Disney's toughest but most important picture

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2009)

Simba learns about life through the wisdom of his father Mufasa whose brother is determined to be King of Pride Rock.
The most touching of Disney pictures? With its hard approach to the circle of life, rivalry amongst family and responsibility there is no doubt that this is one of the toughest for family viewing. This is far from a bad thing. Too many movie are made to entertain, to make you laugh for £6 a cinema ticket or £14 for a DVD. But every so often you see a film worthy of any price tag that really makes your head throb and your heart ache, and it is even better to see in a family movie.
Arguably, The Lion King has the best music score in Disney history with its Oscar winning score and memorable song "Can you feel the love tonight?" Opening the film we are entranced with the song "Circle of Life" which gets our blood pumping as we see animals arriving at Pride Rock to see the arrival of Simba, the future King.
Then the adventure starts. Simba's encouraging personality to be the best inevitably gets him into trouble and the hard drama starts with the encoding of evil Uncle Scar and a trio of horrible hyenas. After a heart stopping twist (the bravest and sentimental moment to ever emerge in a Disney picture) do we see ideologies of life, responsibility and revenge encoded, all there right in front of us, to be interpreted in numerous ways and is so convincing you would be forgiven for being quiet for the rest of the day.
Don't be put off by the heavy reflection of mature concepts as there is good humour, numerous entertaining protagonists and an action packed story. The use of these real life concepts is simply a splendid device to preach to the younger audience, to show them the point of life and its difficult issues, and what better way than a collection of likable characters and easy to understand story.
The plot is always consistent with frequent realism in context and the characters make for riveting viewing. Older audiences will appreciate Jeremy Iron's Scar whereas the younger viewers will take to the great comedy duo of Timon and Pumba.
The Lion King has been made a classic through its action packed narrative, its exciting characters and importantly its flinching depiction of real life