I don't hate it for its popularity. Beauty and the Beast is insanely popular, and I consider it my second favorite DAC, and one of my favorite films of all time. In fact, I don't HATE The Lion King at all. I think it's a pretty good film. Pretty good. But not quite great. Some of the writing in it comes off to me as heavy-handed. Like they were trying SO hard to make us appreciate it on an intellectual level. But those scenes, to me, come off as corny.
(The scene where Simba steps into Mufasa's pawprint. He's got some pretty big shoes to fill, eh?) I feel a scene like that kind of hits us over the head with what it's trying to say. And the same thing with the scene with Simba and Rafiki. "Going back means I'll have to confront my past! I've been running from it SO LONG..." I actually groaned out loud re-watching that scene in the theater this September. That smacks as terribly lazy writing to me. Now, Rafiki's end of that scene is pretty good: it wasn't flat-out stating what they were trying to say, it was a bit more subtle. And that made it all the more effective. "Oh, yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it. Or learn from it." That part works. The Simba bluntly stating the moral of the film in a groan-worthy sentence...yeah, I don't think that does.
And speaking of Simba: he's dull. As a kid, he's rambunctious and a little bit of a brat. He's kind of annoying, but, hey, that's a kid for you. He grows up and then he's whiny. I think having Matthew Broderick voicing this character really adds to my dislike him. Broderick's voice is too nasally. Too mousy. Simba, like Mufasa, should have sounded REGAL. He should sound majestic. I don't think Ferris Bueller is what springs to mind when you think King of the Jungle.
The Hyenas...I think they're too comical and that they aren't that menacing. I think a villain can be funny and menacing at the same time. (Ursula, Cruella, McLeach, Ratigan, Jafar) But here, that combination doesn't really work. It would have been cool if they were more like the Joker or something. Hyenas and their distinctive laughs...it could have worked like that. Funny in a very dangerous way. And I wish they would have worked more with the Hyenas having insane, terrifying laughs. (Though their first entrance in the film, coming out of the elephant skull is very nearly perfect. If only it'd have been maintained! Their puns are horrible...)
Simba and Nala...yeah, sorry, but I think theirs is the blandest, most unnecessary romance in the Disney canon. Okay, so, we need the "Circle of Life" to come full circle, (way to rip off Bambi, Lion King...) I'll give you that. But. I dunno. They could have done a much better job with it. She chases Pumbaa, she finds Simba is still alive, we get an insipid, uninspired love song, and then suddenly, they're arguing... I can tell this is a love meant to be.
Five minutes they've been romantic together and they're fighting. I think it's clunky. It doesn't come off as genuine and seems forced. There isn't any chemistry between the two of them. When I watch Jasmine and Aladdin interact, or Belle and the Beast, or Tarzan and Jane or Hercules and Meg, I believe in their romances. Simba's and Nala's come off as a mere plot device. Because, essentially, that's what it is: a way to get us to an ending that comes, hey presto, full circle.
Timon and Pumbaa...ugh. Just ugh. These two characters, to me, represent everything that is wrong with this film. Tonally, I mean. People always lob the criticism at Hunchback that it 'doesn't know what it wants to be' and 'throws in unnecessary comic relief' but I NEVER hear the same charge leveled at Lion King, and to me, LK is a much greater offender. The Gargoyles in Hunchback seem to be the most HATED characters in the entire Disney canon, in fact, anytime ANYONE mentions Hunchback, they can't help but spout out some iteration of, 'It'd be great, if it didn't have those gargoyles in it.' It always seemed weird to me. I always watched Hunchback and went, 'I honestly don't see what everybody hates about these characters. I cannot see any difference between them, the woodland critters in Snow, the mice in Cinderella, or Flounder, or Timon & Pumbaa.' They all are comic relief, but the Gargoyles get extra hate. I never understood it, because the Gargoyles, the worst thing they ever do is encourage Quasimodo. Meanwhile, Timon & Pumbaa advocate a SELFISH, detestable lifestyle and actually STRAY OUR HERO DOWN THE WRONG PATH IN LIFE. Everything else in the film SCREAMS at us that RUNNING AWAY FROM YOUR PROBLEMS IS BAD and YET Timon and Pumbaa personify that, and SING ITS VIRTUES in a catchy, toe-tapping musical number. At NO POINT IN THE FILM do Timon and Pumbaa have to acknowledge that Hakuna Mata is wrong. They never renounce it. But in the end are help up as heroes. And that's probably my biggest beef with this film: it isn't consistent. It wants to have a moral and it wants us to take it seriously, but these two characters completely refute everything else the film is trying to say. All that and I think they're crass and stupid and not funny at all. I don't think flatulence is cute, or endearing.
I love Scar and every scene he's in. I love Rafiki, but wish the film spent more time with him, and gave us some more insight into his character. I LOVE Be Prepared with a passion. Circle of Life is a great sequence. Mufasa is very believable and regal and majestic and his death is a great scene. Zazu works. Sarabi, Simba's mother, isn't given enough screen presence. I want to know how SHE deals with her husband's & son's deaths. That could have been just as emotional as the death of Mufasa. In fact, it could have been more heart-breaking. But, maybe that's just a nitpick.
All in all, the Lion King is a mixed bag for me. The animation, is, of course, beautiful however. No complaints there.
Fantasia is a lot better than Bambi.
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Seriously, if you haven't seen it since its first theatrical release nearly 16 years ago, you REALLY need to see it again. How old were you? I know alot of people who didn't like it when they were kids. It is a more 'adult' appealing film. (Though it was one of my favorites when I saw it as a kid. *shrug*)