As most of you probably already know, the time period from 1989 to 1999 was known as the Disney Renaissance. After Walts death in 1966 Walt Disney Animation Studios was at its lowest, and in the 80's until The Little Mermaid their animated movie division was incredibly close to closing down due to the waning popularity of their movies compared to the rising popularity of filmmakers like Don Bluth creator of all dogs go to heaven and the land before time.
The Little Mermaid was a HUGE success, and they then had a large string of critical and financial hits until the early 21st century.
Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to be nominated for the oscar, for best picture.
Arguably their best movie, but inarguably their most financially successful of that time period was....you guessed it, The Lion King. It is still the highest grossing traditionally animated movie, and after two cinematic re-releases it sits at nearly 1 billion in box office revenue.
This time period for Disney was filled with many iconic movie moments but one that sticks out in many peoples minds who grew up during that era was the death of Mufasa.
Why is it? Death of family members is nothing new for Disney or animated movies. Well....
-Mufasa was THE coolest dad. The kind of dad that everyone wanted to have.
He made jokes, he was a loving and protective father. He would do anything to protect his son. He was stern and at the same time kind and gentle. His major flaw was that he was too trusting of his brother.
Simba was a little bit bratty, but deep down he loved his dad more than anything in the world.
During the stampede scene one look at Mufasas face when he learns that Simba was in danger, is the kind of face a person has when they know something bad is about to happen if they don't act quickly.
During the stampede, Mufasa is dodging and weaving in between the wildebeast, and when simba is thrown into the air he makes a desperate attempt to grab him midair by jumping and grabbing him. He is then hit and knocked down, dropping Simba. He does not give up and eventually gets Simba to safety.
You then see Mufasa climbing up the gorge, again desperate for his life. He asks scar to help him, with a voice filled with fear and Scar betrays him. Simba does not see Scar doing this, and in a moment of brilliance on the animators part, like real camerawork you see the shot go from a lower part of the gorge to a closeup of Simbas face with a look of horror that makes the scene hit even harder.
What makes this scene a big emotional punch to the stomach is how they linger on Mufasas dead body, Simba saying to his dad "we gotta go home" and then his realization that his father isn't coming back.
And then he climbs underneath his fathers dead paw, and starts crying.
To many kids the concept of death was not something usually on their minds. Hollywood is known for treating death of a main character with the grace of a Hippo trying to skateboard. This isn't something you see in most movies intended for older audiences let alone G rated family films.
Another thing that makes this scene memorable is that Scar isn't above child manipulation and murder, a subject that is even more taboo hollywood in movies.
G RATED FAMILY FUN EVERYONE.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, the English voice of cub simba, had to imagine his mothers death while doing voicework for this scene just to get it right.
IIRC one of the other actors for the non-english role of cub simba had recently had his dad pass away at that time. That must have been a harrowing experience.