The Lion King

There is a point in every child's life when they are too old for Disney cartoons.  That has more to do with kids wanting to seem grown-up than with the quality of Disney animated films.  I hit my teen years right around this time, so while I did (against my better instincts) enjoy Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid, The Lion King held absolutely no appeal for me.  I was too old for kids movies, and I had moved on to more sophisticated types of entertainment, like Saved By the Bell reruns.  As is often the case with the choices I made as a teenager, it turns out that I was an idiot.  I was eventually dragged to see the movie with my little sister, and I loved it.  But I didn't grow up in a family that hoarded Disney movies when they hit the home video market, so The Lion King eventually became a faint (albeit fond) movie memory for me.  To celebrate the super-deluxe BluRay release of the film, Disney put The Lion King back in theaters (in 3D, of course), and I went with my wife and, apparently, every five year-old in town to see it on the big screen.

Dangling baby scenes were made for 3D

The Lion King stands out amongst Disney's animated films for many reasons, especially its plot.  This is not an adaptation of a fairy tale or book.  This is a completely original story, and any similarities you see to Hamlet, Biblical characters, or a long-running anime are absolutely correct imagined by you.  Little Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is the sole child and heir to Mufasa (James Earl Jones), the lion king.  It appears that this story follows the logic of lions being the king of the jungle, so the lion king is actually the king of all animals, as far as the eye can see.

"Come on, son.  Let's eat one of our subjects."

Mufasa is a well-liked leader and the land around his home base, Pride Rock, is flourishing.  The only one that isn't a Mufasite is his brother, Scar (Jeremy Irons).  Scar isn't as big and strong as his brother, but he's an awful lot more ambitious and clever; he knows that, if something were to happen to Mufasa and Simba--- say, an unfortunate "accident", painstakingly planned by him --- Scar would be the next in line for the lion throne.  What's a little fratricide/regicide between brothers?  Phase one of Scar's plan works like a charm; Mufasa dies and scars the childhoods of all the kids too young to have been scarred by Bambi.  Phase two has a little hitch; Simba survived the initial "accident."  Not wanting to dirty his own paws, Scar approaches the grieving cub and blames him for daddy's death.  Scar convinces Simba to leave town and never come back; as soon as Simba has started to run, Scar sends his hyena underlings to kill the lion prince.  They fail, but Simba leaves with a heavy heart and a ton of guilt.  Sure, he'll live to sing another day, but will he ever be able to live up to his father's legacy?

Yeah, he looks guilt-ridden

One of The Lion King's most famous attributes is the soundtrack, which featured songs written by Elton John, with lyrics by Tim Rice.  Personally, I usually overlook the songs in most Disney movies --- they're okay, I guess, but nothing I'd put on my iPod --- but this soundtrack was hugely popular.  It's actually the only animated movie soundtrack to become Diamond certified by the RIAA.  So, how is it?  Pretty solid.  Despite my normal aversion to Elton John, I have to admit that I enjoy "The Circle of Life" and "Hakuna Matata;" the rest of the songs are fine, but those are the standouts to me.  Even after all this time, the African chants that start "The Circle of Life" (and the film itself) still sound pretty cool.

The Lion King followed the immensely popular Aladdin, and (perhaps inspired by Robin Williams' popularity) featured the highest-profile voice cast of any Disney movie to date.  The booming voice of James Earl Jones was perfect as the regal Mufasa.  Jeremy Irons was even better as the dastardly Scar.  This is one of my favorite villain performances (animated or otherwise) because Irons makes Scar seem so happy to be evil.  It helps that he murders his brother and, in a masterly stroke, puts the blame on a child, but the fact that he obviously loves being a class-A jerk is what separates him from other ambitious killers.

Actor name anagram game: Jeremy's Iron

Jonathan Taylor Thomas is okay as little Simba, and so is Matthew Broderick as adult Simba.  But they're just okay, especially compared to the stellar work from Jones and Irons.  Honestly, they might be the worst celebrity voices in this cast.  I liked all the hyenas; Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin were solid, while experienced voice actor Jim Cummings was hilarious as Ed.

Guess which one was funny?  That's right, neither professional comedian.

I normally only tolerate Nathan Lane, but I rather enjoyed him as little Timon.  There are always comedy relief characters in Disney movies, but Timon and Pumba (Ernie Sabella) are some of the more enjoyably over-the-top that Disney has to offer.  Hell, I even liked Rowan Atkinson in this movie, and I don't think I've ever even thought that sentence in any other context.  My favorite character in the film (after Scar, of course) is definitely Robert Guillaume as the idiosyncratic monkey.  He doesn't fling his poo, but he is as infuriating as I imagine monkeys should be.

Direction in animated movies is a little strange, since it seems to be more of a leadership role than a singular artistic vision.  Whatever the case behind the scenes, co- directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff did a very good job blending the bleak, dramatic story with kid-friendly humor and songs.  Do you really need more than that from the directors of your Disney animated movie?  I think not.

If Simba remembered "The Circle of Life," his friends would be dinner

There are some odd aspects to The Lion King, though.  Yeah, I understand that this is a children's movie, so we won't be seeing Simba disemboweling Dumbo.  Still, there are a few times where the lions reference eating other animals, even after we've seen anthropomorphized versions of the animals on-screen.  That's an unusual amount of cognitive dissonance for a cartoon.  I am also frequently amused by how nature responds positively to the heroic carnivores in this film, and so very, very negatively to Scar's team.  After Pride Rock becomes a barren wasteland, what exactly does Simba do to turn it back into an Eden-like paradise?  At a glance, I would assume the area needed new topsoil and irrigation, neither of which are in the wheelhouse of most lions.

No offense, kid

But who really cares about any of that?  The Lion King is arguably the best late-period Disney movie, but it is also unarguably the line in the sand for the company; after this point, Disney animated films would lose their power and stature, while digitally animated films would rapidly ascend to the artistic levels (and beyond) of this very enjoyable kid's movie.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, the 3D effects were okay --- fairly innocuous background stuff, mostly --- and the child-filled audience was pretty damn adorable to listen to.  I don't know if I needed a singalong to "Hakuna Matata," but it's hard to get upset at so many fully engaged kids.

Addams Family Values

For some reason, it is almost impossible to make a good movie out of a classic television show.  Bewitched, The Flinstones, and Dragnet all made it to the big screen, but none of them were very good.  Don't even get me started on Cedric the Entertainer's Honeymooners debacle.  The Addams Family is the only show to truly make a successful leap from the small to the big screen (okay, Mission: Impossible did a good job, too).  Having overcome that first hurdle with The Addams Family, Addams Family Values feels like the cast and crew performed with a weight lifted from them.  Gone are a lot of the zanier moments that stayed true to the original show.  Instead, this movie feels like a logical step forward from the 60s to the 90s.

This movie uses its sequel status quite well.  A lot of sequels have major cast changes that require some explaining, or they take the time to reintroduce the characters for viewers that are unfamiliar with the series.  Here, it is more or less assumed that the viewer knows that the Addams are weird and moves past that to propel the plot.  The story this time around has Fester (Christopher Lloyd) looking for love, only to find serial black widow Debbie (Joan Cusack) looking to marry (and shortly inherit) into the Addams fortune.  Fester is harder to kill than a non-Addams, though, so Debbie has to isolate him from his family.  This devastates his brother Gomez (Raul Julia) and sister-in-law Morticia (Anjelica Huston), especially after they have their new baby, Pubert.  There is a subplot dealing with the older Addams children, Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and her brother Puglsey, being sent to an exceptionally upbeat summer camp, but the real story is about Debbie vs. the Addams Family.

The primary cast from the last movie remains unchanged.  The characters are more well-developed this time around, particularly Wednesday and Fester.  Lloyd benefits the most here because his character had amnesia in the first film; this time around, he's as weird as everyone else from the start.  While the sequel came out only two years after the original, Ricci matured a lot in those two years, which improved her deadpan delivery significantly.  The other established cast members are still exceptionally well cast.  Carol Kane is always fun to see in a movie, especially when she looks like a witch.  Raul Julia had a talent for embracing the ridiculous that was more apparent as Gomez than any of his other roles.  The casting of Anjelica Huston as Morticia was inspired, showing a playfulness that rarely showed in her earlier work.  Even the undemanding role of Lurch was well-played by Carel Struycken.  Even Joan Cusack is enjoyable here; her grating voice is a lot more palatable when she is presented as a murderer.  The supporting cast features some noteworthy appearances, including a young David Krumholtz as a sickly love interest for Wednesday, Peter MacNicol and Christine Baranski as camp counselors, while Nathan Lane, Cynthia Nixon, David Hyde Pierce, Peter Graves, and Tony Shalhoub all have bit parts.

Excellent casting aside, I'm not saying that this is a perfect movie.  A lot of the humor is predictable, but it is written and delivered well.  I like that this is a (more or less) family movie with a macabre sense of humor.  It's rare to see so much deadpan sarcasm in a movie primarily aimed at children and teens.  As someone with the mentality of a child or teen, I appreciate that.  A lot of the predictability in this film comes from its limitations.  The Addams' make all sorts of grizzly, creepy allusions to grave robbery, murder, and sex, but they remain allusions.  Would this movie be better if these aspects of the script were more explicit?  Do we really want to see Wednesday kill anyone at summer camp?  Do we want to see Gomez and Morticia in the bedroom?  Do we want to see Fester and Debbie digging up a corpse?  Not really, no, and NO, respectively.  Sadly, the limitations that this movie places on itself to remain (mostly) in the realm of good taste handicap some of its humorous potential.  This is a wise choice, overall, for the film, because it is able to make some occasionally good jokes and fill the rest of the time with largely inoffensive predictable fare.  The deadpan delivery and morbid sensibilities set this apart from almost all modern comedies, and this remains one of the best examples of a television show making the transition to film.