The Lion King Reviews
HollywoodChicago.com
While "The Lion King" is one of the best Disney movies of all time, "The Lion King 3D" is a manipulative exploitation to bring paying parents back with their kids merely through the sexiness of today's 3D fad.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.0/5.0
Slant Magazine
Although far from the worst offender in Disney's canon, The Lion King is nevertheless host to many of the less savory qualities common to the studio's output.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
The story line is a Joseph Campbell hero-quest so stripped down to its basics as to become dull.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Tolucan Times
The post-production, flat 3D mutes the colors so much that the 2D version is preferable.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/10
Slant Magazine
The Lion King is loaded with hoary biblical references (ray of lights, burning bushes) and Shakespearean shout-outs, but that's all they are.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Urban Cinefile
Frankly, I felt more raw emotion in the more recent Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron and the sadly neglected The Emperor's New Groove (2000) was more fun. Of course, you can't argue with the Lion King's roaring success, but for some, bigger doesn't make i
Film Freak Central
The Lion King's huge take unfortunately bronzed its blunders along with its charms.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Movie Habit
Forget the musical, The Lion King is now in IMAX. Too bad it sends the wrong message -- to anyone who sees messages in cartoon animals singing Broadway numbers.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Film4
The sickly Elton John and Tim Rice songs ruin any attempts at hipness.
Suburban Journals of St. Louis
While the 3D is surprisingly effective on the 2D, hand-drawn animation, the real treat is getting to see this movie once again projected up in all its larger-than-life glory.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
Slant Magazine
Art History stands out as one of Joe Swanberg's most visually and conceptually accomplished experiments.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The Lion King was made a mere 17 years ago, but seems from a different era now. Here was a "kiddie" flick that was big, grandiose and ambitious, a sprawling Shakespearean epic playing out on the African savannah.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
Cinema Autopsy
While the core ideology behind The Lion King is extremely problematic and stands out even more today than it did in 1994, there is still much to admire about the film.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
The exclamation point on a great run of classic Disney animation...
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Birmingham Mail
Feel the love tonight. And see the colours, too.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
There clearly has been a conscious effort to please adults as much as children. Happily, for those of us who generally stay far away from 'cartoons,' they have succeeded.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
Not just a movie, but a marketing phenomenon.
| Original Score: 4/5

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