A retrospective review

Rating: 8/10 (9 January 2015)

When this movie was first released, it was less a movie and more of an event. It was the biggest thing that Disney had made up until that point and for many reasons - the voice cast was made up of a-listers (Matthew Broderick, Rowan Atkinson, James Earl Jones, the list goes on), the songs were being sung worldwide, the story was epic and most of all - it held and still holds a special place in all of our hearts and childhoods.
To me, this movie was perfect - it was cute, it was funny, it was unbearably heartbreaking (for anyone that has ever truly loved their dad), it had great morals and some great songs. Recently I ordered a copy of it to see if it holds up and for the most part, it does. I still find myself laughing and crying, the songs are still great and the animation is still b-e-a-utiful. However, that being said it does have it's flaws that now the hype has died down, I don't have to overlook. For anyone that hasn't seen it, the story is basically an adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet set in the African pride-lands, with animals as it's main characters. In short, lion cub Simba is the next heir to the throne, with his dad Mufasa the current king. Mufasa's brother Scar jealously feels that he should have been next in line and that is where we have our villain, and a good one at that. I can't give anything else away, but what follows is a fantastic adventure mixing good-vs-evil, great characters and a very Shakespearean story of revenge and coming- of-age.
Now for the flaws. Most of it is nitpicking, but as an adult I have grown to appreciate movies for their stories and I must say that the third act (the final conflict) is a little rushed and it threw my adult mind off a little bit, having just witnessed such a fantastic build up. But other than that, I was surprised to find that none of the characters or songs annoy me as they do many other adults that saw it as a kid. Another thing that is always brought to my attention is that the message of the film is a little mixed (which I won't spoil). I personally like the morals the film has to offer, as I feel they reflect real life misunderstandings and teach children that your parents can't teach you everything about the world. There are simply some things you must discover for yourself, which is all part of growing up. It is a coming-of-age story after all isn't it?
Any way, faults aside, I truly see this film as one of the greatest animated films of all time and one of Disney's best. It may not be a perfect film, but it is certainly one of the biggest in terms of scope that their has ever been.