Why this forgotten Disney sequel is the greatest movie musical of all time

The Lion King is often considered the greatest animated movie of all time. You have to admire the ambition of turning Shakespeare’s epic tragedy Hamlet (a 400-year-old play where virtually every character dies a horrible death) into a cartoon musical for kids.

A large part of the film’s success is an iconic soundtrack composed by the legendary Elton John and Tim Rice. Can You Feel the Love Tonight won an Oscar; I Just Can’t Wait to Be King and Hakuna Matata are modern classics. The stage show based on the film is the highest-grossing musical in Broadway history.

The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride didn’t even get a cinema release in 1998.Credit:

By comparison, The Lion King’s 1998 sequel is … far less beloved. Largely unknown, in fact. Shunned, forgotten, left out in the cold. It wasn’t even released in theatres! But as Simba learns in The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride, an outcast is just as capable of true greatness if only provided the opportunity.

And the soundtrack to The Lion King 2 is true greatness. The movie itself is underrated. But the music? Spectacular. Not only is the soundtrack to The Lion King 2 better than its predecessor, this straight-to-video Disney sequel is the single greatest movie musical soundtrack of all time.

The movie musical has a rich Hollywood pedigree. A great movie musical is so much more than the music: it needs a compelling story, witty dialogue, dynamic choreography and a bold visual aesthetic, all of which, combined, can create the illusion that the soundtrack was just as dazzling. Let’s be honest, though – the music itself can be hit-and-miss.

Even the very best movie musicals rarely manage to string together a perfect run of songs. Singin’ in the Rain is a delightful cinematic experience. But try listening to the soundtrack on its own, without the choreography, visual gags and long lustful looks between Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds.

A Star Is Born and The Greatest Showman each had only one iconic song. Labyrinth and The Nightmare Before Christmas are remembered for being straight bonkers, not for their music. Dancer in the Dark is too alienating. The Little Shop of Horrors is too niche. Chicago and All That Jazz are beguiling, but inconsistent. Can you even name one song from the Best Picture-nominated La La Land?

In Disney land, it’s no better: Tale as Old as Time is boring (sorry, Beauty and the Beast). I’ll Make a Man Out of You and A Girl Worth Fighting For are problematic (sorry, Mulan). Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson can’t sing (sorry, Moana).

The Lion King 2 is wall-to-wall jams. No skips. Every tune is the epitome of its kind – a stunning opener, a gripping central choral set-piece, a killer villain song, a gorgeous finale. The story doesn’t quite hit the dramatic heights or emotional stakes of its prequel, but the music eclipses it.

The opening track, He Lives in You, does what all great openers should: it’s big and bold and sweeping, perfectly setting the scene. It’s stirring and magnificent, almost a song of praise, all soaring harmony and rumbling drums.

I will die on the hill that We Are One is a better exploration of the circle of life than Circle of Life. Uplifting and melodic, a father and daughter reflecting on their incompatible views on their place in the world, and the choices they have to make within it.

Rafiki’s Upendi is a sing-along Rasta-tinged jam, as fun and rumble-tumble as any Disney jaunt – Hakuna Mata and Kiss the Girl from The Little Mermaid rolled into a perfect package. Love Will Find a Way is the kind of beautiful closing ballad that wouldn’t be out-of-place in any musical, from The Bodyguard to West Side Story.

My Lullaby is the most compelling musical performance by a villain since Ursula’s Poor Unfortunate Souls, vicious and pained. Where Scar’s Be Prepared is all cartoonish moustache twirling and hyena gags, My Lullaby is pure venom put to song.

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One of Us might be the most powerful Disney song in history – a dramatic, ominous, devastating choral effort channelling the central conflict of the film. A harrowing requiem to the great injustice of otherness, of wanting desperately to belong and being rejected based on circumstances beyond your control. It has only grown more prescient and urgent over time.

Where The Lion King was based on Hamlet, The Lion King 2 was based on Romeo and Juliet. Ultimately, though, it has far more in common with Shakespeare’s Coriolanus – a forgotten and largely unseen masterpiece, a complex portrayal of the interplay between love, family and leadership. Except Coriolanus didn’t have anywhere near this many bangers.

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