Film Review: The Lion King, Part 1

Are you looking for this morning’s A to Z Challenge post? You can click here to read it.

I was kind of torn about what film to watch next for my regular Saturday film review posts. After Inception for the last five weeks I wanted something a little bit more light-hearted as my original choice (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) seemed a little too heavy-going for me.

So I looked to my shelf (read: one of my shelves) of Disney films and decided to watch my super duper version of The Lion King. For my birthday three years ago, Mr Click bought me a sumptuous box set with the three Lion King films (the original and the two sequels, which for sequels aren’t actually too bad). I remember watching it on my birthday and having to pause it to take Tara out for walks because we’d had her for less than two weeks at that point and she wasn’t used to us sitting in and watching films on a sunny day.

I’m not sure if I’ll go on and review the other two films after this one, I might return to my original plan and watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Let me know what you fancy. I’ve divided these film posts into three, so we’ve got until the beginning of May to figure out what we’ll watch next.

In this first part we meet the main lion players and get our first couple of award winning songs. Simba also almost gets himself killed and his father has to rescue him, for the first time.

1. Getting into this film on blu-ray takes ages. First you have to select the version of the film you want (with or without sing along mode, with or without audio commentary) then I’m asked if I want to watch it from where I previously viewed it. Yes, Rafiki, I want to watch this from some point during the end credits.

2. I picked sing along mode. This’ll be fun.

3. I remember seeing this in the cinema. I was obsessed. I had a Pride Rock playset and bought myself two toy lions I named Simba and Nala with my pocket money.

4. How incredible is this animation at the beginning? I love the way the focus shifts from the leafcutter ants to the zebras. So awesome.

5. Holy crap the volume is loud!

6. Aw, cute baby Simba.

7. This would be a really short film if Rafiki dropped baby Simba right now.

8. Baby Simba does not look happy about being presented to his subjects. To be honest, I’m not sure I’d be happy about being waved over the edge of a rock either.

9. Do you think Scar was called Scar because of the scar over his eye, or it was just a (not so) happy coincidence?

10. Rowan Atkinson playing the advisor to royalty… Where have we seen that before?

11. Scar and Mustafa really don’t look much like brothers/half-brothers, do they?

12. Hehe, Zazu has the right idea about turning Scar into a throw rug.

13. The shots of the scenery could really just be framed pictures on a wall. They’re like the landscapes you get on the wall of doctor’s surgeries and dentists.

14. Sarabi: ‘Your son is awake.’ Mustafa: ‘Before sunrise he’s your son.’ Hehe, love it.

15. Okay, this bit with Mustafa telling Simba that everything the light touches is his is kind of distracting because all I can hear is Darth Vader talking!

16. ‘We are all connected in the great circle of life.’ IT’S THE CIIIIRRRRCCCCCLE OF LIIIIIIIFE!!!!

17. I wish this version of the film put ‘The Morning Report’ back in. Ever since I decided I was going to watch this as my next film I’ve been singing it. I’m sure the old DVD version of the film gave you the option to watch it with or without it included.

18. Scar is so evil and Simba is kind of a dimwit here with the whole Elephant Graveyard thing.

19. ‘The sooner we get to the waterhole, the sooner we can leave.’ Hehe.

20. Uh, if Simba and Nala are part of the same pride, that means that Nala’s not only Simba’s friend, they’re also probably half brother and sister. I guess lions don’t care about that.

21. Yay! ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’! I actually made up a dance to this when I was in primary school… actually I made up dances to most of the songs in this film… and performed them for my class…

22. I love the psychedelic colours in this song. Oh and it’s reminded me of the Lion King computer game I had where you had to jump on the animals to get across one of the levels. I loved that game.

23. ‘I bet your pardon, Madam, but GET OFF!’ hehe, poor squashed Zazu.

24. Simba really is lucky that he makes it to adulthood, isn’t he? I’ve never really thought about how much danger he puts everyone in as a child.

25. I wonder if Shenzi looking kind of like Whoopi Goldberg was intentional. I really need to watch Sister Act again…

26. Simba’s little baby roar is so cute. Also, yay for Mustafa showing up when he does.

27. Ooh Simba. You’re in trouble now! This is one of those moments when your parents being disappointed in you is so much worse than them being angry with you.

28. Guilty Simba kind of reminds me of guilty Tara. She does the same slinking thing with her head down when she’s pinched my socks off the airer.

29. Mustafa is clearly a much better father than Darth Vader.

30. ‘We’ll always be together, right?’ Uh, no, not really Simba.

And that’s where we’ll stop for now. The action is all going to kick off next week with yet more songs, a death and some bug eating. Yum.