Lion King, The

Billed as a Walt Disney Masterpiece title, The Lion King presentation is majestic in its scope of supplemental material housed in an attractive golden box jacket. The two platter CAV discs, in which the feature is spread over four sides and 27 chapter stops, is in a colorful gatefold jacket depicting various animation cells seen in the movie, while the separate two platter CAV supplementary section, comes in a gatefold jacket matched to the box jacket. Additionally, there is a portfolio containing six lithographs suitable for framing, depicting some of the film’s conceptual artwork.The supplemental section starts with The Making Of The Lion King documentary hosted by Robert Guillaume which presents an entertaining look at the creative process involved in the development of an animated feature, the characters and their voices and the scoring of the music, all forming the history and development of the original story. This is followed by a sequence breakdown and storyboard introductions of several scenes, including the various character designs, presented in detail by several of the film’s creators. The second disc of supplements covers the early character concepts and preliminary designs including art direction, early animation work, layouts and backgrounds. A ‘work in progress’ section presents several sequences depicting the level of animation changes from one cut to the next leading up to the nearly completed footage. Each step is thoroughly explained and discussed. Additionally, there is alternate audio track commentary during this section by the artistic coordinator, Randy Fullner. A dialogue (and music) and effects only segment is also presented on the other alternate track. Concluding the film design section is a detailed look at the extent to which computer animation was used, particularly where a single animated wildebeest was turned into a stampede of 800. The disc wraps with a presentation on the movie’s publicity campaign and features two musical numbers from the movie in a variety of dubbed languages.During the film itself, directors Roger Allers and Bob Minkoff, and the producer, Don Hahn, provide commentary on the one mono analog track.

The project 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 (James Earl Jones), and his son Simba, a naive and curious cub who is the heir to the throne. In the shadows prowls Simba’s envious Uncle Scar (Jeremy 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.