The Lion King

While the animators were slaving away on production of Pocahontas, The Disney Company needed something to placate the masses. Taking cues from the biblical tale of Joseph and Moses as well as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the company went to work on a small project called The Lion King. Starring Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, the film was Disney’s biggest successes. Making over $900 million worldwide, it became Disney’s highest grossing film until 2013. It is also the 19^th highest grossing film, the third highest grossing animated film, and the highest grossing film of 1994. It won two Golden Globes, two Academy Awards, Three Annie Awards, and the Kids Choice Award for Favorite Movie and was nominated for the Saturn Awards, the British Academy Film Awards and the MTV Movie Awards. TIME named it one of the “25 All-TIME best Animated Films,” and AFI put Hakuna Matata as 99 on their  Top 100 Songs and the film as #4 on its Top 10 Animated Films. Its success earned it a Broadway Adaptation, two sequels, a midquel, a spinoff series and was featured in the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

It was also the first film I ever remember seeing. In a drive-in no less.

The film tells the story of Simba (Taylor Thomas), a lion cub who is the heir to the African Pride Lands. His uncle Scar (Irons) makes a power play for the throne, engineering the death of Simba’s father (Earl Jones). He convinces Simba that it was his fault, causing him to run away.

Dying in the scorching heat beyond the Pride Lands, he is saved by Timon (Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella). They teach him their responsibility free philosophy and Simba grows into an adult (Broderick) with no worries. However, he meets his old friend, Nala (Moira Kelly) and he must decide whether or not to continue his life of no responsibilities or return to face his past.

Out of all the Disney Renaissance films, this one probably had the biggest production value. It’s big and beautiful in every sense of the word. There’s not one scene that draws back and takes away from any other scene. I said The Great Mouse Detective continued to top itself. But The Lion King, starts out on a huge scale and stays that way throughout the film. Even The Rescuers Down Under had a few times where it drew back to give it a bigger sensation when big scenes hit again. Putting all that together with a very adult message and relatable characters to back it up just makes the film work really well.

The message in the film is one of Disney’s most adult, which must be stated verbatim. “The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.” It’s a message that speaks to all of us, even though most of us don’t have the same past Simba experienced. But this still makes Simba one of the most relatable Disney characters. See, Simba after running away, thinks he’s finally gotten rid of his past. That is, until Nala shows up. But all he wants to do is be left alone in his carefree world. But he won’t be able to, as Rafiki shows him that he will be forever running from his past until he goes to face it. And he doesn’t do it because he wants to. He does it because he needs to.

Mufasa, even though he’s only in the film for a short while, is great. Everything he does has meaning towards the progression of the film and personifies what it means to be a great and well respected leader and father. Every time Simba is in danger, he drops everything and runs to save him. Even when it meant his own death, which was also spectacular. It says something when most Top 10 death lists include him as #1.

As a villain, Scar is pretty good and a great foil for Mufasa as a leader. Irons voices him very well. And it’s interesting to see the difference between his actions before and after he takes power. Before, he’ strategizing, manipulating, deceiving and conspiring. Like Jafar, he’s crafty and smart. But after he takes power, it all goes to his head and the lion that thought he would be a good leader turns into a childish dictator who destroys the land. He also became stupid enough to bash his minions, which led to them turning on him. Compare this to Mufasa who had the respect of the entire kingdom because of his wisdom.

The rest of the characters are great too. Timon and Pumbaa are good comedic relief that know when to get out of the spotlight, Zazu is a perfect straight man, the hyenas are great minions (with great voices) and Rafiki does really well as the shaman/wise man of the Pride Lands. He’s peaceful, but can fight with ease when he needs to.

There’s also not one song that feels out of place and the score is one of Zimmer’s best works.

On the other hand, this movie does have a fault. When Simba goes to face his past, no one is on his side until the truth comes out. If everyone hated Scar so much, why didn’t they back Simba up and give him time to explain instead of Scar going through rapid accusations?

But despite that, it’s still a great message and one of the best redemption stories put to film. #1

The Return of Jafar

Even though The Rescuers Down Under failed at the box office, it found moderate success on home video. The Disney Company, never failing to find a market for something, realized direct to video sequels would most likely fare better than sequels released in theaters. And so, two years after Aladdin became a hit with audiences, The Return of Jafar was unleashed in May of 1994. While most of the original cast came back, contract disputes with Robin Williams resulted in Dan Castellaneta replacing him, plus a new voice is provided by Jason Alexander, of Seinfeld fame.

Some time after Aladdin defeated Jafar, he lives with Jasmine in the Sultan’s palace. As he adjusts to his new life, Genie (Castellaneta) returns to stay for good. However, in the desert, Jafar, who is now a Genie, and Iago dig them themselves out of the sands where Genie buried them in the first film. Iago abandons Jafar to start over and finds himself in Agrabah. Aladdin takes him in after he saves them from some thieves. But Jafar is freed from the lamp by Abis Mal (Alexander), the leader of the thieves with a grudge against Aladdin. Jafar soon unfolds a plan to destroy his old enemy.

While it doesn’t have the production value, nor the same quality of animation Aladdin had, The Return of Jafar is still a decent film.

Most characterization from the previous film is still there, but it seems that Aladdin can’t shake old habits. When Iago shows up and asks to be given a second chance, Aladdin hides him from Jasmine and the Sultan. However, it’s only until he can find the opportune moment to tell them. So, he actually has learned, as he will tell them, rather than continually keep him covered up. It would have actually gone off without a hitch had Rajah not gotten involved.

I said most characterization is there. That’s because Iago, of all characters, actually goes through development here. He starts out the same as the previous film, trying to ally himself with those in power. And it seems he’s consistent, shifting again when Jafar shows back up. However, he does so with hesitancy. After being forgiven by the Sultan and Jasmine because Aladdin vouched for him, he really does show guilt and regret from going back to Jafar. His regret gets the best of him and he foils Jafar’s plan. He goes from mooch to doing the right thing and with an hour to do it, the film makes it pretty believable.

As a genie, Jafar cannot kill. But that doesn’t stop him from planning revenge. Despite his limitations, he’s still the same cunning and crafty villain he was from the first film. He throws away Abis Mal’s first two wishes just so he can manipulate him into working with him. And because he can’t kill, his plan involves third parties doing the dirty work. It’s interesting to note that the only thing that got in his way was Iago’s character development.

As for Abis Mal, he’s your standard greedy thief and most of his character would continue to get fleshed out in the series. Though, I’m not sure Jason Alexander was a good fit for the character.

It’s a shame Disney and Robin Williams had contract disputes. While Castellaneta does his best to emulate Williams’ characteristics, it’s just not the same. At least he got out of the way of some of the heavier moments. And while the songs aren’t as great as they were in the first film, they’re still good songs.  

Like I said, Return of Jafar is a decent film that paved the way for the television series. But that’s kind of what it felt like: a pilot episode. And it was reused for just that thing. Before the series debuted, Disney showed the film. Good use of resources.

#23.