VHS : The Lion King [1994]

Rating: - another excellent dvd from Disney
I had already seen the film before but when i heard that there was a special edition of the film i had to buy! Though i was put off buying it, because i had heard that the voice of Simba in some of the new songs had changed. But when i was watching the film i didnt care, it was so good. THe specail features after the film are also excellent as well especially the safari tour with Timon and Pumba.
Ideal for all the family. Buy it Buy it!

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Rating: - Greed. Pure Greed!
Appalled. Frankly Appalled. Disney have taken a wonderful film, paid someone to impersonate Rowan Atkinson, which ruins the experience from the Menu alone, had them sing a 30 second ditty, stuck it the middle of a movie, hastily crafted a few extra 3-5 second scenes of no relevance, with inferior artwork, and bundled it up with some lousy extras as the 'Special Edition'!
The '2 versions' of the film are merely 1 shoddy rehash, and believe it or not the 2nd version is simply the Directors/Producers commentary.... since when do these count as extra versions? Having checked all my other DVD's it appears that Disney is being deceitful.
As for adding 'Rafiki's' 'Martial Arts' scene (all of 4 seconds!), this is a blatant attempt to win over the kids by creating a little violence in an otherwise very cuddly movie, and Disney should be ashamed of themselves.
This is a far cry from the fantastic Beauty and the Beast Special Edition, and in comparing the two it is clear that Lion King Special Edition is nothing more than a Christmas rush release for no other purpose than making money, money they clearly had no intention of spending on original cast members like the wonderful Rowan Atkinson!

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Rating: - Lion King on DVD at last!!!!!
When I heard that Walt Disneys classic The Lion King was to come to the ever growing DVD format I was thrilled. I was even more thrilled to learn nearer its release that the newly released Imax theatre soundtrack (DTS on the disc)was also going to be on there. When my two DVD set arrived (from Amazon of course) I had to put it into the machine to have a look, (the nearest good quality I got was an NTSC laser disc version which I had put onto DVD). I was not disappointed the picture was outstanding and the soundtrack was amazing. I had a flick through the different audio soundtracks to compare and the DTS mix stands out by far, with far more overwhelming lower resonance through the subwoofer and more activity from the back two speakers. After about ten minutes I found the new song, a rather cheesy track called 'Morning Report, with another voice doing Simbas dad (sounds like Anthony Hopkins) and minus Rowan Atkinson for Zaazoo. Luckily though I was relieved when I found in the Language menu of the setup screens that you can choose the original soundtrack and in the new DTS mix, fantastic no more morning report and back to the original release. So there you go a classic film on the ultimate format. Excellent story, award winning animation and music beautifuly put together. Disc 2 goes into overwhelming detail of the origin, concept and all the research that went into the making of this 1994 classic. So don't hesitate you have to have this, especially if you have kids. Come on Disney where's Aladdin on DVD!!!!

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Rating: - Disney's crowning achievement with extras to match
I remember sitting in a cinema in 1994 and a trailer came on for The Lion King. It was simply the introductory segment of the film where Simba is shown to the tribe. And I've yet to be moved by animation in quite the same way as on that occasion. Sure Disney have come up with some splendid stuff before and since but that marriage of images and music just works to perfection. For that alone this film needs to be in your collection.

Usually the extras on the Disney DVDs are full of documentaries on the "animation process". Now these are great the first time you see them but when you've learned of the "process" a couple of hundred times it becomes a bit dull. And Disney DVDs, with 90% of their audience children, tend to lean towards basic descriptions of animation with menus flooded with cartoon characters.

The Lion King DVD has been developed a bit differently. They seem to have put most of the "children" extras on the main disc and the second disc is full of documentaries which children are going to find dull (the exception being the Virtual Safaris ... come to think of it they'd have been better on disc 1). And the documentaries don't recycle "animation process" stuff but delve into the development of the storyline, songs and phenomenon that is The Lion King.

You do get two versions of the film (the original and special edition) but they're hidden under the Set Up menu (change the soundtrack and you change the film you watch). You can even watch the film in Hebrew (complete with Hebrew vocals to the songs but always Lebo M's memorably yell at the beginning of the film).

There are ways that the DVD could have been made better but with 2 hours of extras (not including the audio commentary) and a top picture and sound on the film (which, let's face it, is the main thing) this deserves to be a roaring success (...sorry)

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Rating: - Finally, the King has returned...!
For the past decade, ‘The Lion King’ has forever remained my most treasured Disney movie in my life...and for many other children and grown ups too...

‘The Lion King’ is a really cool and beautiful story about the love between a proud lion ruler named Mufusa and his son, Simba. As a cub, Simba is very excited at the thought of one day growing up to be a brave and strong lion King and following in his father’s paw-prints to rule the Pridelands. However, Simba’s Uncle Scar (who’s the younger brother to Mufusa, Simba’s father) is a jealous and very evil lion who feels that he should be King and decides to kill both Simba and Mufusa in order to claim the throne. Although he’s successful in killing Mufusa, Simba survives and runs away into exile believing that he is the cause of his father’s death.

I don’t wish to reveal anymore of the story to you since by doing so I’d only be ruining the excitement for you. However, I would like to say to everyone that if you do decide to buy this DVD you would absolutely NOT regret it, EVER! ‘The Lion King’ has been so greatly improved on DVD compared to last century VHS. It’s a crystal-clear screen, it’s full of beautiful colours, no grainy bits, the sound never distorts and best of all you never have to worry about setting the tracking. The sound & picture have been so digitally re-mastered and very well done that you actually feel like you’re back in the cinema room all over again watching it for the first time. Apart from English (obviously), you get one language selection as well as an audio commentary. You get to play fun games with Timon & Pumbaa, a ‘Lion King’ personality profile game, making of the movie, deleted scenes, etc. My favourite game on the disc is Timon & Pumbaa’s ‘Lion King’ Virtual Safaris. I’m tellin’ yu, you just get completely hooked on it!

Oh, one last thing...’The Lion King’ Special Edition is so very impressive because unlike the old VHS version, the movie is in wide-screen and therefore you can see so many things that you’ve never been able to see before. There’s even a brand new song that I really enjoy called ‘The Morning Report’ sung by Zazu & Simba during Mufusa’s pouncing lesson in the movie...(don’t worry, you get the original version on the disc too). That’s the whole fun of it. Instead of only having the one version to watch you now have two, isn’t that great?! Obviously it’s a different singer for young Simba since the original has probably grown up by now but that really doesn’t matter.
Simba's singing voice sounds no different whatsoever.

Give yourself the BEST Christmas present of all this year and buy ‘THE LION KING: SPECIAL EDITION’ as soon as you can...preferably on DVD. It doesn’t matter if you’re a child, teenager, young, middle-aged or old adult. ‘The Lion King’ is a wonderful story for everyone that once purchased can remain a most treasured movie for generations. I’m 19-years-old and I still love it, even to this very day...(*_*)