Disney At Its Finest

Rating: 10/10 (15 September 2011)

They're re-releasing Lion King in 3D for the next two weeks, so I thought it would be a good time to look back on one of Disney's most popular films. All I can say is after watching this movie countless of times as a kid it still holds up today.
The story is about a young lion cub named Simba who is next in line to be the king of the jungle. Simba is rather mischievous and gets into trouble a lot with his friend Nala. His uncle Scar is jealous of Simba because he gets to be the king, so he hatches a plan with his Hyena goons to kill Simba and King Mufasa. They succeed in killing Mufasa but Simba escapes and blames himself for Mufasa's death. He goes into exile and meets two jungle bums Timon and Pumbaa. They teach him the Hakuna Matata(no worries) life style and Simba grows up without a care in the world. But the lions in Pride Rock don't have it so good. Scar has let everything go to ruin and is too stubborn to leave to go look for food and water. Nala leaves to find help and finds Simba. She tries to convince him to come home but he still blames himself for Mufasa's death(not knowing it was Scar who killed him to begin with). Simba must now make a decision to either run from his past or challenge Scar to become the next king.
I haven't really done the plot justice by paraphrasing it but I'm sure a good many people are already quite familiar with this movie. Everything in it is top notch. The animation, the all-star cast of characters, the epic score by Hans Zimmer and the catchy tunes from Elton John and Tim Rice. Much like the old Disney movies this movie isn't afraid to get dark. There's numerous assassination attempts(one that succeeds), dark themes you wouldn't find in most kid's films nowadays, and a few jokes aimed towards the older audience. What is not to love about this movie? The only bad thing I can think about this film doesn't come from the original edit. It's the song "Morning Report" that comes from the special edition released a few years back. The song worked well for the Broadway show but in the movie it just slows things down and seems unnecessary next to the other songs. But still it doesn't change my opinion of the actual movie. I am going to see it in 3D? Probably. But even if the 3D turns out bad it'll be nice to see what it might have been like to watch it on the big screen.