Exactly 20 years ago, a peculiar animated movie premiered on the big screen. Disney, a movie company that was in the midst of a renaissance, didnt have very high expectations for it. They thought that a movie about talking animals would only do moderately well in the box office, instead expecting that their next film about the New World would fare much better. When that movie finally premiered on June 15, 1994, it not only became the most successful animated film of all time for at least a decade, it also cemented Disneys position as an animation tour de force. That movie was The Lion King. It would be easy to think of the Lion King as the Frozen of the 90s. Both were smash hits, both featured a colorful cast of characters, and both featured songs so memorable you are probably sick of them by now. Probably. But honestly, the Lion King was more than that. Frozen was a wonderful flick, no doubt, but the Lion King was in a different league. It featured one of the most powerful music scores in animated movie history, it dealt with tragedy that was simply gut-wrenching to any kid who watched it, and from an experiential standpoint, the Disney epic (different from a fairy tale) felt staggeringly huge. You could feel the size of their world, the emotional intensity of mere stampedes, the temptations of worry-free life, and the real burden of destiny and responsibility. It was, for lack of a better word, one of the most affective movies Disney has ever made, and 20 years later, the Lion King remains a significant part of childhood for many 80s and 90s kids that we look back upon fondly. Disney will continue to make wonderful animated films for years to come that many of us will enjoy; Frozen is proof of that. The future is bright, but at least for today, let us remember what was most certainly a shining legacy.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 14:34:51 +0000
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