Ranking my favorite Disney Songs

Alright y’all. I don’t know about you guys, but with the state of the country and the world today, I need an escape. What better way to do it than with Animation and Disney! Not just the movies, but how about the songs? humming your favorite tune has been known to lower stress. I know when I’m annoyed or having a bad or stressful day, music can definitely help.

Disney has ALWAYS been about the music. Although it occasionally goes through periods where they apparently think they’re “too good” for songs, the majority of Disney animated movies are known not only for their stories and characters, but their songs. That is why I am going to List my favorite Disney songs (I’m not limiting it to 10, because personally I think that would be impossible). These are sort of in order? It’s hard to do the higher up ones. At least the top 3 are probably right… Here we go!!

A Whole New World (Aladdin)

I WOULD have this further up on the list, except that every time I listen to it compared to the others it seems sort of… blah. There’s really nothing that sets it apart. But it is still a good song.

 

Colors of the Wind (Pocahontas)

As much as I really dislike what Disney did to this movie, this song is spectacular. the lyrics are thought-provoking, the animation is lovely, and it almost makes us forget we’re in a movie where they aged Pocahontas 10 years and made her fall in love with that white guy

 

Someday (Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Ok, I think I’m kinda cheating with this one and the next, but I don’t care. These are the songs that appear in the credits and are *not* sung by Disney characters. They were singles on the radio.

Someday is an All-4-One song, and if you don’t know who that is it means you’re too young and you should go educate yourself on awesome soul/R&B/whatever the heck they were – boy bands of the 90s. This song is still one of my favorites even 20 years later. It’s the “imagine” of the Disney world. Here, take a listen:

 

Little Wonders (Meet the Robinsons)

Little Wonders is a perfect song for a movie that is unique and underrated for Disney. Sung by Rob Thomas (who is a personal favorite of mine), this song perfectly sums up the feelings of our protagonist Lewis while at the same time somehow digging deep into each of us and touching each of us in the chest. We’ve felt this before, or might at some points in our life. It’s a song I still listen to constantly.

 

Best of Friends (The Fox & The Hound)

There’s nothing really special about this song. It just comes at a time in a movie when our two main characters meet and are playing and having fun. But at the same time it somehow epitomizes childhood. We don’t care who we play with when we’re really young, because we’re just having fun. It’s not until adults and the world “gets in the way” that our mindsets change. I’m starting to think everyone in the world should watch this movie right about now…

 

Why Should I Worry? (Oliver & Co)

This one is a bit of a personal favorite. There’s nothing amazing about this song. It’s not on top Disney song lists. But I love it because 1) It’s Billy Joel, 2) it’s rock, so it’s different than normal disney songs (seriously, you could see this playing on the radio in the 80s), and 3) it kinda sums up the character of Dodger perfectly.

 

Almost There (The Princess and the Frog)

I’ve talked about how much I love this movie. I’ve talked about how I love the atmosphere and what they did with the songs in this movie. To be honest I could pick any of the songs in this movie and throw them here. I love “Down in New Orleans” as well, but if I had to pick one this would be it. This is the classic “I want” song from Disney (on par with “Part of this world” and “When will my life begin?”), but I love this one more than those simply because it’s done in the jazz style, the animation goes back to the 20s posters, and it sums up our character of Tiana so well. She’s worked so hard. she IS almost there.

 

Kiss the Girl (The Little Mermaid)

I made a rule that I couldn’t put more than one song from a movie on here. It was a real toss up between this and “part of your world.” I’m still deciding if I picked the right one. But I love this song. Fun story: In college my friend found a techno version of this song. My life has never been the same since.

 

Let it Go (Frozen)

Yeah, go ahead and shoot me now. Any parents reading this are going “what? how can you stand that song anymore?” It’s true. Frozen is the movie that refused to die in our culture. For the 3rd year in a row, 3/4 of the trick-or-treaters that came to our door were dressed as Elsa. But you can’t ignore just HOW GOOD this song is. After a long hiatus of truly GOOD Disney songs, we finally got a ringer. I mean, the emotion, the words, the message. It’s all there. I love this song, and I’m not sorry.

 

Something There (Beauty and the Beast)

I know, I know. I should have picked the titular song. And I DO love that song. I actually almost picked “Gaston” simply because that song is hilarious. But if I really had to pick one from Beauty and the Beast (and I do because well, it’s Beauty and the Beast), it would have to be this one. They start to understand each other. Belle starts to see past the exterior, and the Beast allows himself to soften. I love the way this one plays out, and the way it sounds.

 

I Won’t Say I’m in Love (Hercules)

Again, I seriously could have picked any song from this movie, which is weird because I know a lot of people could take or leave them. I personally LOVE the music in this movie. If I listed ALL the Disney songs, the ones from Hercules would probably be in the top 20. They’re all just so peppy, zany, etc. But this is the one that I love the most. It’s the one I listen to on my iTunes over and over. And honestly I have no idea why. Maybe it doesn’t sound like any other Disney song. Maybe I like the vulnerability a seemingly tough character is showing.

 

I See the Light (Tangled)

Ok, I’m sort of cheating with this one too. Half of the reason I love this song is because of the animation during it. But it is a pretty good song. It’s our love song but it’s almost like that’s not the main focus. It’s about seeing that there’s more to life than each character previously thought. Plus, it’s pretty!!!

 

You’ll be in My Heart (Tarzan)

I could be cheating with this one too because although this song IS in the movie, I actually mean the one sung by Phil Collins during the credits. But I don’t care. This song is amazing. It perfectly sums up our movie. It’s beautiful when sung by Glenn Close (voice of Kala). It’s sweet and serene in the movie and during the credits has our typical Phil Collins flare. When my son was super young, I sung it to him to get him to sleep. This song has a lot of personal memories attached to it. A list without this song would be incomplete.

 

Circle of Life (The Lion King)

How could I not? I remember seeing this movie in the theater when I was 8 and even then knowing that I was already watching something special. This song is beautiful. It’s the perfect way to open this movie, and again, we have the entire idea of the movie in one song. This is the story about the life of this lion cub. It also has the distinction of setting the atmosphere in the movie, and transports us to Africa. It’s beautiful, it’s epic, and if you ever see the broadway show, it can make you downright cry.

For fun here’s the Broadway version. Revel in the Amazing-ness:

 

He’s a Tramp (Lady & The Tramp)

huh? I bet a lot of people are wondering where this one came from. To be honest, this is one that has only grown on me as I’ve gotten older. Part of that could be because I understand it now (this actually is an incredibly “grown up” song). But I love Peg’s voice, I love the style, I love the sad atmosphere of the pound. It’s a one of a kind Disney song.

 

Out There (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

This is already my favorite Disney movie. While it doesn’t have the majority of my favorite Disney songs, most of them in this movie are quite good (as I talked about in my review). I really SHOULD have put “heaven’s light/Hellfire” on here from a technical standpoint. That song is unbelievable. Or I should have put “The Bells of Notre Dame” on here, because of the musical and storytelling ability. Or even “God Help the Outcasts.” But this one is a bit more of a personal favorite. It’s another “I want” song, and it’s not only beautifully sung and written, it’s beautifully animated. It lets you see what our main character is really about, and it’s great.

 

I’ll Make a Man Out of You (Mulan)

There really was no question when I started making this list what would be number one. Which is kinda funny, because honestly I would have put my money one of the other songs on here myself. But the more I thought about it, this really is one of the BEST Disney songs out there. It’s a montage song, but it’s a well done montage song. It’s catchy and upbeat, Donny Osmond’s voice fits perfectly, and I DARE you not to sing along.

Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998)

 

Kiara: A wise king once told me we are one. I didn’t understand him then. Now I do

Simba: But they…

Kiara: Them? Us? Look at them. They are us. What differences do you see?

 

Can I just say how much I love the play on words of this title? It means his literal pride of lions, but it’s also in reference to his daughter. Oh that’s clever. (edit: it was late when I wrote this. I apologize…)

Ok. Second of my three Disney sequels put out by Disney MovieToons (DisneyToon Studios now). My Return of Jafar review was actually torture to get through. This one? not so much. Don’t judge me, but I actually love this movie. Does it rank with the first one? Hah. No. Not at all. Barely anything can. But this movie is a solid effort. You just have to ignore all the glaring plot holes…

While the first movie was based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the sequel is based on Romeo and Juliet. We follow Simba’s daughter, Kiara, as she goes through her life, much like we did with Simba. Here’s the plot:

Kiara is Simba’s headstrong daughter, who likes breaking rules just as much as her dad did. One day while she’s exploring, she wanders into the “out lands,” where she meets Kovu, a cub from a banished pride of lions that supposedly supported Scar’s reign. The two hit it off until the parents intervene.

We learn from Kovu’s mother Zira that Scar hand picked Kovu to follow in his paw prints and become king. Simba threatens to kill them should they ever return, and lets them go. Simba attempts to teach his daughter not to wander off and talks about the circle of life, to which Kiara responds by saying she doesn’t want to be queen. Her father responds claiming that ruling is in her blood, as he is. Essentially, they are one and the same.

Struck with an idea after meeting Kiara and realizing the two cubs wanted to be friends, Zira plots to train Kovu, and when he gets old enough, use Kiara to get to Simba and kill him.

Time passes, and we see Kiara set out on her first hunt (she’s a horrible hunter). Timon and Pumbaa spy on her on Simba’s orders to make sure she’s safe, and she runs into them, gets upset, and goes off to hunt away from the pride lands. Zira sets her plan in motion and sets fire to the grass, trapping Kiara. Kovu moves in and rescues her, claiming to Simba, Nala, and the rest that he’s left the outsiders and should be judged as himself, not by what the others have done. Simba says he reserves judgement, and all head back to Pride Rock.

Kiara gets Kovu to help her with her stalking and hunting, and soon Kovu learns how to have fun and realizes that he cares about Kiara more than he probably should. They fall in love, Kovu plans to tell her about the plan Zira had, but Simba interrupts them and wants to talk to him. Out in the savannah, he’s ambushed by Zira and the others, and Kovu is banished from the pride lands. Upset, Kiara goes off to find him and tries to talk him into returning, claiming that their families will be fighting forever if they don’t do something about it.

Zira wants revenge, and the two prides meet on the savannah to fight it out. Kovu and Kiara get there in time and manage to talk some sense into all but Zira, who still tries to kill Simba. She ends up going over a cliff and dying, and the rest of the lions join their prides together and head back to pride rock. The end.

There are a few things that are good about this movie, and there are some things that are bad. I’m going to talk about the bad first, because it’s so much easier…

1) There are a TON of plot holes. The whole idea of Scar having a mate in Zira and a whole group of lions who followed him? Where were they in the original movie? (oh and don’t worry, Kovu isn’t Scar’s son – there’s no incest, I promise). There are also suddenly no hyenas. They’re claimed to have just “run off.” These two things are a bit hard to stomach at first, but if you can get over them and just go “ok, whatever,” it makes the movie much more enjoyable. Don’t worry about continuity. Just take this movie as it is.

2) The “culture” that made the first movie so incredibly special seems to be glossed over in this movie. It’s still there, but almost as an afterthought. The way they do some of this stuff, it’s almost making fun of it, in a way. I’ll explain: In the first movie, Rafiki was this shaman; this wise old monkey who seemed to know the secret to life and was needed to help Simba realize his life path. In this movie? He’s a freaking matchmaker. That’s right. We still get scenes of him in his tree, of course. He talks to Mufasa, telling him things aren’t going well between the two prides of lions, and his idea is to put them together. It’s ok I guess, but at the same time, something has never really sat well with me on that whole thing.

I also don’t like that Mufasa has sort of risen above to become this God-like being. Simba still talks to him (ok, that one makes sense), but like I said… Rafiki talks to him like he knows all the answers. They were arguably equals in the last movie. Both were conveyed as very wise. Suddenly Mufasa knows all?

3) Zira. She’s trying to be evil. She’s trying to be scar, but it doesn’t work. I don’t want to call her a rehash of an old villain, because she’s not. She has a lot of similarities to Scar, but she is a different lion and a different character. It’s just… when you have a villain like Scar in the first movie, you have to go a complete direction in a sequel. She’s too similar and it doesn’t work.

4) I’m sad we don’t see Nala. And there’s too much Timon and Pumbaa. Yes, it actually isn’t annoying and their characters are used in a good way, but I think there’s too much. With Nala, yes I realize this movie is about Simba and his daughter and they were going for the same thing he and his father had, but it would have been nice to see her a little bit more. She was such a strong character in the first movie. Here, she’s just in the background.

Ok. Those are my issues. I’ve honestly made my peace with most of them and realize that this is just the way it is. But I forced myself to bring them out for this review because otherwise I wouldn’t be honest with myself on this movie. So what’s good?

1) Simba. I actually adore seeing Simba in a father roll. Do they get the bond he and his daughter have down as well as he had with Mufasa? No. But in some ways, that’s not the story’s fault; it’s the characters. And it’s actually for a good reason. Simba, quite simply put, is really overprotective of Kiara. He wants her to stay on marked paths as a cub, sends Timon and Pumbaa to follow her all the time, and at one point as an young adult he tells her he can’t go anywhere without an escort. It seems incredibly out of character and I know a lot of people that have seen this actually hate what they did to Simba. But me? I like it. Because it’s realistic. He lost everything as a cub. He lost his father, who he was closest to (he even still has dreams about losing him again). Now, as a father, he’s terrified he’s going to lose her, because he loves her. That’s some real stuff there. That’s taking something that happened in the first movie and having your character have changes in personality because of it. It’s believable. I also like with Simba how even he can still learn stuff from his daughter, like at the end. He’s not all knowing. He’s not perfect, or as perfect as his father seemed, but that’s ok.

2) Kiara and Kovu. Simba’s daughter Kiara is cheeky, plucky, headstrong, and has attitude. I love every second of it. She’s also smart and willing to look past the faults of others to see what they’re truly about. You could say she’s incredibly naive as well, but it plays to her favor. Kovu, on the other hand, has been put through rigorous training his whole life. He’s like a brain-washed soldier that learns the truth about what he’s been told, and learns what life can be through Kiara. He’s not as smart, and he’s having trouble dealing with what exactly he wants to believe/do in his life. I enjoy watching these two together. It does get a little sappy once they’re “in love,” but it’s still kinda nice.

3) The music. I really shouldn’t say I love the music in this sequel, because it makes me feel dirty. Normally sequel songs suck. But here’s what’s different about these songs: first, the opening song was taken from the musical. Although it doesn’t quite fit as well as The Circle of Life, it works. Zira’s song is blah, but still catchy. But the others are catchy or actually good. “We are one,” and “Love will find a way,” I would argue, are better than a lot of Disney Canon songs. You can tell that they put a little bit more effort into these songs.

So that’s all I’m going to say about this movie. I think you either like it or you don’t. As a movie itself, it’s not bad – I’ve seen way worse. Sure it’s a little corny, but I don’t mind that. As a sequel to one of the most popular Disney movies of all time, it’s a bit of a disappointment. At the same time you can tell they put a little more effort into everything, probably because it was a sequel to the Lion King. The animation isn’t bad, the songs aren’t bad, the characters aren’t bad. I enjoy this movie. If you go in with an open mind and just want to spend more time with the characters you loved, or get to know some new ones, you might find it surprising.

I give Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride a 3 out of 5. Again, not ranking this on my canon list

Up Next: Pocahontas (1995)

 

The Lion King (1994)

 

Confession: I have this movie memorized. Not “I think I could say the words along with them” memorized, but literally memorized. I’ve sat down and recited the whole thing before with nothing but silence in the background (this was to a friend who didn’t believe me – and pretty much my husband when we watched it this time). I know random trivia about this movie that no one would want to know, like how many times you see Mufasa’s or Simba’s claws. I knew Nala’s mother’s name and Scar’s real name before it was common knowledge because of the internet. I own two full sets of Lion King trading cards, one of which I collected myself by buying pack after pack at Albertsons.

I even bought this spectacular binder to put them in…

I’m still weirdly proud of this collection… I wonder if they’ll be worth anything someday.

To put it short, I was obsessed with this movie. OBSESSED. The funniest part is that I remember seeing the trailer for this movie before Aladdin and thinking “wow, that looks stupid.” That’s why I never trust trailers anymore. What the hell do I know, right? Obviously nothing.

I’m going to tackle this movie much like I tackled Beauty and the Beast. No, this movie wasn’t nominated for Best Picture, nor do I think it should have been. It isn’t as perfect as that movie, but it is arguably more popular. This movie was everywhere. There were toys at Burger King and at every single store that everyone just had to have. There were hand held games and video games (this was before video games with movies were really a “thing.”  It won awards for music. The songs were on the radio. Elton John was actually cool again (and this movie is probably one of the few reasons 90s kids even know he exists). I had many friends obsessed, like me, with the songs and the characters. We would argue about who the best character was and share random stupid trivia with each other. We brought stuffed animals to school read ins. We got tv spin-offs. EVERYONE saw this movie at least once. It’s still the highest grossing 2D animated movie of all time, and 19th highest grossing movie ever. I imagine 1994 was a lot like what’s been occurring here this past winter due to Frozen. So here’s what I want to know: Is this movie deserving of all this attention? Is it worthy of being such a high grossing/well known “classic”? Or is it all just a bunch of hooey?

My short answer is that yes, it is deserving of everything. But let’s go into detail, shall we?

Let’s start with the plot. Everyone knows the plot so I’m not even going to bother. If you are one of the probably 100 people in this country who doesn’t know The Lion King, I’ll wait here while you read the wikipedia article….

I’ll just sit here and entertain myself…

Good? Ok. Now before I start discussing the plot I want to get a few things out of the way: We’ve heard all the controversies by now people. YES, there was a Japanese anime series called Kimba the White Lion that has a lot in common with this movie artistically and character wise. Personally, I don’t care. Disney has said it was all coincidental. Do I believe them? meh… I dunno. But does it matter? Not really. The Lion King is the movie I care about. If anything, this controversy has made it so that Kimba the White Lion is more recognized. Disney did you all a favor! (btw, the anime series is great – I encourage everyone to check it out).

This is Disney’s first “original” story since The Rescuers Down Under. I put that in quotes because producers have said they based The Lion King of many different sources, from the Bible and the story of Moses to Shakespeare. The latter is what everyone seems to remember. This story is basically Hamlet with animals. (Fun fact: it’s also only Disney’s 3rd movie to feature ONLY animals and no humans – The other two being Bambi and Robin Hood)

Here’s one of the reasons I think this movie was and is so popular: This movie and this plot has the ability to appeal to literally everyone. We follow our protagonist Simba from a cub through childhood and adolescence into adulthood. It’s a story that everyone knows because we’ve all had to grow up or are currently growing up. Everyone can relate to Simba and this story in one way or another. Yes, maybe we haven’t all had our father die by wildebeest stampedes, but we’ve all had to deal with our own hardships, and we’ve all reacted to them and we’ve all fallen and had to get back up. We’ve all lost ourselves and forgotten who we are. We’ve all needed help, and we’ve all risen to the challenge. That’s what living is. That’s what this movie is really about; it’s about growing up, figuring out who you really are, and fighting for what’s important.

The characters in this movie, like the plot, also have wide appeal. Let’s take our protagonist, Simba. I hate to say it, but he’s more believable than a lot of other Disney characters. He’s not a boring, perfect character. He has flaws; a LOT of them. Other Disney characters have flaws to, but Simba’s seem real. They change as he goes through his life, but they make him who he is and they make him interesting. He’s a cheeky kid who likes to break rules (and let’s face it, we all had a side to us as a kid that was pretty much like Simba). He’s a young adult who feels he has lost his way. He feels he has to hide everything (including who he is), and has no idea what to do to be happy. He has this huge secret that eats away at him for years simply because he’s ashamed, and it affects his life. This is all incredibly realistic. Again, I feel that almost everyone can relate to Simba about one thing or another. We’ve all had secrets. We’ve all lost our way. We’ve all wanted to just forget about responsibility and scream “Hakuna Matata,” but then we realize that that’s not living, and that’s not who we are.

Along with Simba, what this movie really does well is it shows us all types of relationships. We have father/son, friendships, romance, etc. This movie treats its characters and their relationships with the utmost importance. Sure we still have our comedic duo, our token bad sidekicks, and our love interest, but this movie makes you understand how much these characters mean to each other. Let’s take the most important one: Mufasa and Simba. Mufasa is a huge, strong, brave ruler; his subjects see him as this, the hyenas see him as this, and Simba does as well. But then we also get to see a softer side of this lion when Simba is nearly killed by the hyenas. As he’s talking to Simba and admitting his weaknesses, we can see the bond strengthening. We can see it strengthening anytime the two are together. Mufasa is an amazing father, because he’s everything that goes with it: he’s also a confidant, teacher, role model, and friend. That’s why it hurts so much when he dies – we understood the bond they had.

It’s not just with these two that we feel it, though. We feel it to a lesser degree with Simba and Nala, Timon & Pumbaa (acceptance & unconditional love), and even Simba and Zazu. We see it in the Hyenas and Scar. This movie does relationships and characters so well I almost want to cry. They’re all unique, they’re all well rounded and deep. Even if they only have a supporting part, Disney spared no time in making them the best they could be. (Sarabi is still one of the best Disney moms out there – she won’t take no crap from nobody!)

Good characters and good plot make for a good movie, but it takes something more for a movie to be truly special. What this movie did was it didn’t just give us a story with these characters, but it built a world around these characters. We have an entire culture in this movie, and I really think that this is part of the movie’s appeal. It starts at the very beginning with the very first words sung, and ends with the last roar. There is a whole belief system in this movie, and it is extremely cool. We have ceremonies for baby lions. We have the belief that kings are in the stars. We have “Hakuna Matata.” We have the Roaring at the end to signify who’s ruling. It’s done in such a respectful and serious way that as an audience we go along with it, like that’s just the way it is. Not once do people go “wow, uh… that’s weird,” because we’re all just “oh this is so cool! How unique!”

At the middle of this whole culture is Rafiki. A weird animated cross between a mandrill and a baboon (fun fact: he was actually supposed to be a baboon at the beginning and a villainous character and not the rafiki we know and love by a long shot!). This monkey acts as a shaman, confidant and spiritual leader for our royal line of lions. He’s there to help push Simba in the right direction and talk some sense into him. He somehow connects the spiritual world to the real one. It’s amazing. People love Rafiki, and with good reason. He’s the wise old guy we all wish we had in our lives. He tells it like it is in a way no one can understand. His scene with Simba is the most quoted scene out of the entire movie, and with good reason. It has some extremely good advice in it. I think people connected not only to Rafiki, but the idea that this movie has it’s own culture, and that’s just unique in a Disney movie. It was well done and incredibly believable and magical.

Can we also talk about how adorable it was that we got this twice? I kinda adore this.

 

Reason number…. 5? that I think this movie did as well as it did (and why it deserves it) is, of course, the music. I’ve talked about Disney music before and I praised it like crazy in Beauty and the Beast because of how “musical” it is. The Lion King is not like that. It’s songs aren’t “Broadway ready” in the same way, but they do convey emotion/wants/storyline well. We also get one of our first “song montages” in this movie in “Hakuna Matata” when Simba grows up during the instrumental part (Disney will come to love this idea later…). Honestly, it works. All the songs work. They’re all classic and we all know them. I will be honest though – I have never liked “Can you feel the love tonight.” It’s always kinda bugged me. I dunno. Just a personal issue.

I am going to take a quick break from my list and mention a random thing (well it’s not that random): A lot of people have been giving Disney crap in the past few months about how Frozen is going to Broadway. They wonder why would people want to see a Disney movie (or any movie for that matter) redone on broadway (Broadway’s in a bit of a slump creativity wise right now… most of their “new” musicals are movie adaptations). While I understand to a point (for example – do we really need a Rocky musical?) I think you have to take it on a case to case basis

Case in point: This show. I love this movie, but I love the broadway show even more. Sure I know the plot, but you don’t go for that. You go for the atmosphere. You go to be awed. You go to hear the music pound in your head and cry when the Circle of Life is sung. You go to lose yourself. You go to learn more about these characters that you thought you knew everything about. You go to hear the new (amazing) songs. There is a reason this show has been on Broadway for as long as it has. IT. IS. AMAZING. Who cares it if twas a movie first. If you love this movie, go see the show, even if you think you hate broadway. You won’t be disappointed. I’ve seen it 4 times and each time I get chills and I cry from how beautiful it is.

Not to mention the costumes are UNBELIEVABLE.

Ok. My break is over. This movie has a ton going for it, but I have one more reason that I think this movie did so well: Scar. Seriously. I think this movie wouldn’t have done so well had there been a villain any different than the one they got, voiced by someone other than Jeremy Irons. This villain is incredible. Not deep incredible like Gaston (no one can beat that), but just… evil incredible. Disney’s had some evil villains before, but none quite like this. This one actually committed murder on screen. He had a score to settle with his brother. He was angry he wasn’t first born and the one who ruled. He was angry, and he acted on it. But man oh man did he act on it. The most amazing part? He doesn’t care he just killed his brother and his nephew. He’s that evil. Jeremy Irons apparently didn’t want this part, and the producers had to talk him into it. Thank GOD they did. His voice is slippery and slimy just like his character. Scar is one for the record books, and is definitely one of the most evil villains Disney’s ever created. He’s also a blast to watch.

Just look at the evilness. He doesn’t give a shit about that kid…

So there you have it. My reasons for why The Lion King did so well, and me rationalizing my obsession with it when I was in 4th grade. After this movie came to theaters, I really didn’t think Disney would have another hit like it for a long time. I turned out to be right, for the most part. It’s a movie that makes you laugh and cry (pretty sure this is the first movie I ever cried during…). It’s a movie that makes you sing along and quote. It’s an experience, not just a movie.

Admit it, you cried too!!

I give The Lion King (1994) a 4.8 out of 5. Little Simba can get on my nerves a bit, believe it or not…. and this movie is not as perfect as Beauty and the Beast, even if I do like it more.

Next up: The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998)