Not long after seeing the re-released version of Jurassic Park I got to see another of my top ten favourite movies at the cinema, and this time in spiffy 3D.
There is simply no better Disney Classic animation to beat The Lion King. Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Lilo & Stitch all come pretty close, but The Lion King has it all. Perfectly cast with recognisable names that aren't there just because they are names (Matthew Broderick, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeremy Irons), humour that lasts, a Hamlet-referencing story of redemption, pain and duty, with romance, comedy sidekicks and a cracking set of songs from the mighty pen of Elton John and Tim Rice... The animation is breath-taking, the 3-dimensional rendering a cherry on top of a gorgeous whole. Hans Zimmer's score is one of the biggest stand-outs in a movie bulging with top moments, and the piece that plays during the stampede and Mufasa's death (...To Die For on the CD soundtrack) is hands down the most powerful few minutes of music in any film ever. Never mind Bambi's mother's (off-screen) death - Mufasa's murder at the hands of Scar and the following shots of his dead body are harrowing and pack a real emotional punch.
briefly...
I've seen The Lion King many times before yet I still laughed at the jokes, tapped my foot to the songs and got caught up in the emotional drama. A film this good deserves to be seen on a big screen, with a music system that can properly handle the truly epic score. A masterpiece.
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