The Best Movie
Disney Ever Made

Disney has produced countless box-office hits in the last few decades, but none have topped The Lion King for me. It's not even my favorite Disney movie, but I can objectively say that it's the best the studio has ever released. I'd go so far as to say that it should've been the first animated feature to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Some of you probably think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not! I sincerely believe that The Lion King is Disney's finest film, even topping its 3D features and live-action movies. Everything about it is excellent, from the story and animation to the music and voice casting.

People forget that the movie featured an all-star cast of 90s stars. The decade's teen heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas voiced young Simba, while the Broadway and movie star Matthew Broderick played his adult version. The late James Earl Jones voiced Mufasa, and Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons played Scar.

We also can't forget Nathan Lane as Timon, Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, Rowan Atkinson as Zazu, the late Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, Moira Kelly as Nala, and Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, and Jim Cummings as Scar's three main hyena henchmen.

As I already said, that cast reads like a who's who of the most popular celebrities during the 1990s. And yet, you barely remember them when you think of The Lion King. We remember the soundtrack and the animation most. And since Tim Rice and Elton John wrote and composed the music, I dare say this movie has some of the best songs in Disney's entire discography.

It's a shame I never met most of these amazing icons and got their autographs on my Lion King movie poster. I met only a handful of them. For example, Moira Kelly, Robert Guillaume, and Jim Cummings attended The Lion King 3D's Hollywood premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on August 27, 2011. Though I saw all three, I only managed to ask Kelly to sign the poster.

In 2015, I met Matthew Broderick at the stage door of one of his Broadway plays, and he was the nicest cast member I'd met so far.

It then took me nine years to meet other cast members when they appeared at the 30th-anniversary Hollywood Bowl concert in May 2024, but I couldn't complain. I finally saw Jeremy Irons and Nathan Lane and got them to sign the poster, so it was well worth the wait.

My only regret is that I never met James Earl Jones, who passed away in September 2024, nor even tried to. I don't know why, but I was weirdly confident I'd eventually meet him when he was still alive, but I never did. I missed my chance completely, and I still feel sore about it.

There are many other cast members I haven't met and asked for an autograph yet, but I oddly feel satisfied with the ones I already got. Whether signed by the whole cast or not, this poster is staying with me, a reminder of every night I got to say hello to a piece of my childhood.