Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5439 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-31
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Animated, PAL, Special Edition, Subtitled, Surround Sound
• Original language: English, Swahili, Xhosa, Zulu
• Subtitled in: English, Hebrew
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Disney's 1994 animated feature, The Lion King, was a huge smash in cinemas and continues to enjoy life in an acclaimed stage production. The story finds a lion cub, son of a king, sent into exile after his father is deposed by a jealous uncle. The little hero finds his way into the "circle of life" with some new friends and eventually comes back to reclaim his proper place. Characters are very strong, vocal performances by the likes of Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg are terrific, the jokes are aimed as much (if not more) at adults than kids, the animation is sometimes breathtaking and the songs from Tim Rice and Elton John, accompanied by a colourful score, are more palatable than in many recent Disney features. --Tom Keogh

On the DVD: The Lion King Special Edition is a superb restoration: take a look at the serviceable but dull film clips incorporated in the plethora of extras and compare them to the vivid gorgeousness of the film presentation. This special edition also adds a 90-second song ("Morning Report") that originated in the lavish stage musical. To Disney's credit, the original theatrical version is also included, both restored and featuring two 5.1 soundtracks: Dolby Digital and a new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, which does sound brighter. As with the Disney Platinum line, everything is thrown into the discs, except an outsider's voice (the rah-rahs of Disney grow tiresome at times). The excellent commentary from the directors and producer, originally on the laser disc, is hidden under the audio set-up menu.

The second disc is organised by 20-minute-ish "journeys" tackling the elements of story, music and so on, including good background on the awkward Shakespearean origins at Disney where it was referred as "Bamlet". The most interesting journey follows the landmark stage production, and the kids should be transfixed by shots of the real African wildlife in the animal journey. Three deleted segments are real curios, including an opening lyric for "Hakuna Matata". Most set-top DVD games are usually pretty thin (DVD-ROM is where it's at), but the Safari game is an exception--the kids should love the roaring animals (in 5.1 Surround, no less). One serious demerit is the needless and complicated second navigation system that is listed by continent but just shows the same features reordered. --Doug Thomas

DVD Description
Two discs containing the following:

Disc 1:

• Two versions of the film:
  Original Theatrical
  Special Edition w/ The Morning Report
  
• Disney’s Enhanced Home Theater Mix – a special 5.1 surround sound mix created specially for the DVD
  
• Audio Commentary with Don Hahn, Roger Allers, and Rob Menkoff.
  
• Grasslands (Zazu)
  
• Making of The Morning Report: a look behind the scenes of animating the new sequence and adding it into the feature
  
• Lion King Personality Profile Game: find out which Lion King character you share the most in common with
  
• Tree Of Life (Rafiki)
  
• "Circle Of Life" Music Video performed by Disney Channel’s Circle Of Stars, including Hillary Duff, Raven Simone, Christy Romano, Orlando Jones, and more.
  
• Sing-Along Track - sing along to your favorite songs, the words pop up on screen.
  
• Disc Two Preview: Get a snapshot of the contents on disc two, including the Virtual Safari, and the various journeys.
  
• Jungle (Timon & Pumbaa)
  Timon’s Grab-A-Grub: Help Timon gather grubs for lunch. The faster you go the more points you get. Play alone or play against someone in the two player mode.
  Pumbaa’s Sound Sensations: This animal matching sound game was created in 5.1 surround sound to showoff your home theater system.
  
• Elephant Graveyard (Bonzai)
  
• Abandoned concepts & deleted scenes; including Bug Football, Hakuna Matata (Timon’s Verse) and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" sung by Timon & Pumbaa

Disc 2:

• Timon & Pumbaa’s Virtual Safari: A cross between The Jungle Cruise and Indiana Jones this is one ride you don’t want to miss. Whether you choose to go by boat or by jeep with 5.1 surround sound and 15 minutes of all new animation you won’t be disappointed
  
• Story Journey - Learn where the story of The Lion King came from.
  Story Origins
  Timeless Themes
  The Script Comes To Life
  
• Film Journey - Go behind-the-scenes of making the film. Features Don Hahn, Roger Allers, Rob Menkoff,
  Film Origins
  Production Research Trip
  Art: African Influence
  Reflections
  
• Stage Journey - See how the film became a hit Broadway musical. Features Tom Schumacher, Peter Schneider and Julie Taymor.
  
• Musical Origins
  Julie Taymor
  Screen To Stage
  Musical Texture
  Setting The Stage
  Movement & Performance
  Masks
  Leaps Of Fantasy
  
• Music Journey - Hear the amazing story of how the award winning music came to be. Features Elton John, Tim Rice, Hans Zimmer, and Lebo M.
  Music Inspiration
  Landmark Songwriting
  Orchestral Color
  Scoring Emotion
  African Influence
  An Audio Sequel
  Full Circle
  
• Animal Journey - Roy Disney introduces us to Disney’s long standing relationship with animals.
  Lions
  Meerkats
  Warthogs
  Hyenas
  Disney & Animals
  
• Non-journey Elements
  
• Original "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" Music Video w/ Elton John
  
• Original "Circle Of Life" Music Video w/ Elton John
  
• Production Design
  
• Character Design including Mufasa, Simba, Scar, Rafiki, Timon & Pumbaa, Zazu, and the Hyenas
  
• Computer Animation
  
• Multi-Language Clip Reel
  
• 16 International sequences
  
• Storyboard to Film Comparison
  
• Animal Kingdom
  
• Animal Kingdom Lodge
  
• International Release
  
• DVD Sound Design
  
• Early Concepts
  
• Galleries: Character Design, Visual Development, Stage Musical, Background Layer Assembly, EFX Animation, and more

Synopsis
Wild Africa is the setting for this animated tale of a young lion cub whose evil uncle usurps his father's crown and lets hyenas overrun the kingdom. Dodging danger and befriending some oddball characters, the cub wanders the land until the day he's ready to return. With songs by Elton John and featuring the voices of Whoopie Goldberg, Cheech Marin, James Earl Jones, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane and Jeremy Irons. Academy Awards: 2, including Best Original Score and Best Original Song (Elton John and Tim Rice: "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"). Academy Award Nominations: 4, including 3 for Best Original Song.

Customer Reviews

Problems accessing the Original 1994 Version on Special Edit
In my option this is the Best Film that Disney have made, the DVD quality has just made the film more enjoyable to watch. The extras on Disc 1 & 2 make this a must have for any Disney Buff or any one with young children.

I did had problems accessing the Original 1994 Version on Special Edition DVD, the “play” icon on the main menu just seemed to play the New Version of the Lion King.

I called Buena Vista Home Entertainment, they informed me that you need to do the following;

Wait for the main film menu to appear, then go to set-up Icon, in set-up go to the Languages Icon and lastly in Language menu you will find Original Version, (just under Hebrew).

Thank you for reading my review and I hope it helps anyone who thinking about buying this DVD or anyone who had the same problem as me.

Good enough to make you hyperventilate
The Lion King has got to be Disney's best movie of all time. If sales figures are correct, and you already own three copies of The Lion King on VHS, then there's no real point describing the plot of the film, beyond the fact that its wonderful art, award-winning songs, and loveable characters are good enough to make you sob into your Lion King hankerchief. In a good way. And you'll have been licking your lips in frantic anticipation of the Special Edition DVD. And believe me, it's been well worth the wait.

And the Gift Set is no less wonderful. For a start, it contains the Special Edition DVD, with its 2 disks with beautiful disk art, the special features of games, interveiws with the animators and such, the film itself in all its improved glory, and in general, three wonderful hours of bonus material.

After you've enjoyed the film, you can then enjoy up to eight original drawings of the characters to keep in your cupboard in an airtight box so that you don't wear them out by looking at them too much, and most wonderfully of all, the DVD companion Hardback, 'The Journey'. This describes the making of TLK, the making of the TLK Special Edition DVD, and has some lovely pictures in it as well. These are found only in the Gift Set.

All of this is wrapped in a special box with beautiful art.

It takes a lot for me to give any film FIVE stars, but here is TLK in all its greatness.

A small warning - despite being a very limited edition of the Special Edition, the DVD contained within the Gift Set does not contain any more special features than it does when purchased on its own. The extra money is paid for the book, pictures and box. The Gift Set is for adult collectors, not children.

Who doesn't love The Lion King?
Ok, who honestly doesn't love the lion king? Im 14 and ive never stopped loving it since i was 2!

You never grow out of it, its such a classic! From the mischevious simba to the hilarious timon and pumba this movie is for all the family!

No matter how many times i watch it (and ive watched it alot of times!) i always cry when mufasa dies, always laugh at timon's jokes and sing-along with all the songs! I really just never get sick of it!

Its such a classic, a must have for anyone who loves disney and even if you dont you'll still love it! Buy it now!