The Lion King (1994)

The Lion King (1994) is one of the most popular animated films produced by Disney. The film was a box office and a critical success, it was praised for its music, animation and plot, which has echos of Hamlet and the Bible. Several sequels, spin-offs and remakes have been made, including a theatre musical.  If you want to know more about the film, you can click here to read the Wikipedia article.

On the left, you can watch the opening scene, "The Circle of Life".  The music of this song was composed and performed by Elton John and the lyrics by Tim Rice.

The film is a story about loss, power struggles, overcoming trauma, personal growth and coming-of-age.  In this short E! News interview, the original voice actors, Jonathan Taylor Thomas (young Simba), James Earl Jones (Mufasa) and Matthew Broderick (adult Simba) talk about the plot of the film, their own characters and how they recorded their voices over the animation. The interview has subtitles, so it should be accessible to B2 students.