THE LION KING

HANS ZIMMER

Rating:

Original Review: I'm not quite sure how Hans Zimmer managed to win the Best Score Oscar in 1994 with this effort - especially considering the fact that he was up against Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption, both of which were vastly superior scores. No, the main attraction of The Lion King are the wonderful songs courtesy of Elton John and Tim Rice, the first time that Alan Menken had been replaced as part of the songwriting team. John and Rice adopted a much more populist approach to writing the music, and it works perfectly, with four wonderful tunes and one so-so resulting from their collaboration. My favourite is actually the opener, 'Circle of Life', performed with glorious vocals by Carmen Twillie and Lebo M. - when coupled with the incredible opening sequence of hundreds of animals crossing the huge African savannah, it never ceases to give me the chills. 'I Just Can't Wait To Be King' and 'Hakuna Matata' are both fun, finger-snapping songs for the kids - the former featuring the singing debut of Mr. Bean himself Rowan Atkinson, the latter almost breaking the old Disney taboo of swearing on screen (if you can count the word 'farted' as swearing). I'm not really very keen on 'Be Prepared', mainly because Jeremy Irons can't sing and the lyrics are rather weird ("as wet as a warthog's backside?"), but it is fun trying to spot the celebrity voice cameos like Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin as the scheming but thick hyenas. And, of course, 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' won the Oscar for Best Song - but there was really nothing for it to compete against anyway. It's OK. But what of the score? Well, again, it's OK - most un-Zimmer like for all those familiar with his work on Crimson Tide and The Rock, but it does have an elegant, majestic quality to it, especially in the cues 'This Land' and during the ending of 'To Die For' and the beginning of 'King of Pride Rock', but there is too much African chanting for my liking and not enough of the emotional stuff that Zimmer does so well.

Track Listing: Running Time: 46 minutes 27 seconds

Disney/Mercury (1994)

Voice Cast: Joseph Williams, Sally Dworsky, Jason Weaver, Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sanella, Carmen Twillie, Rowan Atkinson, Laura Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings and Kristle Edwards.

Original score composed by Hans Zimmer. Original songs written by Elton John and Tim Rice. Conducted by Nick Glennie-Smith. Orchestrations by Bruce Fowler and Nick Glennie-Smith. Musical arrangements by Hans Zimmer, Lebo M, Andrae Crouch, Mark Mancina, Bobbi Page and Bruce Fowler. Recorded and mixed by Brett Newman, Alastair Glyn and Tanja Somers. Edited by Adam Smalley. Album produced by Hans Zimmer, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin and Chris Thomas.


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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1997. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.