The Lion King

Click to Buy	Ratings Summary (Scored out of a maximum of five)
	Audio		Video
	Goodies		Interface
	Value

The Movie

Since The Lion King was the highest grossing animated movie in
box office history until Finding Nemo came along not too long ago,
I assume most of you are at least familiar with the movie, so I will not
dwell on the intricacies of the story or its history.

As a quick refresher, though, the story opens with the introduction of
Mufasa (James Earl Jones), a proud lion king, and his curious son Simba
(Matthew Broderick). We are also introduced to Simba’s Uncle Scar (Jeremy
Irons) who is scheming to take over Mufasa’s kingdom by killing the king
and his son. Scar successfully removes Mufasa from power, but young Simba
escapes Scar’s trap and runs to the far reaches of the Serengeti. Bordering
on death, Simba is saved by a meerkat named Timon (Nathan Lane) and a
warthog named Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella). The unusual pair then raises the
lion cub in the carefree lifestyle of “Hakuna Matata” until
he is called back home to fill his rightful spot as king of the pride.

Promotional image © Disney.

There is one significant difference between the movie you may have seen
almost 10 years ago and one of the two versions on the DVD, and that is
the addition of one musical number to the “Special Edition”
version of The Lion King. Based on the response from the Broadway
musical, the song “Morning Report” was animated and dropped
into an early scene in the movie. The new song appears when Mufasa and
Simba are walking around the kingdom and Zazu drops by to update Mufasa
on the status of the Pridelands. The song is catchy and fun, and the animation
does blend quite seamlessly with the original scene. Fortunately for those
of you that do not like the idea of modifying a movie after its original
release, the original 1994 cut is also available on the same disc.

The Goodies

This two-disc set is just packed with cool stuff, and I had a lot of
fun digging through it all. Because there is so much to discuss, I have
picked some of the more significant items and focused on them. However,
everything on this disc is well worth looking at, and it is very well
structured and produced.

Promotional image © Disney.

Disc 1

Disc 1 primarily features the two aforementioned versions of the movie,
but it also contains a fair amount of bonus material. There is a three-minute
featurette that discusses the production of the “Morning Report,”
and it does a good job of explaining where the idea came from and how
they were able to squeeze the animation into an existing film. Another
fun item of note is the collection of three deleted and abandoned scenes,
which are rather brief but entertaining. The disc also contains three
games for young children, such as The Lion King personality profile,
a “Grab-a-Grub” game, and a sound matching game. My two young
boys seemed to enjoy them, but they seemed pretty typical of DVD set-top
games to me.

My favorite goodie on the first disc, though, is the audio commentary
by producer Don Hahn and directors Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers. The commentary
is filled with humorous and educational stories, and the three of them
play off of each other with true camaraderie. It is this type of commentary
that I find most interesting and fun to listen to.

Disc 2

Disc 2 contains the bulk of the behind-the-scenes bonus material, and
Disney has structured it in a couple of different ways for exploration.
You can explore it either through the individual featurettes or galleries,
or you can embark on a series of video journeys, like mini documentaries,
that focus on areas like animals, story, stage, film, and music. The journeys
are a good way to quickly view many of the video featurettes, but to catch
them all, you will need to explore a bit more.

Promotional image © Disney.

Below is a quick summary of each of the journeys along with comments
on any additional material that you should be sure to watch:

Animal Journey

In this journey, you will see how real animals inspired the various Lion
King characters. There is an introduction by Roy Disney from Disney’s
Animal Kingdom Park in Florida, and besides the short featurettes on lions,
meerkats, warthogs, and hyenas, there is a cute montage showing how animals
have been featured in Disney movies over the years.

Story Journey

This journey covers the origins and influences behind The Lion King.
Particular attention is paid to the underlying archetypal themes and historical
literature references. It is the shortest of the journeys, but it serves
as a good starting point for the rest of the material on the disc.

Stage Journey

The Lion King was not only a big hit on the big screen, but it
was also a huge hit on the Broadway stage. The “Stage Journey”
takes you behind-the-scenes with director/costume designer, Julie Taymore,
and the choreographers, Garth Fagan and Aubrey Lynch. Also included in
the journey are featurettes on the musical origins of the movie and stage
productions, translating the movie to the stage, and the incredible stage
costumes and masks. Finally, there is a nice still gallery with publicity
material from the stage production.

Promotional image © Disney.

Film Journey

This journey is one of my favorite sections of this disc, and it takes
you from the pre-production concepts to the research trip to Africa to
the early computer animation. It features numerous interviews with the
production team and animators, and there is plenty of behind-the-scenes
animation, character designs, and reference footage. Another interesting
aspect of this journey is a discussion of how critical the influence of
African art, colors, and textures were to the production, and be sure
to catch the poignant retrospective look at the movie from several of
the original production team members. Then, when you are done watching
those, you can dive into the extensive character design galleries.

Music Journey

Just as the visuals play an important role in bringing this movie to
life, the music plays an equally critical and memorable part. In this
journey, you are treated to a number of enlightening and enjoyable interviews
and rare video clips featuring Sir Elton John, Tim Rice, Hans Zimmer,
Lebo M., Mark Mancina, and Jay Rifkin. The various sections of the journey
cover topics like the inspiration behind the music, the influence of African
music on the songs and score, and the challenges of scoring the movie.
Collectively, the journey provides an interesting perspective on how the
music helped shape the movie and the movie shaped the music.

My personal favorite little moment of all the journeys, though, is hearing
Elton John describe how disappointed he was to hear the demo of Pumbaa
singing “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” which he had intended
to be romantically sung by Simba and Nala. I am not sure why, but hearing
Elton John sing like Pumbaa just cracks me up every time I see it.

Promotional image © Disney.

Another goodie worth taking a look at is the virtual safari hosted by
Timon and Pumbaa. You board either a boat or jeep and cruise through the
African wilderness, and at various points, you get to pick which direction
your safari travels. The whole safari is done with 3-D computer animation,
and both my boys and I found it fun to work thorough a couple of times.
It is a cute idea, and based on the preview in the adventure, we will
be seeing more of these safaris on the next couple of Lion King
related DVDs.

Finally, I also want to mention what a great job Disney did with the
DVD booklet. It clearly delineates what is on each of the discs with brief
descriptions of each major feature, and the bonus material is clearly
diagramed for easy navigation. Also, to help you make sure you can find
everything on Disc 2, there is a bonus material matrix that shows you
exactly where you can find each goodie. I know it seems relatively minor,
but I think something like this is very important to DVD newbies who need
a decent road map to sort through all this great stuff.

The Video, Audio, and Interface

This one is easy. The anamorphic widescreen video transfer looks absolutely
stunning. The colors are vibrant and solid throughout the movie, and the
detail is amazing. I just wish I had a bigger TV to watch it on.

Promotional image © Disney.

Not to be outdone, the audio is equally amazing. The “standard”
Dolby Digital 5.1 transfer sounds very clean and will sound good on any
system, but the Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix is wild. Most audio transfers
are designed to make you feel as though most of the audio plays in front
of you and to the sides. The enhanced mix is designed to put you in the
center of the sound field, and all five surround speakers are almost equally
active. I had heard that the audio for the wildebeest stampede scene was
pretty cool, but it is something that you need to experience in person
to really appreciate. This enhancement really works well with this movie,
and it will be interesting to see what other movies get this special home
theater mix treatment.

The user interfaces on both discs are impeccable. They are perfectly
themed, well designed, and filled with music and animation. Creative and
sensory filling menus have become one of Disney’s strong points within
the last couple of years, and the interfaces on this set are the icing
on the cake.

The Final Evaluation

Quite simply, this is one of the best DVD releases of the year. The video
transfer is stunningly vibrant and detailed, and the audio, especially
the new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, is wonderfully enveloping. The
new song fits into the movie quite well, and for theatrical purists, the
original movie cut looks and sounds equally fabulous. Top off the killer
movie presentation with an impressive array of bonus material on both
discs, and you can see what DVD is all about. The Lion King Platinum
Edition DVD is a perfect addition to your home video collection, and Disney
is now a perfect three-for-three for their Platinum releases.

Next up, Aladdin in 2004. Will Disney be able to turn that diamond
in the rough into platinum? It certainly looks like they have the formula
correct.