“Look at the stars. The great kings of the past are up there, watching over us.”
Swift shot: When you think of a flawless film, I dare anyone say “The Lion King” isn’t first on your list – especially for fathers with sons. Personally, this used to just be a great film, until two things happened to me: I lost my father and I became a father of a wonderful cub myself. Now, when I watch it, I am reminded of the fragile nature of life, the inevitable end that we all face, and that we all hope that someday our sons will look to us like Mufasa, for we are all kings, and we will all become as one with the stars in the sky. No king lives forever.
“The Lion King” is a fabulous story of courage and compassion, but primarily it is a story about fathers, for fathers. We all know the story, and Disney didn’t make any bold, dumb changes from the original. This 3D effort is just the original re-released in 3D, and you won’t find anything really spectacular about the 3D itself, but, if you are like me and didn’t get to see “The Lion King” in theaters before, this is one of those father-son films that you simply have to take your children to see in theaters . . . while you still can (yes, in every implication of that phrase).
Set in Africa, “The Lion King” wakes us to a new day where King Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and his queen, Sarabi (Madge Sinclair) introduce their prince, Simba (Johnathon Taylor Thomas/Matthew Broderick) to their kingdom. In this way, it starts much like Bambi, but unlike Bambi, the focus is not on the mother/son relationship. In fact, mother Sarabi is merely an after-thought in this film. She is full of pride and has impeccable courage, but Mufasa is the tragic figure who assumes he and his son will watch many new days together. He’s wrong.
Scar, his over-looked older brother, masterfully portrayed by Jeremy Irons, is just two heart-beats away from the throne, and he aims to eliminate Mufasa and Simba in one dreadful master-stroke. Mufasa is strong but incredibly naive and trusts his brother to never betray him. Scar is perhaps the most vile villain ever to appear in a Disney film. Not only does he kill the king, he has convinced Mufasa’s son that it was he who was responsible for his own father’s death! To make him even more vicious, Scar planned on killing Simba anyway, so to make him think he was responsible for his father’s death, only to have him killed seconds later was incredibly malicious. I mean, in his mind, the prince was hyenia chow, so why make him think in his last mortal thoughts that he was responsible for killing his own father? That is just evil.
[Swift aside: Some people claim Vader is the worst villain, but I disagree, I think the worst movie villain has to be Scar, he betrayed his brother, murdered him, took his wife (like in Hamlet) but also tried to kill the prince, all of these characters were of his blood. It’s vile. Vader was an orphan, essentially, and while he betrayed his master, he wasn’t blood, and, yes, killing the younglings was pretty sick, but they weren’t his kin. Also, Vader didn’t blow up Alderaan; it was Tarkin who ordered that. Shouldn’t Tarkin be the worst villain ever? I smell a twitter question/answer session from this.]
Alas, Simba does escape his trio of pursuers/assassins: Shenzi (Whoopi Goldberg); Banzai (Cheech); and Ed (Jim Cummings) as he runs through a thick barbed thorn bed. His would-be-killers, mocking him with “If you come back here, we’ll kill you!” Did I mention “The Lion King” was dark, yet? It is probably the darkest, and yet lightest, film by Disney in decades. As Simba has finally given up, on life (suicidal thoughts, again, like Hamlet) and waits for the buzzards to rend his flesh, two new “father-figures” enter his story, Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella). They represent a care-free, live for the moment life-style, in this way, they were much like the Balloo character in the Jungle Book, eating, sleeping and playing their days away, they even have a motto to go with their “bare necessities” attitude . . . Hakuna Matata.
On that note, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the wonderful scoring of this Disney masterpiece, with Academy Award winning music by Elton John, Hans Zimmer and Tim Rice. The songs are legends in and of themselves and need no puffery on my part; you have all welled up to them . . . at least once. Still, watching “The Lion King” without all the incredible sound work, not just the music, would detract from the emotional impact. Often times, we overlook the balance in films that makes them go from good to great . . . to epic, as in “The Lion King”. Just hearing the Circle of Life or Hakuna Matata can put me in a different place, even doing something as mundane as folding laundry – the first song can put me in the emergency room when I heard my son sing for the first time, as he entered this fragile, hostile, yet magical world. And hearing Hakuna Matata reminds me, wherever I am or what I am doing, of the times in my own life where I was able to let my guard down completely and just revel in the now. We all need those Hakuna Matata moments of pure innocent frivolity from time to time.
Unlike the stories that inspired “The Lion King” (there are several mentions under the trivia section on imdb) Simba doesn’t return to the Pridelands for revenge; he returns for something more noble, penance. Remember, he thinks he is the one responsible for his father’s death, thanks to Scar. So, upon his return, he is expecting to be reviled and hated once he reveals his dreadful secret. This makes Simba an even more sympathetic character, and when he finally does realize that he and his father were betrayed by Scar, he still affords his wicked uncle mercy. Thankfully, Scar is too filled with a warped ego to accept and is ultimately served up to the same assassins he put to kill Simba. And, the film ends with a reprise of the opening, and now, Simba is the King and Simba is the father, the Circle of Life is set in motion once again. And, again, we are shown the beauty and the tragedy that is life – so fragile a thing and therefore magnificent to behold.
“The Lion King” will forever be in the canon of my heart and being able to watch it in the theater, sitting next to my son, knowing that he will never meet my father and that he can only look to the stars to seek him, is something I will always remember.
