Connect with us

Film

25 Years Later: ‘The Lion King’ Still Shines as Disney’s Crown Jewel

When The Lion King was first released on June 24th, 1994 it wowed children and adults alike, rocketing up the box office charts and later winning two Academy Awards. Watching it again twenty five years later, it’s clear that The Lion King‘s lasting success is owed to Disney’s broader transition away from simpler fairy tales towards more inventive and ambitious stories in the ’80s and ’90s. The Disney ‘formula’ is firmly in place now, but The Lion King was one of the first Disney films to blend Shakespearean drama, adult themes of death and grief, and modern tongue-in-cheek humor (made popular in Aladdin) within a vibrant animation spectacle.

The opening is nearly as iconic as the film itself, with emotional strains of a Zulu chant sung as a sun quickly rises against a blood-red sky. It feels like an opera being performed over a nature documentary, as animals from all walks of life gather in the presentation of a newly born lion cub. In a single song, the pieces of the film are put in place; lions may reign, but they exist within a delicate circle of life and death. These themes could feel overly sentimental within another context, but a quarter of a century later the scene still evokes a grand sense of beauty and wonder.

From this point forward, the movie rocks back and forth between danger and light-hearted fun, positioning Simba as a carefree cub with a lot to learn. Within the first act, The Lion King provides valuable lessons in parental disappointment and personal responsibility, but Disney keeps it light by sprinkling in colorful musical numbers and wry humor. It isn’t until Simba sees his father Mufasa plummet to his death that the filmmakers show their hand when it comes to how dark they are willing to go. Some may speak on the death of Bambi’s mother as a traumatic childhood film moment, but Mufasa’s death feels much more menacing and heart-wringing. Disney seems to have turned emotional manipulation into an art form over the decades, but the moment feels well earned. It becomes a catalyst for the rest of the film, a story of lineage and denial, and the surprisingly deep lesson of forgiving yourself for childhood trauma that was out of your control.

If it seems like I’m reading a lot into a children’s cartoon, it’s because The Lion King doesn’t feel like one. Outside of more than a few jokes about flatulence, the film is much more of a drama than a comedy, which makes sense given the characteristics it borrows from Hamlet. But even so, the jokes and silly characters that lift Simba’s spirits manage to not feel out of place within one of Disney’s darkest tales. It is a testament to the animators and writers that they are able to navigate such a delicate balance of humor and true sadness with apparent ease.

Another remarkable part of The Lion King is its soundtrack. Between the original songs — which were written by Sir Elton John and Tim Rice — and the riveting score by Hans Zimmer, the movie is as much a visual spectacle as it is a cohesive musical. The unique nature of the soundtrack set it up perfectly to become a Broadway hit in 1997, where it still remains today. Though the songs and score match each other well, they also differ greatly. Like the balancing act in tone, many of the songs in The Lion King capture very different moods, from the cute and likable “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” to the dramatic love ballad “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” there are many moving parts that feel like they shouldn’t work, but do. And they do it so well that two sequels, a television series, the Broadway show, and a 2011 theatrical re-release later, Disney still felt that there was more to gain from the original story.

A 2019 live-action remake of The Lion King (in the style of Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and The Jungle Book) includes an enviable cast (Donald Glover, Beyonce, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Seth Rogen, and more), and the animation looks as stunning as you would expect from thousands of top-notch animators working for one of the most prolific companies in the world. As a lover of the original film and its legacy, I don’t expect the re-imagining to amaze audiences as effectively as the first one did in 1994. All I can hope is that it brings the story to a new generation of children, and leads them back to the original as a celebration of one of their most impressive works in the last century.

Written By

Meghan Cook is a comedy writer currently residing in North Carolina with one cat and fifty shows in her Netflix queue (that she will get to eventually).

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook

Trending

2001: A Space Odyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: Clarke and Kubrick’s Odyssey of Discovery

Culture

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 movie review Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 movie review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Caps Off the Trilogy With a Heartfelt Bang (Mostly)

Film

Deep Impact was a serious look at the end of the world Deep Impact was a serious look at the end of the world

25 Years Later: Deep Impact was a Serious Look at the End of the World 

Film

The Best Movies of 1973 The Best Movies of 1973

The Golden Year of Movies: 1973

Culture

The Zone of Interest The Zone of Interest

Cannes 2023: Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is a Manicured Vision of Hell

Culture

Jeanne Du Barry review Jeanne Du Barry review

Cannes 2023: Maïwenn’s Great Hair Goes to Great Lengths in Jeanne Du Barry

Culture

Black Flies Gripping Black Flies Gripping

Cannes 2023: Black Flies— Gripping Descent into the Underbelly of New York’s Urban Misery 

Culture

Asteroid City: A Gimmicky Vanity Project Asteroid City: A Gimmicky Vanity Project

Cannes 2023: Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City is a Gimmicky Vanity Project

Culture

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant: La Passion de Dodin Bouffant:

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant: Surfeit Cooking Drama Most Inane Film at Cannes

Culture

BlackBerry movie review BlackBerry movie review

BlackBerry Is a Wonderfully Canadian Account of a Dying Tech Dream

Film

The Mother Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez The Mother Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez

Jennifer Lopez’s The Mother is Eerily Similar to Enough, But That’s Not a Bad Thing

Film

Godzilla 1998 Godzilla 1998

Godzilla at 25: When Hollywood Made a Manhattan Monster Movie, with Disastrous Results

Film

10 Best SummerSlam Matches 10 Best SummerSlam Matches

10 Best SummerSlam Matches

Culture

Sean Connery Sean Connery

60 Years Later, Dr. No Remains the Paragon of Bond

Film

The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Reloaded

20 Years Later: The Matrix Reloaded was Underwhelming, but Still Underrated

Film

Discovery channel Discovery channel

The Head-Scratching Moves Discovery Has Been Making

Culture

Connect