Disney's The Lion King is finally available on DVD. Considered the cream of the crop of all the Disney animated features by many, it is definitely worth owning. I don't think I'll go into the story, which I'm sure most of you know. Chances are you've already seen the movie and are just waiting to own it on a piece of media that won't rot like your VHS tape that probably fell apart by now. Even if Disney released a sub par release of this movie, you'd buy it. Luckily, this is one of the best releases ever.Video and Audio is supreme in this release. Especially vibrant is the 5.1 sound. Of all the older Disney releases, this one benefits the most I think, with the powerful music and sound effects present in this release. Hearing James Earl Jones as Mufasa blaring in thunderous 5.1 sound is quite amazing. Likewise the excellent music, such as the opening Circle of Life. Present in this release is the original theatrical version as well as a version with new music/song. I actually didn't care for the new song, but some may. The extras are quite numerous, contained on a second DVD and are mentioned in Amazon's product details...I haven't had the time to go through them yet, so I cannot comment on the extras. I just watched the movie again. To be honest, the movie would be worth it as a single disc release so I'm happy as it is.Some interesting trivia for some of the people who are not aware of it is that The Lion King seemed to be heavily "influenced" by an old Japanese anime, Kimba The White Lion. Those wishing to see the "similarities" would do well to check out that series as it has also been released on DVD. Carbon copying aside, I do love the Lion King. It still manages to grab you whether you are 4 years old or 40. Two thumbs up!! The Lion King (Four-Disc Diamond Edition Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy)
After the movie Little Mermaid came out, Disney would make 3 other animated masterpieces: Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, that would change the way we looked at animated films, somthing new, something wonderful.But of all these 4 great animated films, in my opinion The Lion King was the greatest. The music was just, beautiful, and Scar was probably the most EVIL Disney villain the was ever drawn on a piece of paper.You hated him, but you almost liked him, because he was so great. But probably the best part of the movie was Simba's pal's Pumbaa and Timon, the BEST Disney characters EVER!!! The scene where Timon was doing the hula, I thought I was going to die from laughing. Anybody from toddler to 10 year old to 60 year from boy to old woman to teenager and so forth will, without a doubt, LOVE this movie, everyone.
I am a great fan and admirer of Disney animation. As a child, I would watch the movies of the new generation (starting with The Little Mermaid) religiously and enjoy the songs and characters. As an adult, I appreciate them even more for their moving storylines and deep meanings.
To preserve these movies in my collection, I re-purchased certain limited edition DVD's even though I already had all of them on VHS. The Lion King was no exception. However, I am a bit disappointed with this DVD release of the movie...
Several viewers have pointed this out before, but I was really surprised when seeing it for myself: when The Lion King was released to IMAX theatres a couple of years ago, the animators decided to "enhance" the film experience, partly because the film's dimensions would now have to accomodate a larger format screen. What started out as a few color touch-ups and brush-ups ended up being a RE-ANIMATION of some of the scenes. If you are a huge fan or serious collector of Disney memorabilia, you might be interested to know about a few of these changes.
Let's start with the opening castle logo: it used to be blue/white, and now it's black/orange. I understand Disney trying to match the color scheme of this movie, but I feel like it took away from the traditional openings that we have loved all those years!
What about the "Just Can't Wait to be King" sequence? The CROCODILES with the birds in their mouths have completely been redrawn! This may sound trivial, but I never forgot how the original crocs looked; they seemed to have a very unique flare to them and stood out. When I saw the ugly green things with the deformed noses they put in now, I was taken aback.
But that's not all...Watch the "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" sequence. In the scene where Nala and Simba are climbing down to the waterfalls, the entire background is now completely different! Everything from the waterfalls, to the rock, to the colors is re-animated.
The part where Mufasa re-appears in the clouds has been slightly altered though that's not as butchered as the other parts I just mentioned. When Simba falls down in despair and blows away the petals and moss in the wind, they fly to Rafiki. The movement and patterns of that have been re-drawn as well.
Supposedly, the Disney team thought these changes would make the IMAX experience better. And at least they promised us the original theatrical version on the DVD, so I expected to see the movie I grew up watching. Upon seeing both versions, I found out that their idea of the original theatrical is the same re-animated scenes version minus the "Morning Report" song. So basically everything that you remember about The Lion King is now gone.
I think that when a movie is released and experiences as big of a success as The Lion King did, it goes down in history and should be respectfully preserved. It's one thing to change something for a re-release and call it a "Special Edition" version, but it's another to tamper with the original film in terms of its animation and exclude the first sequences altogether. It's not so much what they changed, but the principle of the thing.
Final thought: the original 1995 film is, at the moment, unavailable. The only way you can see the actual animation is by watching your old VHS tape or laser disc. Both the Special Edition and the Theatrical are the changed versions on this DVD release. If you aren't bothered by these changes, you might enjoy having this DVD set in your collection simply because of its presentation (two discs, dust cover, collectable value). If you are a Disney perfectionist, as many people out there are, there is always a Blu-Ray version in the works that might come out sooner or later now that Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Beauty & the Beast are/have been released.'
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