Every Rowan Atkinson Film & TV Project Ranked From Worst To Best

Disney's 1994 release stands tall, even amongst a particularly strong run for the company in this era. However, between the powerful musical numbers, savannah philosophy, and surprisingly harrowing scenes of the brutality of life in the wild, Rowan Atkinson's role as the red-billed hornbill Zazu is sometimes overlooked.

One of very few voice acting roles to feature on this list, Atkinson once remarked about the film: "I didn’t want to do it, really, because voiceovers, voice work is something I generally had never done and never liked, I’m a visual artist, if I’m anything, and it seemed to be a pointless thing to do."

We can only conclude that Disney pays incredibly well.

Whilst physical comedy may be his strongest asset, he does a good job, his voice being perfect as the king's fixer, much in the vein of advisers to the British monarchy. Disney's animators also do a fantastic job of capturing Atkinson's likeness and mannerisms in bird form.

The role of Zazu was recast in the 2019 remake, in a case of "No, we can't have Rowan Atkinson, we have John Oliver at home."