The Lion King DVD
Walt Disney Home Video
Rated: G
Genre: Family
Length: 88 minutes
Director: Rob Minkoff
Year: (1994)
Britt Gillette's The Lion King DVD Review
Winner of two Academy Awards for Best Music (both Original Score and Original Song), The Lion King would have won Best Picture had it not been an animated film. Arguably the greatest full-length Disney feature of all time, The Lion King is a drama of epic proportions, and a film that forever extended the boundaries of the animation genre. Hans Zimmer creates an original score that is second to none in cinematic history, and Elton John's hit single swept the nation at the time of the film's release. With powerful and sweeping visual sequences, the use of a timeless plot device, and brilliant direction, the film will stand the test of time as one of the best to ever be produced.
The story is set in Pride Rock, a serene jungle paradise on the African plain. All of the animals live in a harmonious ecosystem, ruled by the greatest animal of all - the strongest and wisest lion, King Mufasa. When Mufasa's wife gives birth to the lion cub Simba, the young heir's Uncle Scar begins plotting the overthrow of his brother and the taking of the kingdom by force. Forming a conspiracy with a pack of wild hyenas, Scar's evil plan is to lure Simba and Mufasa into a valley where the hyenas stir up a herd of wilder beasts which end up trampling Mufasa and leaving him clinging for his life to the edge of a cliff. With his brother's life hanging in the balance, Scar seizes the opportunity to send his brother hurling to a bloody death.
With Mufasa dead, and Simba too young to defend the kingdom, Scar and the hyenas rise to power. Pride Rock is soon reduced to a desolate wasteland as its newest rulers ravage the landscape, while Simba is forced into exile. Fleeing to a faraway land free of predators, Simba grows up and befriends Pumbaa and Timon, two animals who live a carefree life feasting on grubs and insects.
But as time passes, a chance encounter reunites Simba with his childhood love Nala. Falling in love with each other, Nala tells Simba about the sad state of affairs in Pride Rock. She urges him to return, but it takes the return of Mufasa in the form of a ghostly cloud in order to convince Simba of his true destiny…
With the help of Nala and the other lionesses of Pride Rock, Simba returns to stake his claim as the rightful heir to the kingdom and to exact justice on Scar for his father's cold-blooded murder. Together, Simba and the lionesses defeat Scar and hyenas, and Pride Rock once again becomes the utopian paradise it once was under Mufasa's philosopher king rule. As the movie ends, the animal kingdom is presented with Simba's newborn son - and the circle of life continues unabated…
Widely considered the best animated film in Disney's arsenal, and certainly the best of the computer-generated era, The Lion King is a cinematic masterpiece in any medium. If you tend to shy away from animated films as childlike or simply just not your cup of tea, you would be well advised to make an exception and check out The Lion King DVD. It is quite simply an extraordinary epic, replete with dazzling choreography, well-blended musical scores, and characters the audience loves to root for. In one particular scene, the Disney animators' use of Leni Riefenstahl's patented camera angles to capture the hyenas marching in lock-step under the singular review of Scar creates an abundance of subconscious images reminiscent of Hitler and the Third Reich. This illusion plants a manifestation of evil in the mind of the viewer that is instantly connected to Scar and his evil intentions… That's the type of symbolic and all-engrossing power Disney utilizes in this wonderful masterpiece - loved by children, but a deep and breathtaking film for the adult viewer nonetheless…
Britt Gillette
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Posted on 18 January 2005