[quote="TheLionPrince"][quote="Noahcs"]Seriously, why would they do this? Romeo and Juliet has been done to death by every kids show and Saturday morning cartoon ever made. They wasted a perfectly good sequel.
[/quote]
Seeing as
The Lion King is loosely based on Shakespeare's
Hamlet, I would assume TLKII filmmakers wanted to continue the Shakespearean influence in the film series by adapting another popular Shakespearean play. That way, their story has its Shakespearean influences like the original film's story has their influence.[/quote]
You bring up a good point: Shakespeare is just as much a part of The Lion King legacy, as the African setting and its feline inhabitants are. I just wish they hadn't full blown
adapted it. The first Lion King wasn't adapted from Hamlet, instead it was
inspired by Hamlet.
I remember
Siskel & Ebert having this same kind of discussion around the time
City Slickers 2 came out. If you recall, the first movie had Billy Crystal go into the Wild West and meet some cowboys (I'm simplying things here), and the actual sequel had Billy returning to find a treasure. Gene Siskel said the sequel should have been about the cowboys going to the city with Billy. Roger Ebert said he was glad the filmmakers didn't do what Gene recommended because it had been done so many times before.
*cough* Sarcasm *cough*
