The official "Lion King is overrated" thread.

[HarryCanyon]

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but i personally think this movie is NOT the greatest disney movie ever or THE BEST movie ever! it's good but i prefer Kimba over it including Aladdin, Emperor's New Groove, Pinocchio, Mulan etc.

[pap64]

Um, I don't know whose bubble you are bursting since there are many members here who will agree with you in that Lion King isn't that great of a movie.

Second, I know you are a newbie to the site, but there are several threads dedicated to the Lion King, which CAN be used to post an opposite opinion of the thread.

I hate to say this, but this comes off as a troll thread rather than a genuine attempt to start a discussion.

[Marky_198]

I think the Lion King is underrated.

It's the one film where all of the characters are completely on-model all the time.

The animation is stunning. The story is great. The music is great.
And it's the only classic that made me cry.

[TheValentineBros]

I only seen the Confused Matthew review of The Lion King, which he hates the movie.

[Heil Donald Duck]

Lion Kings only starts to get good when Timion and Pumbaa arrives.

[PixarFan2006]

I think The Lion King is good, but I do not consider it to be one of my top five favorite Disney movies.

[stitchje1981]

I think the Lion King is underrated.

It's the one film where all of the characters are completely on-model all the time.

The animation is stunning. The story is great. The music is great.
And it's the only classic that made me cry.

Same here Marky_198

I totally agree with you: the plot, the music, the crying and the animation
Especially Scar is awesome ( mostly 'cause it's drawn by Andreas Deja, I LOVE his work ) and young Simba (Mark Henn if I'm not mistaken)

[Scarred4life]

The animation, the music, and Scar are the three good things about this film.

[Atlantica]

I must say, I do agree with the fact that The Lion King is over rated as a movie. It seems to me that it is always held up the Beauty and the Beast as being THE ULTIMATE Disney movie. When in fact, it does nothing for me really. Even as a kid, I wasnt as moved by it as everyone else seemed to be ...

But I can totally get why others love it, and quite rightly so; its just never touched my heart particularly.

[Super Aurora]

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but i personally think this movie is NOT the greatest disney movie ever or THE BEST movie ever! it's good but i prefer Kimba over it including Aladdin, Emperor's New Groove, Pinocchio, Mulan etc.

You're overrated.

[PheR]

I've seen this only in Disney forums, and I think I know why. Most disney fans are Menken-Romance-Human-Princess formula fans, and of course TLK does not fit in this. But regular people (as in 'Not Disney fans') are not necessarily fans of that canon, that's why it is the most successful one, because it appealed to more people, most people wouldn't think Pocahontas is better, Disney fans do.

[RyGuy]

Most disney fans are Menken-Romance-Human-Princess formula fans

Guilty as charged, but I think TLK is significantly better than Pocahontas.

[stitchje1981]

I think TLK is significantly better than Pocahontas.

So do I!!!

[Tristy]

I still like Lion King and when I was young I absolutely loved it. But that got kind of tainted. Because after going into classes it's almost unavoidable to hear "I just can't Wait to be King" being sung or saying "Lion king is my favorite Disney movie." I do agree with the Nostalgia Critic about Scar. Even though he is kinda cool, he gets a little silly acting towards the end. (Sorry. That's just my opinion as well as his.)

I kinda feel the same way about Little Mermaid to be honest.

[Scarred4life]

I must say, I do agree with the fact that The Lion King is over rated as a movie. It seems to me that it is always held up the Beauty and the Beast as being THE ULTIMATE Disney movie. When in fact, it does nothing for me really. Even as a kid, I wasnt as moved by it as everyone else seemed to be ...

Exactly.

[jpanimation]

It's the one film where all of the characters are completely on-model all the time.

Are you sure about that? It seems to me like all the films after Beauty and the Beast have been pretty good at keeping the characters on-model and the animators have impressed me with even the "throwaway" scenes.

Anyways, The Lion King is indeed overrated. I'm not sure why everyone who's not a Disney fan seems to lump Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King together as the best they have to offer. They're not even in my top 5 DACs.

With that said, I still enjoy it immensely. I love the characters, the music, the art, and still find the animation as something to marvel at. It's just the ending pisses me off more then any other part, with just one cliché after another (the final showdown at the end that just happens to include all the sidekicks, lightning strikes to start dramatic fire, and rain starts right after Scar's death to put out fire).

[pap64]

I think its because both Beauty and the Beast and Lion King achieved mainstream success beyond the Disney fanbase and families. I mean, I remember when I was a kid I went to see Lion King in theaters with my parents, and I remember when the movie was over the adults were just as giddy, if not more, as the kids, talking about how the music left an impact and how they loved the characters and story.

I mean, both it and Beauty and the Beast were constant targets on the Animaniacs, and everyone kept referencing each movie in their own way.

I realize that this can be seen as a stretch since technically "The Little Mermaid" also achieved mainstream success, but it isn't as revered as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. I mean, even people that hate Disney seem to love both movies.

Every time something gains mainstream success it quickly becomes overrated, because pop culture feeds off it and creates a phenomenon that is better than the product itself. It happened with Lion King, it happened with Titanic and its happening with Avatar.

[UmbrellaFish]

I haven't seen TLK in years.

I know that I have, in the past, deemed it over-rated, and perhaps it is because everyone here seems to think so, but now I have a feeling I might like it more. I don't know why, but I think now that I can appreciate the actual art of animation, and the music in the film, more so than I ever could as a young child, I think I'd be better able to absorb the movie. And also because I want to know if Scar will still scare the bejeezus out of me.

[pap64]

Since Umbrellafish brought it up, I might as well post my experience with the movie.

I admit that I have very personal memories with this movie. Like I just said, I saw this movie in theaters back in 1994. It was also THE FIRST animated Disney film I saw in theaters and it was a magnificent childhood event. Ironically, I was in that phase where I was beginning to "grow up" but didn't want to leave my childhood stuff behind. So, I almost avoided animated movies because they were deemed as childish, focused more on video games and other older kid activities. I avoided the Lion King hype for a while until at summer camp my best friend and the other kids kept talking about how amazing Lion King was.

I told my parents how much I wanted to see this movie because everyone had loved it, so one weekend we went to see it and it was AMAZING. The theater was packed with people, everything from kids to adults, and we got lucky too since the show had sold out. Like I explained earlier, when the movie was over everyone was very happy. I would say that this was my first event movie ever. Like, I missed out on Star Wars when it came out, but I think I now understand the euphoria kids experienced when Star Wars came out and saw it. Yes, I am comparing Lion King to Star Wars but that's how much of an impact the movie left in me and my friends.

I was so obsessed with The Lion King that I started collecting everything related to it, including coloring books, Happy Meal Toys and even doing summer camp projects related to it. That Christmas the Lion King VHS was my most desired present, and when I got it I was ecstatic. I didn't own a lot of movies back then, so it quickly became my most priced possession.

Then in 2003 when the Platinum DVD came out I was extremely excited for it, especially since at the time I had fully accepted my love of Disney and just kept re-watching all of my favorite Disney movies and discovering new ones as well. So I rented the DVD, saw the movie and... I wasn't that enthralled by it.

I blame this on the fact that I saw the movie so much that it wasn't that special anymore, but I didn't feel the emotion I had when I saw it in my younger days. Sure I liked it and I still got chills from watching certain scenes, but I wasn't crazy about it.

And this was the first time this had happened. I was very happy when Beauty and the Beast came out and loved that to pieces, then Snow White gave me a whole new appreciation towards it and Disney animation, it was an amazing feeling finding these classics that still held up on DVD. With Lion King... the magic just wasn't there.

Now, I haven't seen the movie in years, but I still love a lot of parts about it, especially the music (which is beautiful, and when Simba climbs up Pride Rock I get mad chills). It just isn't THE best animated film. That honor goes to Ratatouille since that spoke in droves about themes of dreams and goals.

Hope you guys enjoyed my story!

[rodis]

I think its because both Beauty and the Beast and Lion King achieved mainstream success beyond the Disney fanbase and families. I mean, I remember when I was a kid I went to see Lion King in theaters with my parents, and I remember when the movie was over the adults were just as giddy, if not more, as the kids, talking about how the music left an impact and how they loved the characters and story.

I mean, both it and Beauty and the Beast were constant targets on the Animaniacs, and everyone kept referencing each movie in their own way.

I realize that this can be seen as a stretch since technically "The Little Mermaid" also achieved mainstream success, but it isn't as revered as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. I mean, even people that hate Disney seem to love both movies.

They all achieved wide mainstream success, it's just that BATB and TLK are the more mature of the bunch, but still have that kiddie appeal (unlike Pocahontas and THOND).