The Lion King

Director: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff,

Overview

One of the most popular Disney animated musicals, The Lion King presents the story of a lion cub's journey to adulthood and acceptance of his royal destiny. Simba (voiced first by Jonathan Taylor Thomas, then by Matthew Broderick) begins life as an honored prince, the son of the powerful King Mufasa (voiced by James Earl Jones). The cub's happy childhood turns tragic when his evil uncle, Scar (voiced by Jeremy Irons), murders Mufasa and drives Simba away from the kingdom. In exile, the young lion befriends the comically bumbling pair of Pumbaa the warthog (voiced by Ernie Sabella) and Timon the meerkat (voiced by Nathan Lane), he and lives a carefree jungle life. As he approaches adulthood, however, he is visited by the spirit of his father, who instructs him to defeat the nefarious Scar and reclaim his rightful throne. Borrowing elements from Hamlet, classical mythology, and African folk tales, The Lion King tells its mythic coming-of-age tale with a combination of spectacular visuals and lively music, featuring light, rhythmic songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, and a score by Hans Zimmer. Embraced by children and adults alike, the film also spawned hit songs ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight," "The Circle of Life") and a hit Broadway musical. In late 2002, The Lion King was re-released in the large-screen IMAX format.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/04/2018
UPC:	0786936860399
Original Release:	1994
Rating:	G
Source:	Walt Disney Video
Format:	Blu-ray

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Matthew Broderick	Simba
Jeremy Irons	Scar
James Earl Jones	Mufasa
Moira Kelly	Nala
Nathan Lane	Timon
Ernie Sabella	Pumbaa
Whoopi Goldberg	Shenzi
Cheech Marin	Banzai
Robert Guillaume	Rafiki
Rowan Atkinson	Zazu
Niketa Calame	Young Nala
Jim Cummings	Ed
Madge Sinclair	Sarabi
Jonathan Taylor Thomas	Young Simba
Zoe Leader	Sarafina
Joseph Williams	Simba (Singing)
Jason Weaver	Young Simba (Singing)
David McCharen	Other Voices
Philip Proctor	Other Voices
Frank Welker	Other Voices
Cathy Cavadini	Other Voices
Judi M. Durand	Other Voices

Technical Credits

Irene Mecchi

Jonathan Roberts

Linda Woolverton

Roger Allers	Director
Rob Minkoff	Director
John Carnochan	Editor
Brian Chavanne	Casting
Alice Dewey	Associate Producer
Tom Finan	Editor
Andy Gaskill	Art Director
Don Hahn	Producer
Joe Jiuliano	Camera Operator
Elton John	Songwriter
Sarah McArthur	Executive Producer
Irene Mecchi	Screenwriter
Jonathan Roberts	Screenwriter
Chris Sanders	Production Designer
Thomas C. Schumacher	Executive Producer
Linda Woolverton	Screenwriter
Hans Zimmer	Score Composer

Editorial Reviews

Arriving in theaters with a roar, The Lion King quickly became the ruler of Disney's vast jungle, far outgrossing any of the studio's previous releases (a whopping 312 million dollars domestically) and assuring itself a timeless legacy through its incarnation as one of the most popular Broadway musicals of all time. A fairly simple tale is told with sweeping visual brush strokes of verdant Africa, and an Oscar-winning score (by Hans Zimmer) and songs (by Elton John and Tim Rice) to match. It's noteworthy that The Lion King represents Disney's anomalous return to entirely non-human characters; whether this was key to its success or not is uncertain, but the studio did not try to duplicate this formula until it was basically forced to with Dinosaur in 2000. Because The Lion King hews fairly closely to Disney's usual patterns in all other respects, it's hard to pinpoint exactly why this film struck viewers so much more profoundly than others. It exists as a testament to clean, straightforward storytelling featuring proud heroes and hissable villains, as well as numerous lessons to be gleaned by its younger viewers. Even so, the film was not without controversy -- some critics and watchdog groups decried the fact that Scar's seedy hyenas, voiced by Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin, were played too ethnically to come across as anything but vicious stereotypes of blacks and Latinos. Ultimately, however, concerns like this were lost in the multitude of accolades heaped on what was, at the time, Disney's most successful animated feature ever.

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