The name Disney conjures up visions of enchanting stories and wonderful animation, and that is just what you get with The Lion King Animated Storybook.

Installation:  This is probably one of the easiest installation procedures I've seen. All we had to do was put the CD-ROM in the drive and choose File/Run in the Windows Program Manager to run the setup program on the CD. Video and sound cards are automatically detected and configured. It really couldn't be easier!

Documentation:  Disney's Animated Storybook - The Lion King comes with a 24-page Program Handbook that describes system requirements, installation procedure, program features, and technical support information. Among the various coupons included with the product is an offer for a bilingual version (Spanish/English, French/English, Italian/English, or German/English) at a nominal cost of $6.95. Also included is a cute Lion King mouse pad (Jennifer loves this!).

The Product:  I expected great graphics from a Disney product and was not disappointed. The animation is very smooth and the graphics are gorgeous. Likewise, music and sound is very good and faithful to the movie. Like many animated storybooks, you can either choose to have the story read to you or you can play (we always play!). When you play, each page is first read to you; following this, you can click on characters and objects on the screen to see animations. There are a total of eighteen screens in the story, and half of them are interactive. You can either go through the story in order, or you can go directly to your favorite page (Jennifer's favorite feature). Timon, the meerkat, is your guide through this animated storybook. Click on Zazu (the hornbill) to hear the story. Rafiki, the wise old baboon, will explain the meaning of certain words (a nice feature, but not all words in the story are supported).

Clicking on Simba and Nala will allow you to play one of three games (Pouncing Game, Connect the Stars, and Bug Catching). In the Pouncing Game, you play as Simba trying to pounce on Zazu; the difficulty increases as you improve in skill. Connect the Stars is a dot-to-dot game, where you are treated to a picture of a character from the movie when you have connected all the stars. The Bug Catching game allows you to play as Timon trying to catch bugs; the difficulty level also increases with your skill. All in all, the games are fun for young kids (Jennifer's favorite is the Pouncing Game). There is a help screen where Timon describes the various features of the storybook.

Disney Software has both telephone and fax support lines (not 1-800 numbers) and maintains a bulletin board service for patch files, technical support bulletins, and product information. The Program Handbook also provides information on product support via various online services and the Internet. I initially experienced slight frustration when trying to exit the program since you are forced to watch the scrolling credits all the way to the end, but I discovered that the space bar will take you directly back to Windows. Summed up by Jennifer, "I think it's excellent!...it's fun to click on the pictures and watch them move...if you like the Lion King, you would like this program."

Bottom Line:  This is a captivating product for young children, and you'll probably enjoy it too (I did!). However, I expect that kids eight and up will tire of this product fairly quickly. If your child likes the Lion King movie and is seven or below, they'll have fun with Disney's Animated Storybook - The Lion King.

System Tested On:  IBM compatible PC (Gateway 2000) with a 80486-DX2 at 66 Mhz; MS DOS 6.2 & Windows for Workgroups 3.11; 8 Mb of RAM & 420 Mb hard drive; mouse

Minimum System:  IBM or 100% compatible PC (486-25 MHz or faster processor); Double-speed CD-ROM drive (minimum 300 KB transfer rate); 4 MB of RAM (8 MB recommended); 10 MB free disk space; SVGA 256-color graphics adapter and monitor; MS-DOS or PC-DOS version 5.0 or later (or MS Windows for Workgroups Ver. 3.1 or 3.11) with 256-color video driver; Microsoft-compatible mouse; Sound Blaster-compatible sound card (16-bit sound/44 Khz sampling required for songs).

Walt Disney Computer Software, Inc., 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA  91521