The "special edition" of The Lion King is awfully underwhelming. Not the film itself, you understand, but the supposed additions to the original. What's strange is that this is a film that stands on its own and doesn't need some kind of crazy special edition 2 disc DVD to sell it. But we've become accustomed to seeing big films get a big DVD treatment, so Disney is happy to oblige.
You get the original theatrical version as well as the special edition. The only difference I noted between the two is a new song, "Morning Report." Sounds like a great bullet point for the marketing team - especially since Lion King is kinda light on songs - except that "Morning Report" isn't really a song. It's Zazu singing his report on the kingdom (which you'll remember from the original) instead of saying it... and most of the singing is muffled by the bit where Mufasa teaches young Simba to pounce. I think Zazu gets about two whole lines out before he gets relegated to the background. Simba himself wraps up the song by singing the chorus you barely heard Zazu sing, but he has to sing it through clenched teeth because he's eating Zazu's tail! All in all, a very weird addition.
Note: telling me that your DVD contains a "restored, cleaned, repaired, brightened" version of the movie is no longer a selling feature. I now expect that, particularly from a company like Disney.
One of the neater revelations in the supplementary information is the lost Timon verse of "Hakuna Matata." When they meet Simba, Timon makes a big deal how he and Pumbaa are exiles and living a carefree bum's life. In the film's "Hakuna Matata," we learn that Pumbaa had to leave the other animals because he smells, but we never heard Timon's story. Are we to assume Timon smells too?
I recall hearing a non-canon version of Timon's side, either on the animated series or in the comics. It had to do with unrequited love for the princess meerkat or something. Well, not in the original song. It turns out he's just lazy. The colony kicked his ass out.
It's a shame Disney skipped this part, because it would have been nice, judging from the storyboards. Lots of identical meerkats standing in formation, jumping in and out of holes... and stupid Timon slouching, complaining and mugging for the camera. Maybe they thought Timon's story would mirror Simba's own too closely and send the wrong message: Simba leaves his family and the Pridelands goes to shit; Timon leaves his family and no one cares. Or maybe Hakuna Matata was just getting too long. Have to get to that precious fart joke as soon as possible.
And I still didn't see the famous "SEX" image. You dumbass Christian organizations need to hurry up and die already.
