Am I reviewing ‘The Lion King’ (1994) as an excuse to shit on the 2019 ‘live action’ film again? Partially. But I am also about to embark on an entire month made up of horror films and so I thought I would set that up by reviewing a classic Disney film. Now I write that out I realise how little sense it makes, so let’s just say I wanted to watch the film and leave it at that? And why wouldn’t I want to watch this film? It has become not only a Disney classic but I would argue a classic film in general, so much so that it also has a hugely successful stage show (which I massively recommend if you haven’t seen it already). Its also 84 minutes long, huge bonus! You all know what this film is about but for those who don’t, the film follows a lion, Simba (Jonathan Taylor-Thomas/Matthew Broderick), who is the future king. This angers his Uncle, Scar (Jeremy Irons), who believes he is rightful heir to the throne and so, along with a pack of hyenas, he plots to kill his nephew and the king, Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and take the throne for himself.
Okay, I’ll get all my hatred towards the new film out of the way early by comparing what made that film so bad. Both films are animated no matter what anyone tells you, but the animation in the original is so much better because they are not trying to give it this realistic feel. This allows for better use of colour, character design, and creative set pieces which can only exist in an animated world. The ‘I just Can’t Wait to Be King’ scene is a great example of this as this scene in the animated film becomes almost a dance sequence and it is a ton of fun. In fact, the whole film is fun to look at. The animation is superb throughout and certain scenes are some of the best you’ll see in any Disney film, with the stampede scene which is a ridiculous feat of animation. You know what else you are able to get through classical animation which the new version completely disregarded? Emotion. Actually, being able to tell what these characters are thinking and feeling just from looking at their facial expressions. It just makes all of the emotional highs and lows that more powerful, and not just emotion vacuums like the new film turned into. Speaking of emotion, that one scene still hits hard. I won’t mention which one just in case anyone reading this hasn’t seen this film (no matter how unlikely), but if you know you know. Even when you know where its going and how it’s going to end it is still a really powerful scene. The visuals mixed with the performances and music make it truly a heart wrenching scene which is hugely effective. And I could hardly carry on without talking more about the music. Obviously, the songs in the film are great. ‘Circle of Life’ is an instantly recognisable piece of music which not only sets you up perfectly for the setting of the film but also the majesty and scale of it. It builds brilliantly and its hard to not start singing when it it kicks in. It isn’t the bets sog though, and I will touch on that later. But as well as the songs of the film, it also has a terrific score. Not only are there memorable in their own right, but they are huge in getting across themes and emotional beats in the film. They add so much without being overbearing.
Now, I have praised this film a lot for its animation and music and for an animated musical you would think it would be knocking it out the park. Well hold your horses, folks because this film is not perfect. I feel like this is very much a film of two halves. The first half where Simba is a child is superb, almost faultless from start to finish. But then he grows up and it all starts to crumble. Firstly, I think Matthew Broderick is terribly miscast as Simba. He doesn’t have any gravitas to him and so when Simba is meant to be a bit more threatening, I hardly believe it. But it also just isn’t a great performance and, to be honest, I just don’t right him as an actor. But I also don’t think it is entirely his fault. This whole second half feels rushed and so we don’t get to bond with adult Simba like we did the child version of him. This isn’t like ‘Boyhood’ (2014). We haven’t watched Simba grow gradually from a child to a man, that all happens in song using fades. SO, when we do see adult Simba it feels a bit like a completely different character who we need time to connect with and we don’t get that. But it’s not just this that feels rushed, the film feels like it spent to much time on its set up and so had to rush to its climax. All conflicts that are brought up are dealt with very quickly and not particularly successfully and I found myself losing interest with what was going. Also, Scar isn’t in the second half enough. Scar is easily the best thing about this film. Everything about him, his design, his personality, the performance of Irons, they are all top notch and it al adds up to Scar being the best Disney villain. And that’s all before we get to his song which is not just the best song in the film, but it is Disney’s best villain song full-stop. I bloody love Scar.
This review, like the film, is one of two halves. One half full of praise and one more critical, but I think it is all merited. ‘The Lion King’ is a great film and I would be lying if I said it was anything less than that, but it does have its issues and they do effect my liking of the film quite a bit. I can’t consider a film incredible if the second half is only mediocre, no matter how well it starts. Despite all this I would still have it is my top five Disney animated films (‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1991), ‘Mulan’ (1998), and ‘Fantasia’ (1940) are above it for those wondering) and I would not chastise anyone for having it as their number one. Now, if you said that the 2019 version was your favourite Disney film then I would probably cut off all communication with you forever. That film is genuine shit.