Why The Lion King is the Greatest Disney Movie Ever Made
Why The Lion King is the Greatest Disney Movie Ever Made:
Santiago Brion
Before I start my very biased opinion, let me take all the way back before the Disney Renaissance. After Walt Disney passed away from lung cancer in 1966 and before the release of The Jungle Book, the world-famous animation company was struggling without him and was losing money and was short on one particular animator named Don Bluth who would go on to own his own animation company. The studio made 8 films without Walt, most of them were underrated at best, particularly The Aristocats, The Rescuers, The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver & Company and The Black Cauldron. Now, The Black Cauldron is known as The Black Sheep of their entire catalog and the movie that almost killed Disney, because of its gloomy animation, dark elements and the depiction of its villain, The Horned King who was pure nightmare fuel. When it was released in 1985 it immediately became a financial disaster and Disney Animation Studios was almost bankrupt and a Golden Age of Animation came to an abrupt end.
The studio needed another big hit to get on the right track, and so came The Little Mermaid, which became a financial and critical success in 1989 and becoming the most successful animation studio once more, what began was a renaissance of epic proportions. Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin also became successful both critically and financially, not to mention that Beauty and the Beast became the first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Arguably Disney's greatest film on their roster is The Lion King. Not only is it a great movie, but one of the greatest stories ever told and is loosely based on the William Shakespeare Hamlet. It told a very complex story with very deep and philosophical themes. Even my Film Appreciation professor would agree with me on this one.
Anyway, the main reason why it's called The Greatest Disney Movie Ever Made is because of its beautiful animation, musical score, songs, voice cast and the important lesson on NEVER running from your problems and your past mistakes. The opening scene is iconic for a reason it's beginning of not only the movie itself but the circle of life and the ending means that the circle of life still continues. Why else did you think that the movie began with Baby Simba? Jeremy Irons played Scar to perfection and even the animators even designed the character to look like him and was the perfect Disney villain and had the best villain song. Rafiki tells a grown up Simba that the past can hurt, you can either run from it or learn from it meaning that you can never forget your past but you can learn from your mistakes and move forward, I still live by that lesson to this very day. I've always remembered my past mistakes but whenever I wanted to runaway from that, I was encouraged to get through it and live by them and to those who have seen this (I mean who hasn't), I'm sure you've all used that lesson to heart and hope that you still continue to inspire people to do the same just like I am.
Ok, I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post, be sure to comment below what you think the greatest Disney movie ever made is and share your thoughts on what I’ve just read. Thank you.
Santiago Brion
Before I start my very biased opinion, let me take all the way back before the Disney Renaissance. After Walt Disney passed away from lung cancer in 1966 and before the release of The Jungle Book, the world-famous animation company was struggling without him and was losing money and was short on one particular animator named Don Bluth who would go on to own his own animation company. The studio made 8 films without Walt, most of them were underrated at best, particularly The Aristocats, The Rescuers, The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver & Company and The Black Cauldron. Now, The Black Cauldron is known as The Black Sheep of their entire catalog and the movie that almost killed Disney, because of its gloomy animation, dark elements and the depiction of its villain, The Horned King who was pure nightmare fuel. When it was released in 1985 it immediately became a financial disaster and Disney Animation Studios was almost bankrupt and a Golden Age of Animation came to an abrupt end.
The studio needed another big hit to get on the right track, and so came The Little Mermaid, which became a financial and critical success in 1989 and becoming the most successful animation studio once more, what began was a renaissance of epic proportions. Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin also became successful both critically and financially, not to mention that Beauty and the Beast became the first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Arguably Disney's greatest film on their roster is The Lion King. Not only is it a great movie, but one of the greatest stories ever told and is loosely based on the William Shakespeare Hamlet. It told a very complex story with very deep and philosophical themes. Even my Film Appreciation professor would agree with me on this one.
Anyway, the main reason why it's called The Greatest Disney Movie Ever Made is because of its beautiful animation, musical score, songs, voice cast and the important lesson on NEVER running from your problems and your past mistakes. The opening scene is iconic for a reason it's beginning of not only the movie itself but the circle of life and the ending means that the circle of life still continues. Why else did you think that the movie began with Baby Simba? Jeremy Irons played Scar to perfection and even the animators even designed the character to look like him and was the perfect Disney villain and had the best villain song. Rafiki tells a grown up Simba that the past can hurt, you can either run from it or learn from it meaning that you can never forget your past but you can learn from your mistakes and move forward, I still live by that lesson to this very day. I've always remembered my past mistakes but whenever I wanted to runaway from that, I was encouraged to get through it and live by them and to those who have seen this (I mean who hasn't), I'm sure you've all used that lesson to heart and hope that you still continue to inspire people to do the same just like I am.
Ok, I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post, be sure to comment below what you think the greatest Disney movie ever made is and share your thoughts on what I’ve just read. Thank you.
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