The Lion King (1994)
On an evening in which I got home from a rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet, we turn to a Disney movie that is loosely inspired (among other sources) by another Shakespeare play, Hamlet. That movie would be one of Disney's crown jewels, The Lion King. The Movie: The Lion King is the 32nd film in the Disney Animated Canon and the last of the big four films of the Disney Renaissance. (Technically it is the fifth film of the Renaissance era because The Rescuers Down Under came out between The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.) It is the highest grossing traditional animated film of all time and consistently listed as one of Disney's best movies. The Lion King tells the story of the Simba, the young lion cub of Mufasa, the king of Pride Rock. Young Simba just can't wait to grow up and become king himself, but between his nefarious uncle Scar and a pack of hyenas, danger looms on the horizon. Along the way, Simba interacts with Nala, his childhood sw...