Movie Reviews and other Projects

Ok so let me preface this first by saying that I don’t like musicals. Songs are good in movies, but not when characters sing them, making the whole movie revolve around a musical number. I don’t like it. So, that did influence my view of the movie negatively. This was the first time that I remember seeing it all the way through, oddly enough. Also, spoilers I guess, but this came out 25 years ago so this is on you if you haven’t seen it.

Enjoyability: 2/5

This is where the musical aspect of the film suffered. I don’t enjoy musicals, but there were also some other scenes where I felt like they were missing lines. No one ever said “It’s not your fault” to Simba. Scar tricked him into being in the middle of the stampede, and then he tricked Simba again into thinking it was his fault. Mufasa acted confused when he heard there was a stampede, meaning that there wasn’t supposed to be one, but it was forced artificially by Scar and the hyenas. Anyways, my favorite characters were Timon and Pumba, providing excellent comedic relief, as well as Scar for being a good villain. I also felt that it was fairly predictable, although part of that might have been my general knowledge of the film before seeing it. It was the first time that I remember seeing it all the way through, oddly enough.

Music/Sound: 4/5

This is the strength of the movie. Even though I would rather the songs not be such a big part of the movie, they are very good. They portrayed the emotions of the characters well, but those same emotions could also have been expressed in non-song form, just like the rest of the movie. I liked the songs though, good stuff.

Concept/Delivery: 3/5

The concept for this was animal Hamlet, not original because it’s based on someone else’s work, but I think that it was delivered fairly strongly. This could have been bumped up to a 4 if there was more done to the original premise to make it more interesting. If it was changed too much however, I think the widespread appeal would have dropped. The movie was immensely successful partially because the premise was not hard to understand, yet there’s enough depth for some people to enjoy it for many years after first seeing it.

Rewatchability: 3/5

Second time watching it I was a little more bored, but a large part of that has to do with the genre and it’s predictability rather than the movie having flaws itself. Repeat viewings don’t hurt it, but I don’t see the fourth providing a new detail that the other three times didn’t.

Animation: 4/5

Even without considering when the movie was made, it has good animation. If it was made today I would give it a 3/5, but this was made *25 years ago*. The animation for the time is superb, the emotions of the characters and creativity of the team was on full display during the songs. I can tell good animation when I see it, and it’s clear to me that the movie is visually appealing.

Overall score: 16/25

Yeah it was good, not one of the best animated films of the 90s like some claim it to be, but I can see why some people like it so much. Just for me, not my thing. Next review is for Spaceballs.

I never have really been able to tell when someone’s acting is good or bad, I usually have gone off of what other people have said. The same thing can be said for cinematography and a couple of other aspects of film. So when I was thinking of creating a system of reviewing movies, I wanted to base my reviews in my opinion, so I can’t rely on what other people are saying too much. So I created my own rubric of grading movies, based off of things I can tell for myself.

My first category is Enjoyability. Some movie genres I will enjoy more or less than others, but a film in a genre I don’t like can still be enjoyable, just less so. A perfect Enjoyability score would for me be summed up as, “When I was watching the movie, I was never wishing I could be watching/doing something else, I was completely entranced and enthralled.”

The second category is Music/Sound. After watching a film I intensely enjoyed, I frequently look up the soundtrack to reexperience my favorite songs. A perfect score accompanies and enhances the emotions of the movie.

Third, is Concept and Delivery. Every movie starts off with a concept, but even the best concepts if done poorly make for a bad movie, as well as the bad concept done very well making for a good movie. A perfect score is a novel and interesting concept that is executed perfectly.

Visual Effects(VFX)/Costumes for live-action, Animation for animated. A movie could have a compelling premise and good music, but if it doesn’t look good, it gets harder to get through the movie. How it looks is not everything, some movies that are 40+ years old are still considered very good. A perfect score for this would be making the concept more believable, and the VFX/Animation let the director fully tell the story they wanted to, taking into account the technology that was available to them at the time it was being made.

Last, Rewatchability. Sometimes the initial experience is incredible, but upon a second watch-through, there’s less to it than you thought. Other movies only increase in how much I enjoy them with repeat watchings. A perfect movie gets better as you notice more details and get a better appreciation for the movie each time you watch it. Each category will be rated from 1 to 5.

My first review will be for The Lion King.

Lion King review: Not actually that good

My System for reviewing movies