One of the best animated films of all time

Rating: 10/10 (20 April 2020)

The Lion King was pretty much my favourite movie growing up. It was one of those movies I probably watched dozens of times between the age of 2 and 6, so much so I probably had the entire film committed to memory at some point. So I definitely had fond memories of it, and still felt a great deal of emotional attachment towards the film, but for a while I started thinking- is the movie actually any good? Or was it just overwhelming nostalgia telling me that the movie was better than it really is in cold, cynical, objective reality?
I went and watched the film when it was re-released in cinemas back in 2011- in 3D, of course, which was resoundingly "meh," but the whole gimmicky 3D stuff didn't even matter. I was getting to see one of my most fondly remembered childhood films on the big screen, and it was kinda exciting. Of course, the excitement could have led me to be massively let down when viewing the film as an older and (slightly) more mature individual, but thankfully, to my relief, the movie was awesome. I enjoyed it just as much at 17 as I had enjoyed it at 4, and came to realise that the movie was indeed a great one. Nostalgia may have helped a bit, but I still think from a more objective standpoint this is a damn great film- almost certainly my favourite animated movie of all time.
Of course it's hard to pick a favourite animation film in a universe where Pixar exists. My pick for my favourite animation film could easily go to almost any of Pixar's masterpieces, but I guess I just feel a bit more connected to The Lion King. There's definitely something very special about it, but it's all a bit tough to put into words.
I guess all I can really say is that it's a movie that's just fundamentally effective. Does that make sense? I don't know. There's just so many good components of this movie, and they all come together so well to deliver an extremely satisfying experience.
For starters, the story is a fantastic one, dealing with themes of fate, death, pride, betrayal, and other things you don't usually see in a kid's film. The film can get pretty dark at times, but thankfully never to an overwhelming extent, because this does have to be child accessible after all. And I'm also thankful for the fact this movie's not all doom and gloom because it allows for some great humour. I still think Timon and Pumba are a hilarious duo- if you told me you thought they were annoying as hell, I wouldn't argue, but for some reason they never got on my nerves and I found them hysterical. Oh, and Rowan Atkinson as the frequently abused bird servant Zazu is fantastic.
That's another thing worth mentioning- the voice acting. It's great across the board, and serious props has to go to whoever helped cast this movie, as there were some incredibly great choices here. Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones... even Matthew Broderick is perfectly suited to his character.
The animation and the overall look of the film is brilliant too. There's so much colour in this movie, and it really didn't need a gimmicky 3D conversion for one to become completely immersed in the film's world.
And yeah, the music needs a mention too. I know everybody loves all the really memorable songs from the movie, and I imagine I'm not the only person who will never forget the particularly catchy ones (I'm looking at you 'I just can't wait to be king'), but I think more credit needs to go to Hans Zimmer's brilliant score. Zimmer is maybe one of the most praised composers still working today, and while I often find his music works very well with the movies he writes it for, the pieces of music themselves are usually kind of underwhelming to listen to by themselves. However, his score for The Lion King I think is absolutely brilliant, and I also believe his instrumental stuff is just as good as the undeniably catchy and more well-known Elton John songs.
So, just watch this movie. You don't need to be a kid to enjoy it. Who says animated films are only for kids anyways?