My Lion King Forum

(I did a quick search and couldn't find a topic about this. If there already is one then sorry :S)

So what does everyone REALLY think about the Morning Report Song included with the 2003 Special Edition video/DVD? I know that general consensus is that it is not liked among people (especially the hardcore fans) but I wanted to know people's individual opinions.

Personally, I don't mind it too much. Sometimes I feel that it interrupts the flow of the film because it is quite different to the rest of the songs (probably because it was written after the rest of them).

One thing I can't stand, though, is the voice acting during that part of the film. For one, Rowan Atkinson isn't voicing Zazu (to be fair though, the person singing it does sound very convincing. I actually thought until recently it was RA) . Secondly, I don't see why they had to rerecord Mufasa's dialogue or add in the extra lines. JEJ's voice sounds different to what it did originally (higher pitched-ish) which bugs me a lot.
Thirdly, I HATE the voice they chose for Simba. It sounds awful in my opinion, it's far too different from the original. I really think they could have found something better.

All that being said, I really enjoyed TMR in the Broadway production

Luckily, the original scene is included on the DVD, but I'm not sure about the most recent Diamond edition. They didn't play TMR when I saw it in 3d last year, but I think overall I prefer the original scene, just cause that's the one I got used to and the one I saw first.

So, what does everyone else think?

I don't like it that much. It just seemed silly for the sake of being silly and didn't fit in very well with the scene or any of the other songs. Also, there was nothing wrong with the original scene to begin with. It's safe to say that I prefer the original scene without the song.

I'm unhappy with the animation the most, to be honest. :< I don't think it's the same quality as the rest of the movie ... Simba's legs really bother me throughout the whole scene, and so does his singing/voice. I don't think they should have added it in, I prefer the original.

That said ... I really love the Broadway version, and the song itself, but it doesn't fit in well with the actual TLK movie.

[quote="Ninaroja"]Luckily, the original scene is included on the DVD, but I'm not sure about the most recent Diamond edition. [/quote]

On the Diamond Edition, the Morning Report is not included. I recently purchased the Korean version of said edition, and there were no options to play the movie with that scene. (Not that I went looking for that in particular, mind you). Honestly, I was a little bit disappointed that the Morning Report wasn't included in that version.
I was still in middle school when the 2003 version was released, and I was much too lazy to change the setting to the original release, so I heard the song every time I watched the movie. I thought it was rather catchy, and while it was clearly a different voice actor for Simba(I don't really hold that against it much, seeing as it would be ridiculously difficult to find someone that sounded exactly right), I still liked the scene. Admittedly, the animation wasn't quite as good as the rest of the film, and the sound was different. That didn't stop me from enjoying the scene, and I still enjoy the song now.

I don't really like the animated version. Not only does it sound rather bad (and removes one of my favorite scenes), but most importantly, it doesn't have the nostalgic feel of the original release version.

[quote="Juliette"]
I heard the song every time I watched the movie. I thought it was rather catchy, and while it was clearly a different voice actor for Simba(I don't really hold that against it much, seeing as it would be ridiculously difficult to find someone that sounded exactly right), I still liked the scene. Admittedly, the animation wasn't quite as good as the rest of the film, and the sound was different. That didn't stop me from enjoying the scene, and I still enjoy the song now.[/quote]
^ This except I've seen the original version, and I like both honestly.

[quote="Tora"][quote="Juliette"]
I heard the song every time I watched the movie. I thought it was rather catchy, and while it was clearly a different voice actor for Simba(I don't really hold that against it much, seeing as it would be ridiculously difficult to find someone that sounded exactly right), I still liked the scene. Admittedly, the animation wasn't quite as good as the rest of the film, and the sound was different. That didn't stop me from enjoying the scene, and I still enjoy the song now.[/quote]
^ This except I've seen the original version, and I like both honestly.[/quote]

You should have read my whole post, TMR's not on my Diamond Edition.
To clarify, of course I have seen the original version and like both.
Perhaps I should have said "Every time I watched it after that release I heard the song," as I also saw the movie in theatres when it was first released and used to watch the VHS back in the day all the time. Either way, the scene is good IMO.

It's not too bad. It gives me hope that they will reanimate other unused/scrapped moments *COUGH* "Be prepared reprise *COUGH

[quote="TheBlackCatCrossing"]It's not too bad. It gives me hope that they will reanimate other unused/scrapped moments *COUGH* "Be prepared reprise *COUGH[/quote]

I don't think they will.

The Morning Report song replaced the normal talking version of the normal report, and it was made for the diamond release of The Lion King. Seeing as they didn't have any new animation for the 3D release, I doubt we will see anything new with The Lion King any time soon.

Having seen the original version of the scene before, the song itself felt silly and out of place.
Plus, it added some sort of discontinuity in the movie as the signing voices didn't sounded quite like the original ones. (Zazu and Simba's singing voices sound different in this scene than in the IJCWTBK scene)
The overall quality is also lower than the other scenes of the movie.

However, that doesn't mean I hate the song... I simply don't appreciate it.