The Lion King (1994)
August 23, 2022 8:20 AM - Subscribe

A Disney animated film that follows the adventures of the young lion Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), the heir of his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones). Simba's wicked uncle, Scar (Jeremy Irons), plots to usurp Mufasa's throne by luring father and son into a stampede of wildebeests. But Simba escapes, and only Mufasa is killed. Simba returns as an adult (Matthew Broderick) to take back his homeland from Scar with the help of his friends Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella).

Hamlet with wild animals. Or Kimba the Lion, but Disney.

93% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently streaming in the US on Disney+, obviously.
posted by DirtyOldTown (17 comments total)
 
This is not a movie I have rewatched any time recently or that I have strong feelings about. I just posted Thirteen right before this, which is traumatizing, and I wanted to post a palate cleanser. I noticed that this film, the eighth highest grossing film of all time, was not on FF. So here you go.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:36 AM on August 23, 2022


I think that "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is the last Elton John song that I really liked, but I really like it a lot. I don't have strong feelings about the film itself; it's nice, obviously a redo of Hamlet (if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were Hamlet's buddies for real; speaking of which, is this the first time that Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane worked together?). Not sure why someone felt compelled to do a photorealistic animated version; that whole trend baffles me.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:41 AM on August 23, 2022


Ah yes, the only time I've seen this was when it was on VHS and I was high as hell on LSD at the time (ah, high school) and can swear that it is only an hour long.

More curious to me in hindsight is that I have no idea why we owned it. Even my younger sister was sixteen and not particularly into Disney, IIRC.
posted by Kitteh at 8:47 AM on August 23, 2022


I remember seeing this in the theater when it came out and being absolutely stunned by the opening number, both the music but also the incredible quality of the animation. It wasn't long after this that computer animation basically took over everything, and though we've since had some really beautiful work in that medium, the flyover of the savanna in this movie, and the light of the sun reflecting on the water and all the animals . . . It's just stunning. And then the big crescendo, ending with that enormous "Boom!" (which, let me tell you, was incredibly loud in the theater) and the black title card with the red text. Man! What an opener!

The rest of the movie doesn't really live up to that, though the stampede scene is pretty great. Also, Hans Zimmer's score is quite good, combined with Lebo M's contributions, as well as the Elton John songs made for a pretty great album that I listened to quite a bit and still enjoy.
posted by dellsolace at 9:42 AM on August 23, 2022 [3 favorites]


I think it's a testimony to that opening scene, dellsolace, that if you yell anything even close to "NAAAAAANTS! INGONYAMA!" at the top of your lungs *everyone* *immediately* gets the reference.

I also saw this when it first came out, and was blown away. My love has dimmed since learning Disney seems to have stolen the story from a Japanese film, but the animation and songs remain top-notch.
posted by Frayed Knot at 10:04 AM on August 23, 2022


Or Kimba the Lion, but Disney.

So there is a two-and-a-half hour long video (an hour longer than the actual Lion King) about it which, never having watched Kimba, I found pretty convincing.

Basically it comes down to A) people cherry-picking things from both the Lion King and Kimba to make them seem much more similar than they actually are and B) if you're going to make an animation about animals in Africa, there is going to be some overlap with other animation about animals in Africa.
posted by madajb at 10:10 AM on August 23, 2022 [2 favorites]


I just posted Thirteen right before this, which is traumatizing, and I wanted to post a palate cleanser.

The scene where Simba curls up next to his dead father, then is persuaded his death was his fault by Scar, is pretty damn traumatizing, actually!

The opening sequence is of a piece with the opening sequence of Beauty and the Beast three years earlier in that they feel like a mission statement/game-changer. I saw the former against my will and was astonished by its effectiveness. Sadly, things have gotten boring since then.
posted by praemunire at 10:33 AM on August 23, 2022


I cannot tell you how often I quote Scar: "I am surrounded by idiots."
posted by SPrintF at 10:37 AM on August 23, 2022 [1 favorite]


This tweet comparing the moment Simba sees the stampede coming in the original film with the same shot from the CGI remake is a damning example of what Disney gave up when they abandoned animation for CGI. I've seen several of the recent films because I've got little nieces and nephews and there's nothing, absolutely nothing that even approaches the evocative animation of Be Prepared.

This didn't have to be the now-faded second golden age of Disney! They didn't have to stop making things like this. They chose to, for mostly economic reasons, and it's such a damned shame.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:57 AM on August 23, 2022 [1 favorite]


I think it's a testimony to that opening scene, dellsolace, that if you yell anything even close to "NAAAAAANTS! INGONYAMA!" at the top of your lungs *everyone* *immediately* gets the reference.

There is a bakery in my neighborhood that regularly puts out a chalkboard sandwichboard-style sign, sporting a picture of Rafiki holding Baby Simba, and the caption reads:

"NAAAAAAA SO WHEN Y'AAAAAAAAAA GONNA GET A CUPCAKE HUUUUUUUUH?"

For that reason alone, I chose them as my celebratory splurge when I got the offer for my current job.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:58 AM on August 23, 2022 [3 favorites]


Was one of the first movies I took my then 3-year old daughter to at Shoreline in Mountain View when it was released. It definitely "imprinted" on her :-)

As for me - I nearly rolled out of my seat and laughed so hard at "They call me...MIIIISTER PIG!"

And this movie is responsible for the inevitable "Ciiiiiiircle of life" I sing whenever we see...well...animal v. animal on a nature documentary.
posted by davidmsc at 2:19 PM on August 23, 2022 [2 favorites]


Good soundtrack, IIRC. And, Timon & Pumbaa: Disney's attempt to replicate Ren & Stimpy?
posted by Stuka at 2:43 PM on August 23, 2022


I wanted to post a palate cleanser

Goodness, what do you watch when you when shit to get dark?

I have a now-three year old who just had a Lion King birthday party over the weekend. My father-in-law played it for him when we visited, and he’s loved it ever since. But wow I didn’t remember it being so dark. The Mufasa death scene, yeah, but the stuff with the goose-stepping hyenas was not subtle. It is a really satisfying ending, though.
posted by kevinbelt at 4:45 PM on August 23, 2022


I was just trying to think of something to watch with my nine-year-old daughter and was like "I wish I remembered what I was watching at your age...oh, wait, you're about to start fourth grade! I know exactly what we were watching, because everyone I knew spent the summer before fourth grade begging their parents to take them to The Lion King in the theater over and over again!" I saw it at the El Capitan in Hollywood. I'll never forget it. Probably the first really special moviegoing experience of my life.

I don't think my almost-fourth-grader could handle it though. We were watching more and scarier movies and TV back then! God, what a film.
posted by potrzebie at 6:36 PM on August 23, 2022


Can we talk about Jeremy Irons performing "Be Prepared"? It was never a radio single or anything, but it's the most awesomely menacing musical number I've ever heard in a movie. The goose-stepping hyenas in the background are maybe a little much, but when he growls "I know it sounds sordid, but you'll be rewarded" you KNOW either Scar or Simba's gotta go.
posted by Mayor West at 6:37 AM on August 24, 2022 [2 favorites]


My personal take on the Simba/Kimba thing is that I believe the film was crafted to be an original story, but that the writers might have unconsciously drawn from dim memories of Kimba. Outside of very obvious things for a movie about a child lion and the animals around him, the similarities don't add up to much for me. Thematically, it's entirely different.

From a visual sense though, it seems clear that even if it wasn't written to reference the earlier film, some of the animators were fully aware of Kimba the Lion and they very consciously referenced it.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:37 AM on August 24, 2022


Be Prepared is incredible if only because the cinematography cribs from Triumph of the Will of all places. Like, they absolutely knew what they were doing.

I should probably rewatch this movie sometime. It's been years and I seem to recall it's one of the better examples of the nineties trend of Shakespeare Remakes
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:01 PM on August 24, 2022 [2 favorites]


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