The Lion King Review

After watching The Lion King again, I forgot realized how long it has been since I had revisited the story/songs. It is such an iconic and well known film that I didn't expect it to be different when actually watching it. Since we are on the topic of race, I was trying to focus on more of that theme throughout the movie. I did notice, as many articles have stated, the African American tone/speech of the hyenas compared to the British or American characters. The difference between the two is that the hyenas are the evil characters whereas most if not all of the British/American characters are good (besides Scar...obviously); therefore, children are more likely to connect dangerous people to African Americans. Other than that racial stereotype it was difficult for me to find racial slurs. Since this movie deals with animals, it is difficult to differentiate race because the animals do not have race. In this way The Lion King is beneficial to where children are able to more easily identify with a vast array of characters.

There were some parts of the movie that I hadn't remembered from when I was younger. For instance, I didn't remember the song Be Prepared where Scar has an entire army of hyenas. I also do not remember many of the visuals in the animation, such as the landscape in the Circle of Life or the forest/watering hole in Hakuna Matata. It seems like I was more able to remember the songs instead of the visual effects from the movie. After watching it again though, I am able to interpret and remember the visual scenes in order to appreciate the movie more.

I believe that it is necessary to talk about villainy in this review, since this film gave me the most scarring (no pun intended) death scenes of my entire life. Scar, the evil uncle of Simba, is intending to kill Mufasa and rule the entire kingdom. The most standout trait of Scar to me though is his voice. The voice actor, Jeremy Irons, brings a conniving and sinister suave to his voice, which makes viewers feel an immediate reaction to Scar as the villain. There are also some physical traits that are dead giveaways in identifying Scar as the villain. For example, he has a scar on his eye meaning that he has survived a wound perhaps from a battle that he won (valiance). Scar also has piercing, neon green eyes and a jet black mane. His green eyes are extremely unnatural and they seem to look off with him being a lion and all. Even his black hair is a sharp contrast to the light brown of the other male/female lions. Although Scar is the villain of this movie I enjoy watching him as well as hearing him. The "brother kills brother" action in order for him to receive the crown gives a story originating in early European history where Monarchies were present. Overall, Scar is definitely a villain that is evil both inside and out.