Disney's Best

 
The Lion King

1994

D: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff

**********

Pros: Animation, Suspense, Themes, Music

Cons: Some Fridge Logic, Some Annoying Music

      The movie that came out 25 years ago today is a prime movie of my childhood.  This was one of the more intense movies I had seen in theatres at the time and it still has impact.  Anyone who dismisses Disney animated movies as fluff certainly hasn’t seen this.  The movie doesn’t shy away from suspense and tragedy.  One character close to the hero dies, causing him to flee to a life of careless hedonism.  He then must learn to take responsibility for his community and face the evil that stole his innocence despite his own self-doubt. 

       Our hero Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a cub, then Matthew Broderick as an adult lion) watches his father Mufasa (James Earl Jones) die in a tragedy orchestrated by his uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons), who callously blames him so that he could take over the throne.  In exile he meets a meerkat named Timon (Nathan Lane) and a Warthog named Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella), who teach him to live for today with no worries.  Then he is united by chance with his former playmate and love interest Nala (Niketa Calame as a cub, then Moira Kelly as a lioness).  After some emotional struggle and encouragement from the wise mandrill shaman Rafiki (Robert Guillaume), he returns to his wasted prideland, defeats Scar, and takes his rightful throne.  Even Timon and Pumbaa stay loyal to their friend and abandon nihilism to fight the good fight against their own nature.  It’s rare when even the annoying comic relief characters get an effective arc in a Disney movie.

       Scar is one of my favorite villains, and Jeremy Irons is very charismatic in the role.  His implied vulnerability hints at an abusive or negligent childhood (his birth name, which means "trash" in Swahili, hints at this).  Mufasa might have even joined in the abuse as a cub only to realize his folly as an adult.  He’s vile and effectively manipulative and even sings the best song in Disney history (it’s even better in German).  He’s blatantly coded, being effeminate and appearing somewhat Jewish in appearance.  The interesting thing about coding is that it takes advantage of our enlightenment as well as past prejudices.  When we see some creepy gayjew stereotype design, we as the audience know he’s the villain, but the character can still deceive the protagonists because if they were suspicious of him just for his appearance we would rightfully judge them for it.     

       The story is well-structured. and has good pacing.  The theme of responsibility, as well as Simba’s self-doubt, is established in the first act during a lesson from Mufasa.  Nala’s reveal as an adult is handled beautifully without explaining too much (Simba recognizes a signature fighting move from when they play-fought as cubs).  Indeed, Nala is a much stronger character than Simba, it’s not the only time I’ve seen a stronger female lead back down so the hero can save the day.  Also, I’m not the only person to point this out, but Simba’s lesson to get over the past backfires when the lionesses (irrationally) judge him for his alleged role in Mufasa’s death. 

It was taught the way most well-learned lessons are: through physical abuse.

He doesn’t get over it until Scar admits he’s the culprit.  The movie also has some carnivore confusion, but not as bad as in other movies.  The prey animals are ambiguously anthropomorphized when they bow before the lions at the beginning, and this is worse in the sequel in which they sing to the protagonist about how he’s unworthy of eating them.  At one point Nala almost kills Timon and Pumbaa for food until Simba vouches for their personhood.  Fridge logic aside, the movie really demonstrates what an animated anthropomorphic story can do.  There are some silly moments  Pumbaa's flatulence is made light of, and the comic duo has to sing The Tokens' "In the Jungle" at one point.  This is faithfully recreated in the upcoming remake because people have their priorities straight.   

       The most troubling aspect of the movie is the hyenas, led by Shenzi (Whoopi Goldberg), Banzai (Cheech Marin), and the giggling wise fool Ed (Jim Cummings).  While they are villainous, they have every right to be opposed to lions and their society.  They live in a state of exile, and it’s heavily implied that they are starving.  This is bothersome, but there are strengths to this nuance.  Scar manipulates them into supporting his coup, which they are more than happy to do.  Then they (at least the three lead ones) help him murder the king and his young son in the process.  While their motivation is sympathetic, the movie doesn’t fully excuse their actions, thus avoiding the fashionable moral cowardice that we often erroneously call “empathy.”  It also demonstrates the realistic results of their decision: Scar gives them nominally equal rights but the prideland basically goes to hell from his incompetence and apathy.  Now everyone is starving, the hyenas included.  Sounds familiar.  It just goes to show what happens when you turn to some ruddy sociopath in desperation.  Not only did they do the wrong thing, any future effort to gain equality is pushed back further by their imprudence.  It may be right for the lions to realize the injustices faced by their enemy, but the movie doesn’t force an inorganic epiphany on them after they just struggled to take their home back from their enemies.  The movie still depicts the heroes as human and sympathetic while showing the flaws in their society; it’s almost like Disney made a Paul Verhoeven film.        

       While this issue is disturbing, it could have been addressed effectively in a sequel.  As much as everyone dislikes Matrix Revolutions, l appreciate how it finally acknowledged that fact that the Machines were clearly people, too.  The movie should focus on the hyenas as they struggle to gain their equality in the face of all the hate on both sides, probably with the next generation as protagonists.  Preferably a 2-D movie, but clearly Disney is not interested in such things.  Granted this is addressed in a questionable spin-off.  This could be something that they could address in the live-action remake, but these mediocre rehashes have an impressive ability to drop the ball on the single things that could conceivably justify their existence.*

       The traditional animation in this movie is some of the best Disney has produced.  The sense of scale is awesome, and there is some nice stylization, such as the minimalist look in one song number.  Characters look cute or intimidating when they have to; a good example of this is Nala’s appearance before and after Simba recognizes her.  It continues the tradition of having supervisor animators for each major character in order to give each one a distinctive personality.  These include Mark Henn and Ruben Aquino (Simba), Andreas Deja (Scar), Tony Fucile (Mufasa), Aaron Blaise and Anthony De Rosa (Nala), Michael Surrey (Timon), Tony Bancroft (Pumbaa), James Baxter (Rafiki), Ellen Woodbury (Zazu), Russ Edmonds (Sarabi), Alex Kuperschimdt and David Burgess (the hyenas).   It’s too bad that Disney is hackishly making a bland-looking live-action remake.  The characters are not expressive and it doesn’t help that lions are not really as good looking as they are in animation.**  It’s a shame that the medium does not get the respect it deserves.    

      The voice acting is also good.  Additional voices include Rowan Atkinson (Zazu), Madge Sinclair (Sarabi), Zoe Leader, and Brian Tochi.  Singing voices include Joseph Williams (Simba), Jason Weaver (young Simba), Sally Dworsky (Nala), and Laura Williams (young Nala).  Unfortunately, the remake replaces Rowan Atkinson with John Oliver, Ernie Sabella with Seth Rogen and James Earl Jones with a noticeably older and hoarser James Earl Jones.

      The music is another gem.  Hans Zimmer wan a well-deserved Oscar for the score, and Elton John made a surprisingly good songwriter for the film, though some of the songs are annoying.  “Circle of Life” is good and so is “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (despite Timon and Pumbaa’s contribution).  “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” and “Hakuna Matata” are annoying, but the latter is a far more worthwhile secretly ironic song than “Everything Is Awesome.”  And of course my favorite Disney song of all time, “Be Prepared.”  It’s particularly impressive how convincing Jim Cummings’ impression of Jeremy Irons was after the latter threw his voice out (notso much his mimicry from Christopher Lloyd in Anastasia).  Unfortunately another odd bias the Academy Awards has is against villain songs, even they’re often the best part of an animated movie.  “Be Prepared” wasn’t even nominated.  “Hakuna Maf—kingtata” was, but not “Be Prepared.”  Unacceptable.

       The movie is possibly Disney’s best, blending appealing animation with an unusually visceral story.  At the time, Disney was also making high-quality animated shows, and this movie had a lot of potential for spin-off material.  Scar and Mufasa’s backstory could have been explored, and of course there’s the hyenas.  Instead, we got Timon and Pumbaa’s adventures in the expansion fetish.

I’m sure for normies this is could be a funny gag cartoon, bur for people like me was basically just a bad porno.

*Such as The Jungle Book’s not making Kaa a good guy like he was in the book or 101 Dalmatians’ (1996) not showing the final car chase in live action.
**Side Note: I've never understood how people think lions look majestic for looking like the big cat equivalent of a Chinese Crested.  I've always thought hyenas looked much cuter.