The Lion King: Special Edition
Oct. 9th, 2003 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserI'm not sure how much of an audience on my flist there will be for a Disney movie, but for those who are, I picked up a copy of The special "platinum edition" of The Lion King today. I want to either save you money if you're sitting on the fence about paying $20 for it, or confirm your decision if you're a fan and already certain you're going to buy it.
If you were a fan of the movie, you'll find a lot of good stuff in this package. A lot of the interviews with Lebo M and Zimmerman just rock, and there's a lot of peachy keen footage and interview about the Broadway production as well (great interviews with Julie T-someone, the producer). I spent about two hours watching just the special additional stuff, and I don't think I'm halfway through it all.
Some of the additional stuff is either trash or "OH MY GAWD! SO K001!", depending on your age. Imagine "Circle of Life" sung by 12 year old "pop stars" (ha ha ha). Bad, bad, bad hip-hop and all that other crap sung and danced by Britany Spears-wannabe pre-teens. It made me want to attach rabid wolverines to my eyeballs.
There were two forms of the movie to choose from, widescreen or that chopped up version that people like because the picture is "so much bigger". In the widescreen version, there is a new song woven into the movie. The Morning Report, sung by Zazu and Simba. While cute, it was totally unnecessary. However, it was short enough that it didn't actually hurt the movie, which it really would have if it had gone on any longer.
If you're intending to buy it for the deleted scenes, do not. There were only three "scenes" total. (Scenes being in quotes because it was all, at best, storyboards. No animation at all.) Two of the three scenes have been shown on TV many time before, and the final one was only maybe a minute or two long (and again, only storyboards, not a real scene).
If you're intending to buy it for the trailer for the upcoming "Lion King 1 1/2", do not. There was no new animation at all, just T&P talking over footage from the original LK. The only thing we learn of the story in the multi-minute trailer is that it's the Lion King story told from T&P's POV. (Yawn.)
It'd be nice if they had included the soundtrack in this package, but all in all I'm not unhappy with having paid $20 for the two DVD set. However, take that with the "I'm a giant LK fan" grain of salt.
If you were a fan of the movie, you'll find a lot of good stuff in this package. A lot of the interviews with Lebo M and Zimmerman just rock, and there's a lot of peachy keen footage and interview about the Broadway production as well (great interviews with Julie T-someone, the producer). I spent about two hours watching just the special additional stuff, and I don't think I'm halfway through it all.
Some of the additional stuff is either trash or "OH MY GAWD! SO K001!", depending on your age. Imagine "Circle of Life" sung by 12 year old "pop stars" (ha ha ha). Bad, bad, bad hip-hop and all that other crap sung and danced by Britany Spears-wannabe pre-teens. It made me want to attach rabid wolverines to my eyeballs.
There were two forms of the movie to choose from, widescreen or that chopped up version that people like because the picture is "so much bigger". In the widescreen version, there is a new song woven into the movie. The Morning Report, sung by Zazu and Simba. While cute, it was totally unnecessary. However, it was short enough that it didn't actually hurt the movie, which it really would have if it had gone on any longer.
If you're intending to buy it for the deleted scenes, do not. There were only three "scenes" total. (Scenes being in quotes because it was all, at best, storyboards. No animation at all.) Two of the three scenes have been shown on TV many time before, and the final one was only maybe a minute or two long (and again, only storyboards, not a real scene).
If you're intending to buy it for the trailer for the upcoming "Lion King 1 1/2", do not. There was no new animation at all, just T&P talking over footage from the original LK. The only thing we learn of the story in the multi-minute trailer is that it's the Lion King story told from T&P's POV. (Yawn.)
It'd be nice if they had included the soundtrack in this package, but all in all I'm not unhappy with having paid $20 for the two DVD set. However, take that with the "I'm a giant LK fan" grain of salt.
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Date: 2003-10-10 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-10 07:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-10 06:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-10 07:06 am (UTC)And I was wishing for the widescreen option without Morning Report, but no. (But luckily, it really only lasts a minute or two, really short.)
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Date: 2003-10-10 11:26 am (UTC)I believe her name is Julie Tambor, without actually taking the time to look it up. She was also the director of the movie I watched last Friday, Titus, and she got the Titus job after bringing TLK to Broadway.
So, when you say 'don't bother shelling out $20 for this DVD', you're kind of implying "...if you already own the original one on DVD", neh? Because, I don't. :) And so I think it'd be worth buying this one, if I want to own it at all.
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Date: 2003-10-10 12:59 pm (UTC)If you own the original DVD or the VHS copy, I'd say not to bother, yeah. Or if you don't like animated movies/Disney, I'd go with the cheaper version. But if you know or think you'll like Lion King, and don't have a copy yet, I'd think going for it would be fine. There really is a lot on it for $20.