The Lion King 30th Anniversary: A Retrospective Review
The original Lion King outshines its 2019 remake with vibrant visuals, stronger performances, and timeless storytelling. It remains a must-watch animated classic.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/41PWnXPLQ2yQWxUVedqyQI?si=4MqWYSteTxKd1nfu-0VeSg
This week The Lion King turned 30, which makes this an excellent time for a retrospective for our Thirty Minute Reviews revamp (again). For the purpose of the ranking of this (and any other movie reviewed on Thirty Minute Reviews episodes going forward), we will act as if the movie was coming out this week in theaters for the first time and the review will be as if I hadn't seen the movie before.
That said, lets immediately go into how much better this film is than the 2019 remake. The musical numbers, despite being largely the same songs, work so much better in this iteration because the visuals pop while the songs are going so they don't just feel like killing time while walking from one place to another. The acting performances are also stronger in this version than the original.
I do have one small note, not so much about the movie but more about its legacy. To be clear, this is not the fault of the movie itself but it is weird that the big song that became a mantra (Hakuna Matata) is not the moral of the movie and is in fact the thing that Simba needs to overcome. The moral of the movie is that bad things will happen and you can't just shut down and ignore your obligations, you have to accept it and move on from it.
Regardless, The Lion King definitely ages very well and is worth a watch, even thirty years later. The soundtrack remains fantastic, a lot of the comedic moments still land, and the story is tight and concise without room to trim and is paced perfectly. This is an animated movie that should be studied for when people are setting out to make an animated musical, even in 2024.
★★★★★
