Today, I'll be doing something a little different: I'll be looking at a movie, as a matter of fact, my all-time favorite movie, The Lion King.
The Lion King debuted in theatres in 1994 and told the life story of Simba, the Prince of the Pridelands: A lush sahara teeming with a variety of animals that live in peace and harmony, and the guardians of this balance are the lions. Simba's father, Mufasa, is the king, and is a pretty much flawless character. He's selfless, he's brave, and he's wise. Simba is no Mufasa. Simba's a good kid with good intentions, yes. He's well-meaning and adorably energetic, yes. But Simba is not his father. He's a flawed main character who makes a lot of mistakes, lacks confidence in himself, often fails to see the big picture, and can be just a little bit selfish at times. But he's the hero of our story and we get to see him grow from a scared little kid to a big strong lion who ultimately saves the day.
For all his great qualities, Mufasa is loved by all but one, his jealous younger brother, Scar (who........has a Scar on his face. Wow). Scar plots with the hyena clan (the mortal enemies of the lions) to get Mufasa killed. And when he succeeds (in one of the most heartbreaking animated scenes of my childhood). He convinces impressionable young Simba that it was HIS fault and gets Simba to run away (from his problems). Simba is taken in by a bromantic odd couple: Timon the Meerkat and Pumbaa the Warthog. Simba grows up and after a run-in with his childhood friend Nala, he returns to reclaim his rightful throne and defeats his evil uncle and the hyenas.
The Lion King is a fast-paced, blink and you miss it, kind of story and it is fricking amazing. Honestly, it's a movie everyone should see at least once in their lives. It sounds like it's basically Hamlet with lions, and it is, but it's also so much more than it. It's one of the rare musicals I've watched where the songs haven't annoyed me but are actually very catchy, and it has grade-A animation. Perhaps it's nostalgia, perhaps it's the musical numbers that actually manage to be entertaining, plot-relavant, and not distracting, perhaps it's the compelling characters, or perhaps it's a combination of all, but the point is: it's pretty good.
This movie was (at the time of its' initial release) the highest-grossing animated film of all time, a title it kept for over 20 years. It was famous for being the first Disney film to tell an original story (though i'd argue the story was a blatant ripoff of Kimba the White Lion. However, that's not what we're talking about today) and it was, interestingly enough, dethroned just a couple years ago by Frozen, another Disney animated movie that told an original story. Do I think Frozen was good? Yes. Do I think it was on the same level as this movie? No, but that's not the point. The point i'm trying to make is that this movie is a beloved part of a lot of childhoods, and if you haven't checked it out yet, you need to. My review honestly can't do it justice. If you happen to like it, there's some other material in the franchise you can read too including a direct-to-video sequel (The Lion King II: Simba's Pride), a direct-to-video retelling of this movie, showing it from the perspective of Timon and Pumbaa (The Lion King 1 1/2: Hakuna Matata) and "Timon and Pumbaa" and "The Lion Guard" two spinoff TV series (the latter of which is still ongoing at the time I'm writing this). I'll probably get to reviewing those all later but for now, watch this movie. Even if you've seen it once before, it's honestly the type of movie that's worth a rewatch.
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