I was seven when The Lion King came out. I went with my grandfather to a matinee on a Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville. I did not know what I was getting into. Two hours later, my grandfather, who had served in Korea and never once talked about feelings, was holding my hand as we walked to the car. He did not say anything. He did not have to. I have watched The Lion King five times as an adult. I have watched the 2019 remake once. The 1994 original is, and will probably remain, the best Disney animated feature of the 1990s. It is also the only animated film that made my grandfather cry. If you have not seen it, you are twenty-two years old and you have a homework assignment.
The Disney Renaissance peak: a Hamlet musical with lions
The Lion King came out June 24, 1994, directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, with a $45 million budget. It grossed over $968 million worldwide on its original release, which made it the highest-grossing animated film of all time until Frozen in 2013. It won two Oscars for Elton John and Tim Rice’s music. It is based loosely on Hamlet, with a pinch of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and a heavy scoop of Bambi. The film worked because Disney did something unusual: it bet on story, not celebrity voice cast. Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, and Jeremy Irons are the only real names, and most of the success is on the animators and the musicians. Elton John, Tim Rice, Hans Zimmer, and Lebo M composed the score. The film still holds.
The plot: a prince, a murder, and a long walk back to the throne
Simba is the son of Mufasa, the king of the Pride Lands. His uncle Scar, voiced by Jeremy Irons at his most bored-and-evil, engineers a stampede that kills Mufasa. Simba believes he is responsible. He runs away. He grows up in the jungle with a meerkat named Timon, voiced by Nathan Lane, and a warthog named Pumbaa, voiced by Ernie Sabella. The adults in his life, Rafiki the mandrill, Nala the lioness, eventually convince him to stop running and face what he did. The third act is the confrontation. The film is a Hamlet adaptation, but it is not a serious one. It is a family film about how guilt traps you, and how you have to face it to be free. It works as a children’s movie. It also works as a serious piece of storytelling. That is rare.
The lions on screen: how Disney animated a Pride Rock
The animators studied real lions at the San Diego Zoo and on location in Kenya. The way Mufasa’s mane moves, the way Scar’s mane is darker and thinner, the way Nala’s paws bend when she lands, none of it is invented. The most famous sequence, the opening shot of the sunrise over Pride Rock with the elephants, zebras, and giraffes crossing the plain, took the animators to Kenya for a research trip. The result is a sequence that looks like a BBC wildlife documentary if the BBC had a special effects department and Elton John on speed dial. The 2019 remake copied it shot for shot. The original is still better because the hand-drawn fur moves like real fur. The CGI remake feels like a video game. The animators drew twenty-eight thousand drawings for the stampede sequence alone. The work is there.
The lion on screen: James Earl Jones as Mufasa
James Earl Jones had already retired from voicing Darth Vader in 1994. He came back to voice Mufasa. The scene where Mufasa tells Simba about the great kings of the past, the line “remember who you are,” and the clouds forming the kings in the night sky is the kind of moment that defines a generation. My friends and I quoted it constantly. We still quote it. The voice acting in the film is uneven. Matthew Broderick is consistent but not flashy. Jonathan Taylor Thomas voices young Simba and is delightful. Jeremy Irons is operating on a different planet than the rest of the cast. His Scar is one of the best animated villains in any Disney film. He is also, weirdly, sympathetic. He is the brother who lost out. The film is honest about that. The film never lets him off the hook, but it lets you understand.
The emotional core: the ghost scene
Simba, delirious and alone in the jungle, sees Mufasa in the clouds. The clouds become a giant lion face. The clouds whisper, “Remember who you are.” At seven years old, I did not understand what I was feeling. At twenty-six, I understood. The film is about a man who killed his father, in spirit, and cannot forgive himself. The cloud sequence is the moment the film surrenders. It stops being a children’s movie and becomes a film about psychological guilt. The line “you have forgotten who you are, and so have I” is the entire film in one sentence. The film is also shorter than you remember. Eighty-nine minutes. It feels longer because it has more in it than most two-hundred-minute epics.
Best Points, Weaker Points, and Audience Fit
Best: The opening sunrise. Mufasa’s ghost. The score. Jeremy Irons. The stampede. The Hakuna Matata sequence. The final battle. The candid honesty about how guilt traps you.
Weaker: The Timon and Pumbaa comedy sometimes derails the third act. The hyenas are racial-coded in a way that has aged poorly. The love story between Simba and Nala is rushed. The film could have been ten minutes longer and been better for it.
Audience fit: Kids 6 and up. Adults who were kids in 1994 and want to feel something. Anyone who has dealt with guilt about a parent. Anyone who has had to come home after a long time away and acknowledge what they did. Also anyone who likes Elton John. The film is also a perfect first animated film for someone who has never seen one.
The Lion King review: my verdict
★★★★★. Five stars. The Lion King is the best animated Disney film of the 1990s and one of the best family-friendly animal movies ever made. The score is unmatched, the animation is the high-water mark of the Disney Renaissance, James Earl Jones gives the performance of his career, and the story is a legitimate reinterpretation of Hamlet that respects both the source material and the audience. I have watched this film five times as an adult. I will watch it again. If you have a kid, watch it with them. If you do not have a kid, watch it alone. The film does not care. It works either way. That is the test of a great film. It does not need an excuse. It just needs the room.
Yes, with one warning. The Mufasa death scene is intense and has traumatized generations of children. Kids under 5 may need to look away. The rest of the film is mostly gentle. The stampede is suspenseful but the animation style softens the impact.
Matthew Broderick as adult Simba, Jonathan Taylor Thomas as young Simba, James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Jeremy Irons as Scar, Moira Kelly as Nala, Nathan Lane as Timon, Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, and Whoopi Goldberg as one of the hyenas. The cast is small but every role is perfectly cast.
Loosely. The story of a prince whose uncle kills his father and takes the throne, and the prince who runs away and must return to reclaim his birthright, is the spine of Hamlet. The film uses the structure but lightens the ending. The Hamlet connection was downplayed by Disney at the time but is now common knowledge.
That you cannot outrun guilt. That avoiding your past does not erase it. That the people who truly love you will tell you the truth, even when it is painful. And that home is not a place you leave behind. It is a place you have to choose to return to. The film is honest about all four of these things without being preachy.
It depends on what you want. The 2019 remake is technically impressive but emotionally cold. The voice cast is more famous but less interesting. The songs are the same. The animation is gorgeous but lacks the warmth of the original. Watch the original first. Watch the remake if you have a kid who wants to see animals that look real. They are different films. They are not the same film.
