10 Irresistible Movies Inspired By The Genius Of Shakespeare

By Luke Kear / July 13, 2013

6. Lion King

It is no secret that Disneys The Lion King took its inspiration from what is possibly Shakespeares best tragedy, Hamlet. This child friendly remake of Hamlet glosses over the Prince of Denmarks dark exploration of usurpation, revenge and paranoia with a bunch of catchy sing-alongs performed by a multitude of gorgeously animated African wildlife.

It still ranks as one of The Mouse House's greatest animations, and with few great strides being made in the feature film world, as an argument for Disney to return to concentrating on what made them great. The combination of catchy musical numbers, enduring characters and the timelessness of the Shakespearean storylines is a winning formula that Disney has struggled to recapture since (apart from when in partnership with Pixar.)

Most appealing of all is imagining The Lion Kings climax as having retained an equal amount of bloodshed which Shakespeares original had. If it wasn't for the complete Disney-fication of the story by the end most of the cuddly characters would be dead, including Nala and Simba. After all that singing, who could say that that wouldn't have been sweet revenge?