very impressive animation looks almost real if you're not watching too carefully

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2019)

The animation is very convincing i almost believed that the animals were real. if you look closely you can tell that they are not, so it's not completely true by any means. there is so much detail in the animation that some people i know described this as live action, it is that good. i still remember the fully animated version. this story possesses an almost shakespearean quality to it, scar is a little bit richard iii, simba is wracked by guilt like hamlet. some careful cuts make sure that the violence is pushed into the background, which is right for a family movie. it struck me as being really odd that the other animals were all celebrating the birth of more lion cubs. lions hunt and kill other animals, so this is hardly a matter for celebration. perhaps somebody overlooked that part. at its core, the whole plot rings slightly wrong there. there are some similarities with the jungle book and bambi, with jungle book for the circle of friends and the growing up story, with bambi for the sudden, dramatic death of a parent creating an orphan. the actor behind scar was perhaps the most convincing of the actors and almost made me feel sad for the character, in spite of his selfish, arrogant actions and murderous streak.