And it's not just giraffes. There are gazelles, cheetahs, even elephants and of course lions—all courtesy of the remarkable visual imagination of Julie Taymor, Lion King's director and so much more. You see, Taymor also designed the costumes and (with Michael Curry) the astonishing masks and puppets that are the basis of Lion King's visual world. Let me reiterate what many have already said—you will be simply knocked out by what Taymor does, as she creates creatures that are at once animal, human and iconic. In critic's school, they teach us never to use the word "genius"—but what Taymor does here is the closest thing to it.

The collaboration of the cerebral, lofty Taymor with the (well, not cerebral or lofty) Disney corporation must surely be one of the oddest artistic marriages made in heaven. But here it produces amazing, almost entirely triumphant results.

Almost. Ultimately, Lion King remains a Disney product, its source still the mawkish movie. Taymor may bring unconventional beauty to the stage, but even she cannot completely overcome the by-the-numbers, studio-backlot feel of a book crammed with Borscht-Belt jokes, a family-values theme (Lion King is a triumph of goodness, patriarchy and a balanced diet) and a treacly score by Elton John and Tim Rice. (Some additional music by Lebo M and Hans Zimmer is happily more authentic and classier.)

I should report that Lion King fares very well in its opulent Philadelphia incarnation. The cast is fully up to every challenge, especially L. Steven Taylor (Mufasa, the father-king), Chaunteé Schuler (Nala, the love interest) and the clarion-voiced Phindile Mkhize (Rafiki, who serves a double-function as narrator and a kind of prophetess).

No doubt about it—Lion King is a must-see (and those interested in the art of theater design will want to see it multiple times). Taymor's work belongs in the pantheon of Broadway's finest. But if I told you the whole show was equal to her conception—well, I'd be lion.

THE LION KING Through Sept. 10, Cadillac Broadway at the Academy, Academy of Music, Broad and Locust sts., 215-893-1955