The Lion King – Special Edition

Cast View all

	Rowan Atkinson	Zazu
	Matthew Broderick	Simba
	Niketa Calame	Young Nala
	Jim Cummings	Ed
	Whoopi Goldberg	Shenzi
	Robert Guillaume	Rafiki
	Jeremy Irons	Scar
	James Earl Jones	Mufasa
	Moira Kelly	Nala
	Nathan Lane	Timon
	Zoe Leader	Sarafina
	Cheech Marin	Banzai
	Ernie Sabella	Pumbaa
	Madge Sinclair	Sarabi
	Jonathan Taylor Thomas	Young Simba
	Frank Welker	Lion Roars
	Cathy Cavadini	Additional Voices
	Judi M. Durand	Additional Voices
	Daamen J. Krall	Additional Voices
	David McCharen	Additional Voices
	Mary Linda Phillips	Additional Voices
	Phil Proctor	Additional Voices
	David Randolph	Additional Voices
	Jeff Bennett	Zazu (segment Morning Report)
	Sally Dworsky	Young Nala

Crew View all

Director	Roger Allers
	Rob Minkoff
Writer	Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton, Burny Mattinson, Barry Johnson, Lorna Cook, Thom Enriquez, Andy Gaskill, Gary Trousdale, Jim Capobianco, Kevin Harkey, Jorgen Klubien, Chris Sanders, Tom Sito, Larry Leker, Joe Ranft, Rick Maki, Ed Gombert, Francis Glebas, Mark Kausler, J.T. Allen, George Scribner, Miguel Tejada-Flores, Jenny Tripp, Bob Tzudiker, Christopher Vogler, Kirk Wise, Noni White, Brenda Chapman
Producer	Alice Dewey Goldstone, Don Hahn, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Sarah McArthur, Thomas Schumacher
Musician	Hans Zimmer

Trailer

Edition details

Personal

Notes

Story Synopsis:
The project for "The Lion King" began as a cartoon entitled "King Of The Jungle" out of which the story developed into a theatrical animation feature. Set amid the majestic beauty of Africa’s Serengeti plain, Disney’s epic coming-of-age saga tells of the love between a proud lion ruler, Mufasa (Earl Jones), and his son Simba (Thomas), a naive and curious cub who is the heir to the throne. In the shadows prowls Simba’s envious Uncle Scar (Irons) and his hyena followers. Their scheming for the throne leads to tragedy...and Simba’s self exile from the kingdom he should rightfully rule. Befriended by the warmhearted warthog Pumbaa and his manic meerkat companion, Timon, Simba forgets his regal responsibility and adopts the carefree lifestyle of “Hakuna Matata.” Simba comes to learn that he can reclaim his true destiny in the “circle of life” with the help of Rafiki, a wise mystic baboon. Until the recent success of "Finding Nemo," "The Lion King" was the top-grossing animated film of all time. (Gary Reber)

DVD Picture:
The anamorphically enhanced DVD, framed here in a 1.66:1 windowboxed/pillarboxed ratio, exhibits a beautiful picture that looks absolutely incredible on larger home theatre displays. Colors jump from the screen with excellent depth. The vivid blues, reds, and yellows visually contrast the more subtle animated appearance of the African savanna. The picture exhibits an impressive amount of dimension and realism. There are no signs of artifacts, pixelization, or annoying edge enhancement to distract from the picture. Once again, Disney animation takes the cake for reference quality DVDs. (Suzanne Hodges)

Soundtrack:
This DVD features two (English) Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtracks. One is the original audio mix, and the other is an audio remastering that Disney has been prominently touting as an optimized for home theatre presentation. The latter has dramatically greater spatial presence and low-end content than the original, which sounds a little thin in deep bass and more frontal-balanced in comparison. The new audio also is somewhat higher in overall level. The presentation of the “home theatre-optimized” soundtrack is generally wonderful, with a very prominent surround presence and engagement of substantial, sometimes powerful low frequencies and the LFE channel. It should be noted that the surrounds tend to be rather high in level, in fact, often even more so than the front channels. As a result, the surround channels are likely to draw somewhat more attention to themselves than usual. Nonetheless, the end result is sure to really enhance the involvement and entertainment. (Perry Sun)

This Disc Contains The Following WSR-Rated Superb Qualities:
Superb Color Fidelity

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