Fatih says:

There’s just a lot on here that seems ussceennary. Let me start with the good stuff: the movie has never looked or sounded better. Great care has been taken to improve an already great film. Make sure you click on “Enhanced Home Theater Mix” to watch the movie if you have more than just a TV hooked up to your DVD player. It sounds a zillion times better than the Dolby 5.1 stereo mix. The commentary is the same as the one that appeared on the laserdisc release. It’s a fun, concise talk that will pretty much supply anyone with what they need to know about “The Lion King.” The behind-the-scenes extras with Elton John are also quite enjoyable and informative, as is the short piece about Julie Taymor, who did the Broadway musical.Okay, the not-so-great stuff: several documentaries that drone on and on about things most viewers, especially children, won’t care about; a piece featuring footage of real lions eating their prey (that’s something I really didn’t want to see). The menu screens seem a little overwhelming to navigate. Some people might get frustrated, thinking “I don’t care about the rest of the stuff, just let me see the movie!!” Like I said before, there’s just way too much ussceennary stuff on here. The kiddie games that can be played with a remote control and some of the other stuff should have perhaps been released on a separate DVD (maybe as a freebie that you send in for with proof-of-purchase) for diehard fans, thus making this DVD easier to control. I’m sure there will be diehard fans out there that take offense to my statement saying that they didn’t have any trouble navigating. Good for them, I’m happy. All I’m saying is that casual viewers that perhaps don’t use their DVD players on a daily basis might get a bit confused.The absolute worst thing on here has to be the “Circle Of Life” music video, performed by the Disney Channel “Circle Of Stars.” It’s just rather, well… stupid. There seems to be a disturbing trend on Disney DVD’s of including extremely tired new versions of songs, performed by marginally talented musical outfits. Disney needs to put the kibosh on this immediately! The videos are obviously aimed at children, but to think that kids would enjoy this is a rather insulting thought. The weird and quite ussceennary carboard sleeve is here, too (just like what was released with “Beauty And The Beast” and “Sleeping Beauty”). The gatefold sleeve opens to reveal just what is on the DVD, which I suppose is really nice to know, if you are standing in a store wondering, but c’mon! This is a Disney DVD and people are going to buy it regardless of whether they know exactly how full of extras it is. It just seems wasteful because the plastic snap case that slides out of the cardboard sleeve is a good enough cover on its own. I’m sure a lot of people just throw this cardboard sleeve away, even though you can tell it wasn’t cheap to produce. Knock off the cardboard sleeve nonsense, and knock off a buck or two off the list price while you’re at it Disney!Having said all of that, this really is a great DVD release- even with all of the superfluous extras that would take you days to watch.