The simple fact of the matter is that Disney’s The Lion King stands as one of the most impactful and successful feature length animated movies ever created anywhere in the world. With box office and home video sales approaching one billion dollars, two Academy awards, as well as several Grammy awards to its name, The Lion King sits on hallowed ground within the film animation community and serves as one of the most important films that the Disney Corporation has ever made, and that is really saying something based on the roster of great films Disney has produced over the years. The Lion King is a movie that, as a finished product, appears to be a star-studded affair with its success all but preordained. However, in reality, it was a film that was a struggle to make, right from conception up until delivery of the final product in theatres. So let’s take a few moments and examine how The Lion King came to be, why it took several years to complete, how the soundtrack helped revive Sir Elton John’s career and finally, why many consider The Lion King to be the best animated film of all time. To the Pride Lands we go!
When movie ideas are first pitched to producers, the process requires those making the pitch to create a plot summary that is called a treatment. The movie treatment reduces the storyline of the movie to its essential scenes and usually starts with a one or two sentence lead that acts to summarize the summary, in much the same way that a newspaper headline summarizes the news article. In the case of The Lion King, the initial treatment led with the simple four word line: Bambi in the jungle. Right from the outset, the plotline was built on a foundation of an orphaned animal having to survive and, ultimately, triumph over adversity based solely on the strength of its character and with a little help from its friends. The original treatment also had the story of The Lion King being told in a documentary style. Disney boss (at the time) Jeffrey Katzenberg was intrigued by the initial pitch but felt that Bambi had been already done and that this particular movie, if it was going to be made at all, needed an injection of something more substantive to the storyline. Katzenberg’s criticism set off a chain reaction of revisions, resignations and rewrites that extended over several years, causing the project to almost come completely off of the rails. The most contentious change was the idea that, perhaps, the storyline was better served by having The Lion King switch from being a more serious documentary and, instead, writing this story as a musical. Looking back, the decision to turn this movie into a musical seems like so much common sense but, at the time, it resulted in mass resignations from those involved in the writing and production process. After many revisions and rewrites and too many meetings in boardrooms, Katzenberg finally gave his production team a definitive film treatment of his own for them to model their work after. Katzenberg told them this movie should be more Shakespearean and that the role of the young lion cub Simba should be modelled after Hamlet. A project that came into the world as Bambi in the jungle had evolved into Hamlet on the savannah.
With Hamlet, along with biblical figures such as Moses and Joseph, as role models, the script for The Lion King quickly took shape. For those who may wonder what it was exactly that elevated The Lion King from the ranks of ordinary animated films and helped make it the iconic classic movie it has become, a lot of the credit must go to Hamlet. When lists are made ranking the best and/or most important dramatic plays ever written, the story of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is always universally ranked at or near the very top of the list. Hamlet is a standard coming-of-age story told against the backdrop of ascension to the throne and the weighty responsibility that comes with leadership at such a young age. It is tough enough to leave childhood and enter the real world of adulthood and survive with your emotions and psyche intact. Add to that, making this transition amid a world of political intrigue, where your enemies whisper and plot incessantly, your allies shift like the sand and the fate of the lives of thousands of innocent civilians rest on soft, rounded shoulders. It is no wonder that many consider the character of the Danish Prince to be one of the greatest, most complex story characters ever brought to life on the page. It isn’t easy to be an adult at the best of times for ordinary people like us. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to bear the weight of such immense responsibility at such a young age for someone destined to sit in the biggest of chairs.
If you examine the final storyline of The Lion King, it is clear where the influences of Hamlet can be found. It obviously starts with the fact that both Hamlet and young Simba are the heirs apparent in a dynastic order of succession that initially assumes that both will seamlessly grow into being King when the time comes for them to do so. However, both young male characters grow into adulthood in an atmosphere of treachery and betrayal from within their own family circle. Both characters must deal with issues of who to trust (including themselves and their own ability to make proper judgments). They find themselves surrounded by wise counsellor-like court jesters who possess wisdom and humour in equal measure. They have friends in their inner circle but they also both have enemies lurking, ever ready to pounce on any sign of weakness or carelessness. In the midst of it all, both Hamlet and Simba must live their lives on full public display while seeking to acquire the grace and maturity they need in order to achieve what destiny has set out for them. No one has ever said that it was easy to be king.
While having the plotline of The Lion King resemble the classic story of Hamlet was a key developmental component which helped make this movie stand out as it has, the other fundamentally important decision that was made was to turn the storytelling vehicle from a documentary style to that of a musical. By their very nature, musicals do much of their storytelling through song. This change in format allowed some of the weightiness of the original Hamlet storyline to be lightened somewhat so that children could understand and appreciate what was unfolding on screen before their eyes. The change also allowed for Disney to hire several heavyweight talents to lend their expertise to this project. Composer Hans Zimmer was hired to create the instrumental score for the film. Lyricist Tim Rice was brought on board to write five original songs. Sir Elton John was hired to create the music for those five songs and then, to lend his vocal signature to some of them as well. In the end, the song “Circle of Life” became the song used in the introductory movie trailer which, in turn, helped pave the way to the film’s massive opening box office totals. The song “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?” played over the closing scene and credits of the movie, as Simba finally vanquishes his rival and assumes his rightful place on the throne. The “love” in question is both the love of a romantic partner coming to life, along with the love of his subjects who see him as bringing light back into their world after the darkness that once so strongly held sway. “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?” is a soaring ballad and was meant to act as the song that anchors the movie and sends audiences home happy and satisfied with the result. On Broadway, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?” is referred to as an eleven o’clock song, which means the big closing final number. Both “Circle of Life” and “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?” were nominated for the Academy award for Best Song, with “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?” getting the nod. Hans Zimmer also won the Academy award for Best Original Score. Sir Elton John won the Grammy award for Best Vocal Performance by a Male. The Lion King ended 1994, the year it was released, as the highest grossing movie of the year.
In the time since The Lion King was released in theatres and on DVD, it has continued to evolve in terms of how this story is presented to audiences. There have been several prequels and sequels made. In particular, I want to draw attention to the movie called Mufasa: The Lion King, which was made in 2024. It possesses such a level of sophistication with regard to its animation techniques that it makes the original 1994 version of the movie seem somewhat amateurish by comparison. There is also a highly successful live action Broadway musical version of The Lion King that has toured successfully all across North America and Europe. I will link to the original version of The Lion King, the new 2024 version and the Broadway musical below.
I will conclude with a final thought about why I think that The Lion King has become as iconic a film as it most certainly has. If I was writing the treatment to pitch this movie, I would simply write that this movie is Hamlet for children. It isn’t everyday that you see Hollywood show such respect for the intelligence of its audience, especially if that intended audience is set to be mainly children. But that is what The Lion King does. It takes a story as complex and creative as William Shalespeare told with Hamlet and has translated it to the world of lions on the African savannah. Furthermore, it places the storytelling structure of this saga in the hands of the creative musical geniuses of Hans Zimmer, Tim Rice and Sir Elton John, who all know how to use music to create moods and tell emotional stories. Adults can watch this film and enjoy it every bit as much as their children do. But make no mistake, this is a movie for children that treats them as intelligent consumers of information. I like that a lot. The ability for young children to understand complex issues is so underappreciated by most adults. Kids come to school and they also play on teams which, when you pare things down to their bare essence, are competitive social environments in which each child has to find their own place and their own way forward. If anyone knows about surviving in a world populated by characters who are not black and white caricatures but who, in reality, possess every colour of the rainbow, it is children. School yard rules are rules that set you up for life in the real world of adulthood. No one has to lecture children about the complexities of growing up. They are living that experience each and every day. In The Lion King, they were finally given a film that they can understand and relate to, even if it is filled with hyenas and warthogs. Believe me, there were many days when I was on yard duty at school and felt like I was on the savannah surrounded by hyenas and warthogs. The real world is a crazy, competitive place at times but my experience with children has shown that they tend to prefer goodness to evil, kindness to cruelty and happiness to loss. The Lion King delivered a story for children that is all that and more. Despite the fact that this is a cartoon filled with talking animals, in my opinion The Lion King is one of the most realistic portrayals I have ever seen about what it is really like to be a child as they grow into adulthood with all of the trauma and requisite responsibilities that come with doing so. It isn’t easy being a king nor a kid. The Lion King gets that right. Well done, all!
The link to the video for the trailer for the film The Lion King can be found here.
The link to the video for the song “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?” by Tim Rice and Sir Elton John can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to the trailer for the 2024 movie Musafa: The Lion King can be found here. NOTE: For what it is worth, I find the quality of the animation to be absolutely breathtaking! What progress!
The link to the official website for the Broadway musical version of The Lion King can be found here.
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