Lion King, The (1994)

reviewed by
Ethan Solomita

                                 THE LION KING
                       A film review by Ethan Solomita
                        Copyright 1994 Ethan Solomita

     Ready for some controversy?  Good!  Well, off we go:

First, the animation quality was amazing! It was the best I've ever seen from a Disney movie, certainly for anything of the length of a feature film!. And, best of all, I couldn't tell where the computer effects were used.

In ALADDIN, I could pick it out: carpet, cave-o'-wonders, carpet-chase, etc. Here, I only had guesses.

Also, unlike ALADDIN, the background artwork was a major factor in the quality. No boring backgrounds here (well, except for the simple sheer rock cliffs).

Moving on, however. Yes, the songs needed improvement. The opening "Circle of Life" I really liked, thanks mostly to Hans Zimmer and the Chorus. And, like a prior poster, I thought that 'Can't Wait to be King" felt thrown in just because they *had* to have a showy dance number. However, I did think the animation was quite good, and interesting the way everything changed for that segment.

The plot ... Ah yes, the plot ... Well, it was more "adult" than old-time movies like BAMBI, in that it presented life more harshly. But it was very rushed. I'm afraid the sudden growth during "Hakuna Matata" doesn't make up for character development! In an effort to save money, and time, Disney won't make their movies longer. Other movie houses have to spend $100M+ to bring in the blockbusters, and Disney won't do it. Disappointing.

So it was enjoyable, and it really was very funny (I often couldn't hear the lines over the laughter in the theater), but in the end it was so rushed I wasn't drawn into the characters (especially Simba) to care.

By the way, was that the entirety of the lion pride? Where's everyone else? How about some other males? (Maybe I just don't know enough about real lion packs, but then again, most lion packs don't have kings that rule the jungle. :-) )

So, that's it! I did enjoy it, and I'm sure I'll see it again, but for me the storyline didn't hold the adult level of appeal of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

     But, for all the feature animation people reading this:  GREAT
WORK!

     -- Ethan

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