Review of The Lion King (1994) by Kai82 — 25 Sep 2020

One of the best animated Disney movies. However they „borrowed“ heavily from Kimba the White Lion from Osamu Tezuka. If you ask how heavily lets say if it were in reverse Disney would have unleashed hell and sued them into oblivion.

There is even a reference or side-blow by the Simpsons in one episode. To be fair I must also admit that they used some original themes. It is the story of the lion Simba who is the son of the king of lions Mufasa.

It is a coming of age or self discovery story transferred in the animal Kingdom. There is a lot more to the story that I cant spoil but will say the story was always entertaining. It has a lot of great additional characters like Timon and Pumbaa who transcended the movie and became the stars of their own show.

This is not surprising as they are funny, enjoyable and have a dynamic like only a few duos in Disney movie history. There is of cause Mufasa himself who is a role model for a good and wise king and his brother Scar who is one of the best antagonist in Disney movies.

There is also Rafiki who nailed the role of elderly wise man. I will also praise the three hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed as Zazu the majordomos and Nala (cant spoil). The greatest strength are the facial animations that are well transferred to the animals.

You can see all (human) emotions and can relate perfectly to the characters. This is a weakness of the remake as more realistic means lifeless or emotionless here. But back to this movie. The overall animations are still looking good today (Aged well).

I also praise the soundtrack. They got Elton John and Hans Zimmer (and a lot of other stars). I am the kind of person that does not enjoy singing in Disney movies but this is the exception as it won me over.

“Hakuna Matata” is great as are “Circle of Life”, “Can you feel the Love tonight” and “I cant wait to be King”. Overall it has a great story with enjoyable characters and you can see the care and thoughtfulness.

One of the best Disney movies but a shame that they had to “borrow” so much ideas.