Great movie, but purists should avoid the special edition...

Rating: Null/10 (25 June 2003)

Rather than add to the multitude of great reviews already on this site, I thought I might give my opinion about something a little different... ...I just recently watched the Special Edition version of The Lion King, and nearly had to turn it off while watching their latest "addition".
Before I go any further, I should say that I've never been a huge fan of the musical numbers in Disney movies. Especially in their more recent films, they've always seemed kind of forced. It's as if they were put in simply because there's a Disney formula the filmmakers are expected to adhere to, not because anybody felt they would better the film. Despite these feelings, I've never had too many problems with the songs in The Lion King. I tolerate them, and even find myself humming them from time to time. But what they've added has got to go, it's entirely unnecessary!
!Spoiler Alert!
Touted as their "added scene, with new music!", this little addition has really made me angry! Entitled "Morning Report", this number replaces probably one of my more favorite scenes in the early parts of the film - the pouncing lesson. Rather than hearing Zazu's muffled voice from off screen while Mufasa teaches Simba to hunt, we're treated to a fully fledged musical number. In a monotone singing style that reminds me of something out of My Fair Lady ("Why can't the english..."), Zazu describes completely inconsequential incidents happening on the savana. Simba even manages to get a few verses in before the number ends. Afterwards, the movie hastily picks up where it left off, the rythym and gravity of Mufasas words about the circle of life completely eliminated.
The result: those who are familiar with the film will spend the first 30 seconds confused as hell - "What the?...I totally don't remember this", followed by another two minutes of disgust - "Now we know why this didn't make it into the original cut". What's worse, newcomers to the film will get so caught up in the new song that they'll completely lose sight of the previous scene, arguably one of the more important parts of the film. Mufasa's monologue about the Circle of Life is essentially the thesis for the film, and as such should be emphasised, not undermined.

Sorry for the ramble folks. I genuinely love this movie, it's easily amongst my top ten. The art and animation is fantastic, the storyline & characters are great (despite complaints about it being ripped off from Shakespeare or Kimba the White Lion. Though, parallels between TLK and Hamlet elude me) Hans Zimmer's oscar winning score is one of my favorites, and the casting of the voices is perfect (Jeremy Irons and James Earl Jones fit their roles like a latex glove). It's for all these things and more that I love this film, so thus it's because of all these things that I hate to see it modified. Call me a purist, but I believe that once somebody is done making a film, especially one as successful and widely appreciated as The Lion King, they should leave well enough alone. Naturally, the choice to disagree with me is entirely yours, this is only my opinion afterall... ...Don't even get me started on what they added to Beauty & The Beast. What's next, Genie singing about what he'd do if Aladdin were to free him? Ugh...