Product Details

• Actors: Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Whoopi Goldberg, Niketa Calame
• Directors: Rob Minkoff, Roger Allers
• Writers: Andy Gaskill, Barry Johnson, Bob Tzudiker, Brenda Chapman, Burny Mattinson
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, HiFi Sound
• Language: English
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 3, 1995
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (968 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303314015
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,151 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #68 in Music > Children's Music > Disney

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Anybody who struts around with Simba's hard-won authority deserves this royal DVD read-along from Disney. Kids can recoil at Uncle Scar's dastardly deeds en español and discover that "hakuna matata" sounds pretty much the same in Spanish, French, Italian, or German. And should the dynamic storytelling fail to thrill your 4- to 12-year-old fan, a flurry of other interactive options await. Toggle to "Songs" for sing-along renditions of movie hits, including "I Just Can't Wait to Be King," and on to "Music Videos," where Elton John roars soundtrack favorites "Circle of Life" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and Jimmy Cliff and Lebo M groove to "Hakuna Matata." The "Vocabulary" feature allows for see-and-say mastery of a list of wildlife, while the "Game" section allows players to match paw and hoof prints to the proper beast and reassemble the scattered skeletal remains of an elephant. Original cast voices are featured, and grownups will be pleased by the package's reading component. --Tammy La Gorce

From The New Yorker

Disney's new animated feature is a coming-of-age story about animal royalty. It's "Bambi," but with carnivores. The hero, a young lion named Simba, is born to the purple, but before he can ascend to the throne he has to make cute friends, court a soft-eyed female of the species, and see his father die (in a scene that may actually jerk kids' tears more shamelessly than its counterpart in "Bambi"). Between traumas, the movie serves up soothingly banal musical numbers (composed by Elton John and Tim Rice) and silly, rambunctious comedy. It's such an extreme example of the you'll-laugh-you'll-cry aesthetic that we begin to suspect that the directors, Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, are just flaunting their power, showing us that they can manipulate our responses at will. The animation, computer-assisted in some of the more elaborate sequences, is sometimes impressive, but rarely impressive enough to overcome a certain impersonality-a stubborn mechanical coldness. Among the celebrity voices on the soundtrack, two performances stand out: Jeremy Irons, as the villainous lion Scar, does an elegant, funny George Sanders impersonation, and Nathan Lane, reading the part of a peppy, skeptical meerkat, gives the picture a welcome shot at Warners-style brashness. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

112 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, buy it., September 29, 2003

By 

Gaijin "on the rock that spews lava.." (Hilo, HI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Lion King (Two-Disc Platinum Edition) (DVD)

Disney's The Lion King is finally available on DVD. Considered the cream of the crop of all the Disney animated features by many, it is definitely worth owning. I don't think I'll go into the story, which I'm sure most of you know. Chances are you've already seen the movie and are just waiting to own it on a piece of media that won't rot like your VHS tape that probably fell apart by now. Even if Disney released a sub par release of this movie, you'd buy it.
Luckily, this is one of the best releases ever.

Video and Audio is supreme in this release. Especially vibrant is the 5.1 sound. Of all the older Disney releases, this one benefits the most I think, with the powerful music and sound effects present in this release. Hearing James Earl Jones as Mufasa blaring in thunderous 5.1 sound is quite amazing. Likewise the excellent music, such as the opening Circle of Life. Present in this release is the original theatrical version as well as a version with new music/song. I actually didn't care for the new song, but some may. The extras are quite numerous, contained on a second DVD and are mentioned in Amazon's product details...I haven't had the time to go through them yet, so I cannot comment on the extras. I just watched the movie again. To be honest, the movie would be worth it as a single disc release so I'm happy as it is.

Some interesting trivia for some of the people who are not aware of it is that The Lion King seemed to be heavily "influenced" by an old Japanese anime, Kimba The White Lion. Those wishing to see the "similarities" would do well to check out that series as it has also been released on DVD. Carbon copying aside, I do love the Lion King. It still manages to grab you whether you are 4 years old or 40. Two thumbs up!!

63 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars probably THE BEST ANIMATED FILM !, October 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lion King [VHS] (VHS Tape)

After the movie Little Mermaid came out, Disney would make 3 other animated masterpieces: Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, that would change the way we looked at animated films, somthing new, something wonderful.But of all these 4 great animated films, in my opinion The Lion King was the greatest. The music was just, beautiful, and Scar was probably the most EVIL Disney villain the was ever drawn on a piece of paper.You hated him, but you almost liked him, because he was so great. But probably the best part of the movie was Simba's pal's Pumbaa and Timon, the BEST Disney characters EVER!!! The scene where Timon was doing the hula, I thought I was going to die from laughing. Anybody from toddler to 10 year old to 60 year from boy to old woman to teenager and so forth will, without a doubt, LOVE this movie, everyone.

64 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Movie 5 stars, 3D -- only about a 2.5, October 22, 2011

By 

prussianette - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lion King (Four-Disc Diamond Edition Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy) (Blu-ray)

I own a quite a few 3D movies, so perhaps my expectations were too high, but despite some stellar reviews on the 3D on this product by some other reviewers, I have to tell you the quality is FAR less than made-for-3D movies such as Despicable Me.

Do you remember those "3D" games/cartoons where the "3D" effect as you were supposedly either walking, or in a car, going along the road was the part closest to you moved slow, then there was a part in the middle that moved a bit faster, and then the part near the top of the screen moved the fastest? This is only a step above that. It is more like layered 2D images than true 3D. Yes, there are a few parts where true 3D is apparent, but those are few and far between.

Sorry, I can't help but think that some of the people have either let their love of the movie color their perception of what good 3D looks like, or they simply do not have many 3D movies to compare to.

I actually found the 2D blu-ray disc, or even the regular dvd more appealing, or at least less distracting. One thing I noticed in all three versions that I didn't notice before was that the grass in the movie doesn't move when the animals walk through it. Although I didn't pick up on this when I saw the movie when it first came out, it was one of the things that was painfully apparent in the 3D, and far less apparent in the 2D versions.

And, yes, I know there are people that will disagree with me and mark my review as "not helpful", but I have to call it as I see it.