Best of all is Scar: his sly treachery is worthy of Shakespeare's master overreacher, and Jeremy Irons responds as if born to play Richard III.

| Dec 20, 2024

A superb movie, with a timeless story, many levels of humor, and artwork that conveys images and themes that real-life movies could only hint at.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 20, 2024

The grandeur of the Serengeti Plain comes through the animation, and the young audience may actually feel something like amazement.

| Dec 20, 2024

Apart from the brilliant, incredibly-detailed animation, the film's most overwhelming asset is the inspired vocal casting.

| Dec 20, 2024

You have to grant that the music by Elton John and Time Rice for The Lion King does the job.

| Dec 20, 2024

Imagine hamlet in fuzzy costumes, and you have a pretty good idea of what The Lion King is all about.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 20, 2024

The unique matching of voice to visual makes each of the characters sing, in the figurative as well as the literal sense.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 19, 2024

This is not Beauty and the Beast, or Aladdin, it's not even as moving or tuneful as The Little Mermaid.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 19, 2024

The most contemplative drama Disney ever committed to cels -- the daring act of a studio growing up with the world around it.

| Original Score: A | Dec 19, 2024

Visually exciting, verbally amusing entertainment with detailed quality animation which makes its peers look like flicker books.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 19, 2024

The Lion King roars in its own special way. It advances the genre, introduces some great new characters, and teaches lessons that don't normally come from films that are 88 minutes long.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 19, 2024

One of the great wonders of a film like The Lion King is that it is a joint effort beyond anything in traditional drama or film. Hundreds of animators, writers, actors, musicians join together in an effort like this one, which took four years to produce.

| Dec 19, 2024

The score, by Hans Zimmer, is a soaring, chorale=-based work that draws effectively on traditional African music.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 19, 2024

The animation of The Lion King brings a breathtaking epic feel to a movie that's not really epic at all.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 19, 2024

As with Aladdin, the Disney crew has made a movie you don't have to be a child to enjoy.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 19, 2024

The true reason to see The Lion King is the awe-inspiring animation. So lifelike and yet so expressive, it defies description.

| Dec 19, 2024

The touching songs by Elton John and lyricist Time Rice have been wrapped in soaring, African-style orchestrations by Hans Zimmer.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 19, 2024

The funniest, hippest, liveliest and most exhilarating family picture...

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 19, 2024

This is one of those rare coming-of-age-epics that is genuinely funny, funky, frightening, enchanting, romantic, and fraught with intrigue.

| Dec 19, 2024

This is an original story, but one destined for classic status.

| Original Score: 10/10 | Dec 19, 2024