The Lion King (1994)
This is the last film of the Disney renaissance which we religiously watched numerous times as kids. These four movies pretty much defined our childhood (along with Star Wars, Aliens, Back to the Future and Die Hard). As with the previous three, The Lion King's beginning will suck you in with its animation and music. This film has more problems with its story and some characters rather than tone or ignorance about minorities and non-Western cultures.
Characters
Simba: He has a promising character arc that will disappoint you. Simba doesn't annoy us as much as Aladdin. However, unlike Aladdin, Simba's promised personal development goes nowhere. He's better as a child, because immaturity suits children more and is completely unattractive in any adult.
Scar: Starts off as a great villain. The song is good, the attitude is good, it's all good! Until he's in power, and that's when he becomes uninteresting. He's just a whiny bitch, and not even a good one. He pales in comparison to Disney's Prince John.
Mufasa: The best dad Disney's had so far, so of course he has to go.
Nala: She has a distinctive personality as a child, but once she turns into an adult, that personality seems to have been completely eradicated. Her function annoys us even more than that of Jasmine. Although Jasmine did nothing, at least she had personality. Nala is shown to be physically more capable than Simba, but in the end, she is nothing more than emotional support for him. Frustratingly, even that support has really no influence on him, one way or the other. No, you need a dude to return from the dead as a ghost to do that.
Minor characters: What makes this movie is its minor characters, much like Genie makes Aladdin. They are fuckin' hilarious. Timon & Pumba are our favourite cartoon skeptics. Rafiki, the random cryptic baboon who can do martial arts. Who wouldn't love that? The minor characters are funny because of their characteristics and interactions with others, not because they constantly allude to modern phenomena, which is probably the reason why the humour is more balanced than in Aladdin. Aladdin does take more chances with its humour, though.
Story
To this day the Lion King's story must be the most ambitious and epic undertaking when compared to other Disney movies. The idea is downright mythological in scope, and for the most part it works quite well. Apart from the last conversation between Simba and Scar, which is where the film gets a flat tire. Because that discussion alone destroys the whole character arc they had been trying to build with Simba. Way to cheat your audience out of a satisfying ending, Disney. We thought Simba was about to prove that he had learnt an important lesson, but then you decided to simply let him off the hook. It wasn't integral for his character development to learn the truth about his father's death. We would argue that he would have been a better character without that scene. In addition, we wouldn't have that ridiculous cheesefest 90's slow motion fight sequence. And by all means, show children that their friends won't stand by them when they've made a mistake. There are some other incongruities as well, like the relationship of Simba and Nala as adults. They just swore eternal love to each other (via the sappiest Disney love song ever) and then right after they get into a massive fight. Boy, that's a promising start for a relationship. True love, eh?
Miscellaneous
So Mufasa's polygamous, right? 'Cause he totally has a frigging harem of lionesses surrounding him. Guess that comes with the job description (or that they're animals). 19th century Mormons would have loved this movie, just sayin'. Clearly, Disney wasn't ready to address that aspect any deeper in the film, though. It does bring a somewhat disturbing perspective to the equation when Simba says about Nala: I can''t marry her, she's my friend. Apparently, Mufasa left his son in the dark about certain things. Ooops! For once, Hans Zimmer delivers with the original score and Elton John's pop music works much better than bland Broadway pop.
This is the last film of the Disney renaissance which we religiously watched numerous times as kids. These four movies pretty much defined our childhood (along with Star Wars, Aliens, Back to the Future and Die Hard). As with the previous three, The Lion King's beginning will suck you in with its animation and music. This film has more problems with its story and some characters rather than tone or ignorance about minorities and non-Western cultures.
Characters
Simba: He has a promising character arc that will disappoint you. Simba doesn't annoy us as much as Aladdin. However, unlike Aladdin, Simba's promised personal development goes nowhere. He's better as a child, because immaturity suits children more and is completely unattractive in any adult.
Scar: Starts off as a great villain. The song is good, the attitude is good, it's all good! Until he's in power, and that's when he becomes uninteresting. He's just a whiny bitch, and not even a good one. He pales in comparison to Disney's Prince John.
Mufasa: The best dad Disney's had so far, so of course he has to go.
Nala: She has a distinctive personality as a child, but once she turns into an adult, that personality seems to have been completely eradicated. Her function annoys us even more than that of Jasmine. Although Jasmine did nothing, at least she had personality. Nala is shown to be physically more capable than Simba, but in the end, she is nothing more than emotional support for him. Frustratingly, even that support has really no influence on him, one way or the other. No, you need a dude to return from the dead as a ghost to do that.
Minor characters: What makes this movie is its minor characters, much like Genie makes Aladdin. They are fuckin' hilarious. Timon & Pumba are our favourite cartoon skeptics. Rafiki, the random cryptic baboon who can do martial arts. Who wouldn't love that? The minor characters are funny because of their characteristics and interactions with others, not because they constantly allude to modern phenomena, which is probably the reason why the humour is more balanced than in Aladdin. Aladdin does take more chances with its humour, though.
Story
To this day the Lion King's story must be the most ambitious and epic undertaking when compared to other Disney movies. The idea is downright mythological in scope, and for the most part it works quite well. Apart from the last conversation between Simba and Scar, which is where the film gets a flat tire. Because that discussion alone destroys the whole character arc they had been trying to build with Simba. Way to cheat your audience out of a satisfying ending, Disney. We thought Simba was about to prove that he had learnt an important lesson, but then you decided to simply let him off the hook. It wasn't integral for his character development to learn the truth about his father's death. We would argue that he would have been a better character without that scene. In addition, we wouldn't have that ridiculous cheesefest 90's slow motion fight sequence. And by all means, show children that their friends won't stand by them when they've made a mistake. There are some other incongruities as well, like the relationship of Simba and Nala as adults. They just swore eternal love to each other (via the sappiest Disney love song ever) and then right after they get into a massive fight. Boy, that's a promising start for a relationship. True love, eh?
Miscellaneous
So Mufasa's polygamous, right? 'Cause he totally has a frigging harem of lionesses surrounding him. Guess that comes with the job description (or that they're animals). 19th century Mormons would have loved this movie, just sayin'. Clearly, Disney wasn't ready to address that aspect any deeper in the film, though. It does bring a somewhat disturbing perspective to the equation when Simba says about Nala: I can''t marry her, she's my friend. Apparently, Mufasa left his son in the dark about certain things. Ooops! For once, Hans Zimmer delivers with the original score and Elton John's pop music works much better than bland Broadway pop.
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