent die or like every other Disney film that tells us that main character lost a parent, this one shows us and us the viewer now needs to imagine losing that parent and how heart breaking it is. Simba felt guilt and blamed himself for his father’s death and was afraid to tell anyone because he was running from his past and when everyone around him would bring it up, like Nala, he got defensive and couldn’t truly talk about it because it hurt him and made him feel unpleasant. That’s how I truly felt after I lost my father. I didn’t feel like I was the reason why he died, but I felt guilty for being the reason why he lost fate or was giving up because at that point I didn’t see my father anymore but I was wrong. This scene parallels with me in so many ways but it is the fact that I forgot who I was after I lost him, just like Simba. But I forgot that he lives in me and how I should remember who I once was even though he is no longer in my life I need to keep moving forward and learn from my past. Yes I used my life as a way to explain why this scene itself is so powerful and it’s the best way to prove why it is so powerful. But all of these scenes and moments I shared with you connect as just like a film it needs a plot structure, kind of like how life has a plot structure, maybe even a Circle of Life. This film, this beautiful fucking film made me feel so many emotions as a young child and has taught me so much throughout my whole lifetime. I can say how I learned a lesson about life from every other film but this film taught me so many lessons. This film became my life saver and helped me grow up in life. Without this film I probably wouldn’t be inspired and have such an inspiring senior quote, I wouldn’t feel the loss of a parent many years before my actual parent died and I wouldn’t have learned about moving forward and to keep moving forward without this movie. And while yes 2007’s Meet the Robinson’s taught us that last lesson as well, Lion King did it first and did it better.
The Lion King, the greatest animated film ever and I will always stand by that point until the end of time. I grew up with this movie my whole life. It’s the reason why I fell in love with animation and why I fell in love with Disney. Yes there are other reasons why I fell in love with Disney but this was the very first reason why. But I didn’t just fall in love with the movie because of the lessons it taught me, there are many reasons why. The music first of all is outstanding, probably the best in Disney’s history. Each song is so fantastic in its own way. Circle of Life is a banger and goes hard when it doesn’t have too but it also the centerpiece of the film’s plot/the entire movie. I Just Can’t Wait To Be King is such a great song and has so many beautiful instrumental moments that it makes you feel like you are in the movie when you are listening to it. Plus in the film the scene is so colorful and gives off such this positive vibe. Be Prepared is such a fantastic villain song that feels like you are listening to a Broadway production and not shocking at all but this film later became a Broadway hit that is still going strong to this day. Hakuna Matata is such a happy song with a powerful message and even though it is number 4 on my ranking of the 5 songs it is the first song I think of when I think of The Lion King. Can You Feel the Love Tonight is such a beautiful song and it makes me feel love and I can’t say that about many other Disney songs other than A Whole New World and You’ll Be in My Heart. But this song in particular it just has love written all over it and who doesn’t love Elton John and Tim Rice. Hell how can I forget Hans Zimmer’s fantastic musical scores? From beginning to end the background music is fucking incredible as it switches from happy and vibrant, powerful and wholesome to sad and gut wrenching. There is a reason why Hans Zimmer won an Academy Award for this movie. But it’s not just the songs that make this movie beautiful but the animation. Every animator in this film worked their asses off to make this film look beautiful. Even the way the film was edited from certain cuts to fades and close ups, this film looks like a perfect live action film but in 2D animated form. The colors as I said earlier are so vibrant and the shadows in the film look extremely life like. The background colors are breathtaking and the way certain scenes have multiple color changes in one scene oh my god take my money Disney please I will literally pay anything to see this film again and again in the theater just to watch the animation itself.
I call this film the most perfect animated film for a reason. I don’t have any flaws for it or anything negative to say about it and I know there are people out there who will disagree with me but that is their opinion but in the end of the day I will fight you until my last breath and will defend this movie and continue to say that it is the greatest Disney/animated film ever and that it is perfect. What other animated film can you say spawned a sequel and prequel sequel that are also amazing, spawn a Broadway show that is still running to this day and in many cases is the most beautiful musical today, was the reason why Walt Disney’s vision of having live animals in a theme park come true with the birth of Animal Kingdom, has a beautiful show in said park that is also a spectacular and I highly recommend and later spawned a live action remake for no reason that no one asked for but still kept the original film’s legacy to be perfect….yeah can’t name another animated film that did that. P.S 2020’s Mulan you still suck and fucking almost ruined the legacy of the original film and I still hate you. Sorry just talking about failed Disney Remakes reminds me of that piece of shit film. Anyway back to my final thoughts on an actual “S Tier” type of film. The Lion King is perfect because it just is. I gave you so many reasons why I love this film so much and it’s the same reasons why this film is perfect. It has brought in billions to the Disney Company and it proved the company wrong too. No one in Disney believed in this film truly so they picked out their best animators to work on their next project, Pocahontas, a film they thought would be a “Best Picture” type of film, kind of like Beauty and the Beast. The B- team of Disney animators worked on this film and they did a way better job than that trash movie named Pocatrashtas. Yes the film is trash but it also isn’t 2020’s Mulan. The Lion King never got nominated for Best Picture and I understand why. How can you nominate the most perfect animated film with the Shawshank Redemption, a mid movie of Pulp Fiction, Four Funerals and a Wedding for some reason got nominated, Quiz Show (?) and the eventual winner Forrest Gump? Okay maybe it should have been nominated but would it have won….maybe. We will never know because well the Academy is full over boomers and wannabe filmmakers that think they know good films and it is still like that today. THE WHALE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN NOMINTED FOR BEST PICTURE!!!! But we will talk about that in the next review. Right now we have to finish this review of the most perfect animated movie. The Lion King destroyed everybody’s expectations and above all else it still puts on such a huge performance to its viewers. The Lion King still lives up well to this day. I think I have done my justice here and explained why this film is perfect and why I love it so much. I still own my very first stuffed animal because I love the film so much; a stuffed Simba that I still hold to this very day. He is falling apart because of the way I have terribly taken care of him, but it’s my love for the movie and my childhood to why I continue to keep him. The Lion King will always be my favorite Disney animated movie and my favorite animated movie of all time. You knew my rating from the beginning of the review and if you know me well enough you knew how I was going to review and rate this beautiful perfect film.
Final Review: 5 out of 5 Stars, 100 out of 100%, a Perfect Film
Comments