Our Name is Simba by Jeremy Frachiseur __________This is far more than simply a film that uses our senses to transport us to and another place for the sole purpose of entertainment. I did not write this to elaborate to you the sheer perfection that is The Lion King, or to define what The Lion King experience is. __________You already know what that experience is as soon as you push that tape into the vcr or set that laserdisc into it's tray...yours. As you press 'play' you eagerly anticipate the world that you are about to be drawn into. You invest eighty-eight minutes of your precious time into an experience that does'nt just leave you feeling as if it were worth it, but rather, feeling that the world must know what you know The Lion King to be. __________But one of the things that has made this film last in the minds of so many is the fact that it is not the same to all people. What The Lion King is to a person is as varied and as individual as him or her. __________This is a film that is really about us..our hopes, our dreams, our fears, and our imperfections. And that world is and the characters within you can fully believe in, because the only reservations to it that you may have while watching it, or before you see it for the first time would be that it is animated (that, and disappointment with the audio/video system that you use.) __________The music in this film is far from a token gesture as well, it fully integrates with it, to become an actual part of it, that is as much a mastepiece as the rest of the film. __________Everything within this film (even it's continuity errors) are either a metaphor or an accurate representation of who we are, where we have been, and where we can go. Part of the glorious artistry that is The Lion King are the characters themselves, whose qualities, personalities, thoughts, actions, and even appearances aren't just established and accounted for, but define both the setting and the core of this movie.The characters of The Lion King are wonderfully depicted as living with thoughts and feelings that are so much more than a means to simply develop a story line that we sympathize with and think about them and their world. __________This film transcends the definition of what 'characters' and 'setting' are, because nothing in this film is fully independent of everything else, and the motivation or reasons for almost everything that happens is an integral part of The Lion King. __________'Everything that happens' is just it. To use the word 'story' or 'saga' to describe an aspect of this film is an oversimplification; The Lion King is a chronicle of Simba's life and of the world in which he lives, which has been so meticulously and beautifully crafted that it might as well have actually happened. __________One of the greatest aspects of this movie is that it shows how we can help each other, and the value in that, because the major changes in the mindset of the characters that occurred did not come from nowhere, (although they did come out of thin air and shallow water twice each) it came from one another. If you have anything to say about what I have written here...email me!...I love receiving email! :) [email protected] The Pride Lands Online Fan's Gallery Archive