THE LION'S KIN

THE LION KING (1994)
dirs: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff

THE LION'S KIN
MAD #332, December 1994
w: Stan Hart
a: Sam Viviano

Stan Hart's movie parodies often had audiences' or critics' reactions to the movies or public figures similar to the movie characters giving commentary. Here he had the Simpsons watching The Lion King. Mufasa (James Earl Jones) is king of the jungle, and he and his wife Sarabi (Madge Sinclair. They mistakenly punned the name Zazu, which is their bird servant [Rowan Atkinson]) have gathered all the animals of the land to introduce their new cub Simba (Jonathan Taylor-Thomas), presented by Rafiki (Robert Guillailme), a mandrill and the wise old man of the jungle. There is a musical number explaining how the jungle works called Circle of Life (see below).

Mufasa's brother Scar (Jeremy Irons) is jealous that Simba is next in line to be king.

Alec Baldwin was in a movie of The Shadow that year

Simba and his girlfriend Nala (Moira Kelly) sneak off and go to the elephant graveyard, which they have been specifically told not to do. There they are attacked by three hyenas (Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings) and saved by Mufasa. Mufasa is angry they went against his orders, and on the way back has a man-to-man talk with Simba about being the future king. Scar sets Simba and Mufasa up later by starting a wildebeest stampede that Simba will be caught in, knowing that Mufasa will jump in and save Simba. As Mufasa attempts to run in, he ends up hanging from a cliff. Scar appears to be saving him but lets go, leaving Mufasa plummeting to his death.

Simba doesn't know this was all a set-up and thinks he's responsible for his father's death. Scar forms an alliance with the hyenas and if they run after and kill Simba he is next in succession and is the new king. Instead, they let Simba keep running and he's rescued in the middle of the desert by Timon, a meerkat (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella) a warthog who lecture him about the bare necessities of life through a song called Hakuna Matata (see also below). Simba (now Matthew Broderick) is found by Nala who asks tell him to come back to the land which is now a hellscape ruled by Scar, and Simba should be the rightful ruler.

Simba is initially hesitant to return but the voices of his dead ancestors in the sky tell him it is his destiny to return. Scar confesses he was the real murderer and is banished from the kingdom. Simba comes back and the movie ends as it begun, with him and Nala now married and their new son introduced.

James Earl Jones was also the voice of Darth Vader. Pictured in the last panel are Jack Nicholson, Eddie Murphy (or is it Martin Lawrence? Looks more like Robert Townsend than either of them), Kevin Costner, Billy Crystal, and Danny DeVito. Apparently there was no woman in any movie that year.

Back cover of that issue.

Cover for Mexican edition

Cover for German edition

Here's more of Cracked exploiting a property by having it in more than one issue. First some of the small bits before their main parody.

A parody of what a commercial for the movie would be like, and how Simba would promote the movie in outlets like Late Night with David Letterman.

THE LOIN KING
Cracked #294, November 1994
a: Walter Brogan

Same joke about animals questioning why they should be glad to be there when they know they'll be eaten.

Another overlapping joke about being related to The Cowardly Lion.

The appearance of Roy Disney talking about facing the death of one's father is meant to be ironic in commenting on the fact that he is Walt's son.

LION-SIZED PROBLEMS FACED BY THE LION KING
Cracked #295, December 1994
w & a: Michael Ricigliano

THE MAKING OF THE LION KING
Cracked Collectors Edition #101, January 1995
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Walter Brogan

Ace Pooperscooper is co-editor Andy Simmons.

The hairdresser is art director Cliff Mott.