'The Lion King'

I remember as a young teenager my friend's cousins watching The Lion King while we played Mortal Kombat. I remember like I'm there right now.

The Lion King was a gigantic triumph for Disney Animation. I strongly suggest watching Waking Sleeping Beauty, which chronicles the Animation division at Disney during the lean years of the late-1970s and the early-1980s up until The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and, then, The Lion King.

It was triumphant in ways that Disney animated films are not triumphant. It featured a who's who of voice actors (Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons) and a soundtrack that blew the doors of record sales (Elton John's songs). Then the film: A victory in animation and a victory in entertaining young children. It made $771 million, worldwide.

Frankly, it bores me stiff. If you don't know, it's Hamlet with African wild animals. I think the songs are overdramatic and uninteresting, Simba seems like a trouble maker, there's a fart joke and unlike most other Disney animated films, I don't come away really caring for those characters they're drawing.

For what it's worth, The Lion King is being re-released in theaters really soon and I will more than likely go see it. Go figure.