Thursday, April 16, 2009

"The Golden Musicals"


My favorite Disney movie of all time-- The Lion King! It was the first movie I saw in theaters when I was four or five.

Here a little story about me and my Lion King videotape:

When I was in elementary school, I lent my Lion King video to a classmate because he wanted to see it. After a few days, I asked for my tape back and he said he was not done with it. Each day I would ask him if he brought it, but he would tell me either he was not finished with it or that he forgot. Eventually, I gave up and I never got my tape back. That is why till this day I do not like to lend anybody my stuff often because I do not trust that they will return it. So, wherever you are, and you know you are, I am letting you know that I still remember that.

Anyways...

The Lion King was released in 1994 and was the 32nd film from the Disney animated features canon. Heavily influenced by Hamlet and the stories of Joseph and Moses from the Bible, the anthropomorphic animated musical was the highest grossing animated film of all time before the release of Finding Nemo. Still, it is the highest grossing of all traditionally animated films and is part of the Disney Renaissance in which Disney animated films were great by itself (without the help of Pixar). Songs in the film were composed by Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice.

INTERESTING FACTS:

The Lion King bears a strong resemblance to the West African Epic of Sunidata, who was called the "Lion King."

The movie also bears a coincidental resemblance to a Japanese anime series, called Kimba the White Lion, from Simba's name (which means "lion" in Swahili) to other characters to specific scenes (for example, the famous one in which Mufasa was standing on pride rock).

Solomon Linda's (he will be on the next "Undergound Legends") family sued Disney for using the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which was based on his 1939 song "Mbube," in a scene with Timon and Pumba.


Circle of Life



I Just Can't Wait to Be King



Hakuna Matata



Can You Feel the Love Tonight



Be Prepared



The Lion Sleeps Tonight





The Morning Report (It was not in the original theatrical release)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

ahhhh the lion king. good times. best animated movie ever. i also love aladdin, mulan, the prince of egypt (although not disney). what ever happened to good old fashioned animation?
i never realized the story of the lion king was similar to moses but now that i think about it, wow. see, i learn something new from your blog everyday :-)