The Big Picture
- Disney’s The Lion King teaches important lessons about remembering your roots, finding yourself, and taking on responsibilities.
- Simba’s roar in the movie is a powerful expression of authority and dominance in the jungle, but surprisingly, Disney did not use any actual lions to create said sound effect.
- Voice artist Frank Welker’s incredible talent brings the lions in The Lion King to life with authentic and ferocious roars — all with the help of a single trash can.
Despite being targeted at kids, Disney’s 1994 classic The Lion King deals with some heavy and intense subjects. Still, there are some outstanding lessons to be learned from the tale about remembering your roots, finding yourself, and taking on responsibilities. There’s also the very subtle way in which the movie conveys the progress of its protagonist. Early in the movie when Simba (Matthew Broderick) and Nala (Moira Kelly) are getting harassed by hyenas, Simba tries to let out a roar to scare them off. But he’s still a young cub, and his roar inspires more exclamations of “aw!” than exclamations of terror. It is then that his father Mufasa (James Earl Jones) comes to their rescue with his thunderous roar, fighting off the hyenas.
After everything that transpires throughout the movie, after Simba returns from the exile and avenges his father, he walks up to the gorge where his father died and lets out a powerful roar that would have made his father proud. It’s a sweet coming-of-age moment for Simba, which is conveyed in the most poetic fashion through a loud roar. But as authentic and visceral as the roar sounds, you’ll be surprised to know that The Lion King didn’t use any lions for the effect. Instead, the studio opted for some interesting, unconventional ways to create the iconic sound.
Where Does the Roar in ‘The Lion King’ Come From?
The roar is a primal expression of power and authority in the jungle. It’s how the creatures of the jungle assert their dominance and ward off intruders hoping to overtake their territory. Looking at lions, the majestic kings, you’d think that they produce the most menacing roars. In reality, though, lions are notoriously lazy creatures who prefer laying down for about 18 hours a day. And this laziness extends to their roars, which doesn’t quite match the image of the animal we have in our heads. Not many people have heard real lions roar, but still we associate a very ferocious and visceral sound with lions. Thus, it was crucial for Disney’s The Lion King to nail down the roar in a way that didn’t only feel menacing but also authentic and in line with the viewer’s preconceived notions.
Thus, when it was time to make Simba and his family roar, the studio opted to use a variation of sound effects to achieve the desired results. Some of the roars we hear are tiger snarls, but most of the impressive ones actually come from the veteran voice artist Frank Welker, who growls, roars, and yells at a trash can, producing compelling sounds that perfectly align with what the cultural zeitgeist expects from a lion. In a video capturing Welker in the studio, you can really see how talented and in-the-zone Welker is as he produces these fierce, feral sounds that roar life into the animated lions. Especially towards the end, you feel the raw power of his roars, which feels proud, larger-than-life, and victorious.
Frank Welker Has Voiced Some of the Most Iconic Characters
It’s a testament to Welker’s outstanding skills that we never for a moment doubt if the roars are coming out of anything but lions. And perhaps such mastery is to be expected from someone like Welker, who has lent his voice to some of the most iconic characters in entertainment history. His extensive career and dynamic voice range puts him alongside legends like Mel Blanc, though dismally, Welker isn’t nearly as celebrated. Browse through his IMDB credit list, and you’ll find bits of your childhood (and bits of adulthood) scattered throughout his five-decades spanning career. Apart from The Lion King’s roars, Welker’s most popular voice acting role is perhaps in the beloved Scooby-Doo franchise where he’s been voicing the titular character and Freddy across the main series, spin-off shows, and movies for more than 50 years now. He’s also voiced other iconic characters such as Megatron from the Transformers franchise, various G.I Joe characters, Garfield from the late 00s Garfield movies, and Odin from the Avengers Assemble animated series, among others. But his most impressive, bone-rattling performance arguably still comes from Disney’s The Lion King, where he truly transformed from a single man with a trash can to the king of the jungle.
