Monday, September 17, 2018

The Lion King

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The Lion King is a story everybody knows by now. This movie is seen as the height of the Disney Renaissance, and is, therefore, a landmark film by all accounts. I was curious because this was the first time I had seen the movie in about five years. This movie is almost 25 years old, and it still holds up remarkably well. The flaws (however few there are) were a little more noticeable when I looked at this movie with a more critical lens. Some of the characters had their voices swapped when it came time for that character to sing, and it could be jarring. That said, the animation is still excellent. The songs are just as catchy now as they were when I was a kid. It probably helps that I watched it with an audience that knew all of the songs. There is a sad scene in the movie that still hits me, even after all of these years. The humor still really works, especially when it easily could have come off as forced. Instead, it feels fairly natural. Scar is an amazing villain (and Jeremy Irons delivers a perfect performance). The same could easily be said of James Earl Jones as the voice of Mufasa. Despite minor noticeable flaws, this movie still holds up years later as one of Disney’s greatest efforts.

9 / 10 

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