Growing up my favorite movie was The Lion King. (To be honest, it's probably still my favorite.) I owned at least three stuffed animal versions of each character, and was either Simba or Nala for Halloween for seven consecutive years. The music is wonderful and inspiring, written by Elton John and Tim Rice, the same composers of Aida and The Road to El Dorado. The musical has been the highest grossing musical of all time on Broadway. It's unarguably a classic in our generation and our culture.
But as for the portrayal of nature and the natural order, The Lion King should in no way be used to teach kids about nature. The movie starts out with the classic "Circle of Life": Elton John writes a beautiful song about how the world exists to serve the benefits of all the living creatures. At the end of this number, all the animals gather together to praise the birth of the new lion king as the cub is lifted up by Rafiki, the wise monkey.
Most confusingly, young Simba and young Nala leave their parents and go off to play with their babysitter, a hornbill named Zazu. Then this musical number occurs:
"I Just Can't Wait To Be King" is a wonderful example of how all animals can live harmoniously and worship a small lion cub. What a great song about all walks of life overcoming differences and working together! Yet a terrible representation of the actual food chain and way of life.
Later, when Mufasa dies in the wildebeest stampede at the fault of his brother, Disney implements the classic "dead parent" template so often seen in their animated films. It's the "Circle of Life"
Eventually, the small cub wanders into the wilderness to run away, when suddenly a meerkat and warthog come and save him. The three animals live harmoniously in near a waterhole, where they all share grubs and lie in the grass to watch the sunset.
The Lion King may be more of a Hamlet story than a story of the Tanzanian nature, but hey, Hakuna Matata.
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