I literally had to rush over to Best Buy and pick up a copy of the 1994 Lion King before I went and saw the new one, as my old VHS copy of it that I had from when I was a child was impractical, considering my VHS player had been disposed of many years back.
I forgot how brimmed to the bone this movie is with valuable life lessons and facts. I didn’t realize how extremely educational this film probably was for me as a kid, as almost every heartbeat of the harsh truths of life—in the animal kingdom and even in our own society—is present. It’s edged with ferociously conventional yet, IMPORTANT wisdom.
I mean, for instance, I love how Timon and Pumbaa genuinely represent the stereotypical American stoners and Simba’s progression through childhood to adulthood is the metaphorical concept of experiencing the motions of a pot-headed teenager. And then, there’s always those twitchy breaks in the friendship where someone in the group gets a girlfriend and it gets in the way of the passionately hardy bromances. This movie legitimately has everything. Everything.
I saw The Lion King about 1,000,000 times as a kid. It was such a treat to revisit it all these years later even though I wouldn’t consider it a Disney favorite of mine. Embarrassingly enough though, I remembered all the songs. UGHHHH…
Verdict: B
“The Lion King” is now available to buy on Amazon Prime, YouTube, iTunes, and Vudu.
Burning the Celluloid 
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