I declared my feelings for Disney movies earlier this month when ruminating over the live action-animated crossover musical, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and if you asked me to describe those feelings in a single word, I would choose enamored. My process of discerning which of the studio's movies would earn full blog posts therefore proved difficult, especially considering Disney films accounted for approximately a dozen finalists for my Countdown to 40. While it pained me to cut many of them, Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame above all, four ultimately made their way onto the list, and of those four, I was most obsessed with The Lion King.
When I saw it in theaters for the first time, The Lion King amazed me like no other animated film had before. With its breath-taking animation (the opening sequence anyone?), heart-warming cast of characters, tragic death of Mufasa, triumphant return of Simba, hilarious one-liners, and unparalleled music, the 1994 African savanna fantasia epitomized everything I loved most about Disney movies. These qualities cemented what many consider the ultimate Disney Renaissance Film as not only one of my all-time favorites but as one of the greatest films ever made. Period. I was and am not alone in my adoration of the film. I mean, you've seen it and probably love it, just like other people of all ages who flocked to theaters to experience the magic of The Lion King. In fact, according to Box Office Mojo, it held the title as highest-grossing animated film for nearly an entire decade before Shrek 2 outsold it. More importantly, one of my best friends in high school, Debbie, was just as obsessed with The Lion King as I was. We saw the film repeatedly in the theater and countless additional times on VHS after purchasing our copies the day they went on sale (probably at Target), watching it so many times we knew the whole script by heart. (My friends in college teased me for how well I knew the film, noting how I would even sigh when the characters sighed.) We listened to the soundtrack incessantly, memorizing every song. We collected The Lion King trading cards, piecing together full sets of both series one and series two. We acquired stationary products, toys, and ornaments. We accumulated tie-in coloring books, too, and spent many a summer afternoon perfecting the right combination of Crayola crayons in our efforts to perfectly recreate the colors we saw on screen. We were all too happy and eager to spend the summer leading up to our senior year almost totally immersed in the world of The Lion King. And when something pervades so much of your life and becomes such an important part of a friendship, it truly helps to define an era and therefore my 17 year-old sense of identity.
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I am a self-proclaimed pop culture geek and list enthusiast who is celebrating the big four-zero by counting down the most important, influential, and favorite music, movies, television shows, books, and video games of my life so far. Categories
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