I'm not a Disney convert. I didn't like what I saw of Disney movies as a kid and by the time THE LION KING came out in 1994 I was 13 and couldn't be less interested in kid's films anymore anyway. Decades later, I've finally watched it for the first time and the experience has reaffirmed all of the negativity I associate with Disney animation.

This is over-simplistic, spoon-fed pulp for the masses. The story is copied from HAMLET and simplified to get rid of all the complexity. The characters are trite and one-dimensional without anything in the way of depth or motivation. Jeremy Irons' bad guy is that just because. The positive thing about this is that the character animation is very good indeed, although I found the backdrops simplistic in the extreme. The comedy relief is laboured and the songs trite. The whole experience washed over me without touching or involving me once, and don't get me started on the exaggerated voice acting.

This is a fantastic movie, and I am not lying! my 13 year old sister loves this movie, and I can't fault this either. It was one of the first movies I ever saw, so that accounts for how much I love it. The animation is superb, the backgrounds look so rich, and for once, there are no stiff movements. The highlights were the stampede and the fight between Scar and Simba. The music by Hans Zimmer is outstanding, a perfect mix of African chants and pure Hollywood. The songs are absolutely great, I had no idea that Elton John could write like that. The best song is "Can you feel the Love Tonight?" but the others go without fault, "Circle of Life" is so spirit rousing especially. Likewise with the voice overs. Jonathan Taylor Thomas is very likable as Young Simba, and Matthew Broderick, while not as good, is above average too. James Earl Jones lends his booming voice to the majestic King Mufassa, and Nathan Lane, Rowan Atkinson and Whoopi Goldberg provide flawless comic relief. The vocal standout is Jeremy Irons as Scar, who frightened me when I was little. Scar is up there with the best Disney villains, like Jafar, Malificent and Frollo. The humour here is fantastic, and you cry here a bit here as well. I highly recommend the stage version in the West End, and the sequels are actually two of the better DTV sequels.10/10. Bethany Cox

Aside from the folks at Disney, anyone else my age who saw both the Japanese series "Kimba" and "The Lion King" could easily see that the Disney film was based almost completely on the earlier Japanese cartoon. Now I am no lover of "Kimba"--its American version was rather insipid. But the plot was clearly 'borrowed' by Disney to make "The Lion King". And, there are so many similarities that I cannot rate this wonderful film any higher than an 8--as it lacks originality. Sure, I loved Ed and felt my heart tugged by the film and loved the music--but it was a ripoff, ur....I mean 'very similar'. Not a bad film at all, but I recommend you try seeing the Japanese show if you can find a copy. Even the main character's names are practically the same!