Kbiz
Situational Showstopper
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Does this count as a musical? All Disney kids movies have a mix of songs and scripts because they're kids movies. I don't think this counts.
I would say that The Lion King is a rare Disney exception in regards to music composition. Most Disney movies prior to LK had been written by Alan Menken, who wrote music for the slew of animated features in the late 80's - 90's.
The Lion King's origin story is actually quite interesting (bit of a Disney nerd here) None of the Disney executives had any faith that the movie would be a success. The most talented people at Disney (animators, writers, composers) were taken off the project to start working on Pocahontas, Menken being one of them. As a last ditch effort, Disney recruited Elton John to help write the music and the rest is history.
TLK is regarded as one of the best Disney movies of all time b/c those who worked on the movie truly poured their heart and soul into the work b/c they didn't want it to seem second-rate in the Disney exec's eyes. It became a passion project for all involved.