Hello again and welcome back to the Tuesday Movie Review! After a one week hiatus, I'm back to talk all about one Disney movie! Now, this week on the podcast, it was your humble author's turn to host the show and I chose to spotlight Princess and the Frog and The Lion King, be sure to give the episode a listen as we had a ton of fun! For the blog today, I chose to do The Lion King because, well...it's The Lion King! Join me as I talk about the storyline, cast, music, and park representation of The Lion King!
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| imdb.com |
Released June 15th, 1994, The Lion King can be described in one simple word: perfection. It's the 39th Disney Animated film and the 5th film under the umbrella dubbed "The Disney Renaissance." The film itself is loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, and tells the story of a young lion cub who believes his father's tragic death is his fault, exiles himself, then learns who he really is and returns home to save the kingdom from his murderous uncle. The Lion King is often regarded as the best Disney movie ever made and that shows by it's monstrous $968 million box office run. It held the record highest grossing box office animated movie for 16 years until Frozen topped it; it also holds the record for most VHS copies sold at over 30 million copies sold. Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, The Lion King can be found on most top movie of all time lists, and on every top animated movie of all time list! In fact, the movie is so beloved, that in September 2016, Disney announced that Jon Favreau would be directing a CGI remake of the film set to release July 19th, 2019.
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| screenrant.com |
The music of The Lion King is unparalleled and unconquered, even by Frozen. It is still known as not just the greatest animated soundtrack, but the greatest soundtrack of ANY movie ever made. With a score composed by Hans Zimmer, with help from renown African music star Lebo M, and a soundtrack made and produced by Time Rice and Sir Elton John, it's easy to see why the soundtrack and score are so beloved, even 24 years later. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" "Circle of Life" and "Hakuna Matata" were all nominated for Best Original Song at the 1995 Academy Awards with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" winning both the Oscar and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. The Lion King also took home the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Score. The music for the film also racked up a few Grammy awards at the 1995 Grammys by winning Best Male Pop Vocal Performance (Elton John on "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"), Best Musical Album for Children, and Best Instrumental Arrangement with Accompanying Vocals for "Circle of Life/ Nants' Inginyama." The Lion King is the only soundtrack for an animated film to be certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. For the IMAX and DVD re-release, Disney added a new song by Zazu called "The Morning Report" which was actually featured on the Lion King on Broadway play. My personal favorite song on the album is "Be Prepared" because I think it's arguably the best villain song of all time; however, I love literally every single song on the soundtrack and the score. For the 2019 remake, Sir Elton John and Tim Rice will be returning to do the music, but they will be joined by music sensation, Beyonce Knowles.
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| playlistbill.com |
The Lion King boasts one of the most well known cast for a Disney movie in a long, long time. Matthew Broderick voiced the adult version of Simba, while Jonathan Taylor Thomas voiced the younger version of Simba. Darth Vader himself, aka: James Earl Jones, voiced Simba's father Musfasa (and is even returning in 2019 to voice Mufasa!). Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, both of who auditioned for hyenas, ended up being the voices of Timon and Pumbaa respectively. Moira Kelly voiced Simba's love interest, Nala. The only true Swahili-African accent was given by Robert Guillaume while voicing the wise shaman, Rafiki. Rowan Atkinson brought the master dodo, Zazu, to life with his sensational performance. And finally, probably my all time favorite performance in any movie, Jeremy Irons brought Scar's terrifying voice to life. In the 2019 remake, Simba will be voiced by Donald Glover, Nala by Beyonce Knowles, Mufasa by James Earl Jones, Timon by Billy Eichner, Pumbaa by Seth Rogan, Zazu by John Oliver, and Scar by Chiwetel Ejiofor.
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| billboard.com |
The park representation for The Lion King at the Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts is understandably rather large to say the least. Earlier in the '90s there was a puppet like play called Legend of the Lion King at the theater where Phillarmagic plays today. When Disney announced the opening on Disney's Animal Kingdom, it was assumed that The Lion King would have some kind of attraction there, and it did! On Animal Kingdom's Opening Day, Festival of The Lion King debuted in an outdoor theater! Fun fact about yours truly, when the show was still outside (before it moved to the Harambe Theater), they would still choose kids to be in the parade to close the show, and I was chosen! Now, back to The Lion King. Today, you can find Rafiki at his own little area of the park called Rafkiki's Planet Watch, where you can pet farm animals, see snakes, and meet the baboon himself! You can also meet Timon on most days in Animal Kingdom, and of course, the vehicle you take on Kilimanjaro Safari's is called Simba 1. Over at Magic Kingdom, the Happily Ever After show features three Lion King portions; one with Timon and Pumbaa and "Hakuna Matata", another with Simba and Scar fighting atop Pride Rock, and then finally Mufasa appearing and saying"Remember who you are..." Over at Art of Animation, you'll find the Lion King family suites with rooms decorated like the movie, and a whole area of the resort dedicated to the blockbuster hit.
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| wdwrideguide.com |
All in all, it's hard to argue that The Lion King is, not only the best Disney movie of all time, but also the best animated movie of all time. It's the winner of countless awards, and holder of numerous records, and in 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry bu the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The movie teaches us to never forget our past, our self worth, or who we are, and it also teaches that no matter what we think we've done, we can still do our best to redeem ourselves and make it right. Personally, I love The Lion King. I said it in the episode, and I'll say it here, without The Lion King, I don't think I would be as in love with Disney as I am today, it just has such a special meaning and place in my heart that I can go as far to say as it is the most important movie, to me, that I've ever seen. The Lion King easily gets 5 of 5 stars, and if there was a way for me to give it more, I would! It has an amazing storyline, a talented cast, and arguably the best music in any movie...ever. If, for some reason, you've never seen The Lion King, I would encourage you to do so immediately!
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| digitaltrends.com |
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