Self-satisfied nonsense

Rating: 3/10 (5 September 2014)

All credit where it's due, on a technical level, THE LION KING is a very well put-together movie. The colors are vivid, the character's movements are fluid, and it's just a very pretty movie to look at. I give this movie a bad rap all the time, but even I have to admit this.
My problem is that it's been unbelievably overblown for twenty years. Disney marketing got it into their heads that this is some sort of high prestige experience; bigger than all their other animated fluff, and warranting of blind praise from everyone. It's impenetrable for me because I haven't been able to listen to the soundtrack for two decades (and the movie's big on its music). 1994 radio was saturated with both the Elton John songs and the Simba numbers, and I haven't been able to hear any of it again since. For a musical, that's kind of a deal- breaker.
Story-wise, it definitely works better when you're a kid. The characters aren't obnoxious and Simba's reckoning isn't shallow. But it's just such nauseating material. The whole thing's built on pomp and spectacle, but there's nothing underneath.
3/10