The end of an era...

Rating: 7/10 (17 January 2010)

The 32nd animated Disney classic is one of Disney's best known films. It is considered by many 'the best' of Disney. I don't agree with that, there are better films. But still, it is the last of a kind.
I first saw it in the cinema in December 1994, with my parents, sister, godfather and his wife and kids. I was 10 at the time. It was in a cinema I used to go many times back then and which I first saw other Disney films, like 'Aladdin' and 'Beauty and the Beast', for example.
The original 1994 version is the true version for me. The version with that dumb 'Morning Report' scene has no reason to exist and is completely unnecessary. Seriously, did they think that people were really gonna accept that? Aside that it's the same movie but why changing a movie, even if it's only for 1 minute?
The beauty of the artwork is one of the film's best attributes. It shows us beautiful landscapes of Africa and includes, among other things, the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets characteristic of Africa. We know this takes place somewhere in Africa but we don't know where exactly. They call it "Pride Lands" in the film...
The lions and lionesses are extremely well drawn and handsome and their roars are very realistic, so much that I wonder if they used real lions in stage or if it was very talented people roaring like that.
Simba is very pretty and cute as a lion cub and grows looking similar to his father. Mufasa always fascinated me and even now he still fascinates me: he is a gorgeous lion, powerful, with an imposing and majestic figure, a strong voice, a brutal strength and an amazing physique. Mufasa really is a 'Sir Lion'.
Scar is one of the great Disney villains and he really has that cold and harsh look on his face and eyes.
Timon and Pumba are two goofy but funny characters. They are clearly stupid, but more of a comic relief than anything else. I don't particularly like the hyenas, but Ed is a funny one, perhaps for being a mute character like Dopey ('Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs') and Gideon ('Pinocchio'). It's hilarious when Ed laughs hysterically because of the way Mufasa scared them away.
However, Mufasa's death is one of the most severe things for a child to watch and the sequence itself is depressing, easy to make some tears come to our eyes.
As for the voice cast, talents vary, but some do an excellent job, like James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Jonathan Taylor Thomas as infant Simba, Jeremy Irons as Scar and Rowan Atkinson as Zazu.
The soundtrack is great. It has two versions of 'Circle of Life' and 'Can you feel the love tonight'. In the case of 'Circle of Life', I like both versions. In the case of 'Can you feel the love tonight', I prefer Elton John's version.
I also enjoy the songs 'Hakuna Matata', 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight', 'Be Prepared' and the silly song 'Asante sana squash banana', but I adore 'I Just Can't Wait To Be King' and those instrumental-vocal songs which resemble African sounds and at the same time they have this dark feeling in them. The movie's environment is a mix of paradise and darkness.