Review of The Lion King (1994) by Tiberscientist — 05 Nov 2016

This movie was simply well made. The songs were memorable and amazing, the characters were believable (and arguably acted more human than many movies with human actors), and the animation was vibrant and lush, depicting a unique style of art, and still getting the movements of the characters down pat. The story really digs deep into Simba's character, which leaves the other characters a bit stagnant, but that's not to say they aren't developed. They each have their own part to play in the story. The comic relief detracts from the heavier story just enough to keep the feature from being too depressing (it is disney, they like a lighter feel to their movies).

Now, on the controversy some people have brought up about "Disney ripping off 'Kimba: The White Lion'", I looked into it, and in terms of story and characters, it seems the two are separate. Some art direction seems to have gone the same direction, although Disney and the guys who did Kimba did start working together on a project related to Kimba. The project was scrapped, but the people who had worked on the project probably decided to adapt some concept art to Lion King. Btw, the similarity of the names "Simba" and "Kimba" is probably coincidental, considering most of the names in "The Lion King" are based on Swahili words (simba means 'lion').

Regardless, it is a solid movie that I recommend.