The Lion King/Awesome

""It is time!""
 * Lion King in 3D!
 * It's exactly as amazing as it sounds. Actually, probably more amazing than it sounds.
 * One thing that made it so cool was the amount of scenes with something coming at the screen...with teeth bared.
 * Perhaps as a testament to the popularity of the film, it outgrossed every competing film two weeks in a row and is the highest grossing re-release since the original Star Wars was re-released in 1997. In fact, Lion King was grossing so much that theaters decided to extend the limited release, even after ads for the home video re-release started airing.
 * Rafiki going Screaming Mandrill Fu on some hyenas.
 * Rafiki gets an earlier and subtle one - he's a shaman, after all, and had to have been rolling the bones for quite some time after Scar took over. He no doubt got all kinds of confusing signs, since, Simba's dead. But then one day, the tea leaves tell him - in no uncertain terms - Simba's alive and grown up. And all of those previous confusing signs suddenly make sense.

"Scar: What are you going to do? You wouldn't kill your own uncle. Simba: No, Scar. I'm not like you."
 * Mufasa leaping out of a stampede to climb a sheer cliff after saving Simba.
 * THEY CALL ME MR. PIG! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
 * Half CMOA and half Crowning Moment of Funny!
 * Or when Simba has Scar cornered after learning the truth about what happened during the stampede...

"Scar: Ah, my friends. Shenzi: Friends?? I thought he said we were the enemy??"
 * He then proceeds to hit Scar with the same line Scar had used to banish him years before. The Oh Crap look on Scar's face just sells it.
 * Or later on, when Scar turns to the hyenas for help after trying to blame them for everything.


 * If you thought that Ed was just the comic relief hyena with no chance at being intimidating, his snister chuckle, which is very much the death knell for Scar, will prove you wrong.
 * Say what you want, the fact that Scar's plan actually succeeds is a pretty awesome achievement on his part, and grants him the status of one of the most successful, if not the most successful Disney villain. It's likely one of the reasons for his sizeable fanbase.
 * [WhamLine: Long. Live the King!]
 * The film's final scene. After living in exile since he was a cub, a grown Simba finally overcomes his guilt for his role in his father's death and returns to the Pride Lands. After discovering that it was actually Scar who was responsible all along, he removes Scar from power and takes his rightful place as king. He makes his majestic final ascent of Pride Rock, in the rain, accompanied by Hans Zimmer's "King of Pride Rock". As he stands at the peak with lingering uncertainty over his new rule, he hears the voice of his father one more time: "Remember." Smiling with new confidence, Simba issues a proud roar that echoes across the land. It's more than just a MOA for the movie; it's a MOA for Disney Animated Canon in general.
 * For that matter, the opening sequence, "Circle of Life" is a Moment of Awesome for the bloody movie. If one character had to be placed as MOA recipient, it has to be Rafiki, but that whole sequence just leaves the jaw agape Every. Single. Time. Disney's first trailer for this film was no more than this sequence!
 * Senshi Sun raises you one president of the USA.
 * The fight between Simba and Scar, complete with a majestic version of the music that plays when Mufasa shows Simba the kingdom. (Which is not included on the official soundtrack, damnit.) More importantly, it clearly shows that Simba fights in a distinctive way from his father, in a cooler, more cerebral way.
 * To put this scene in perspective. You have two Lions battling each other for the Crown, atop of a fiery mountain while lightning blazes in the background.
 * There's a reason it's the trope image for Battle Amongst the Flames.
 * "Run. Run away, Scar. And never return."
 * Mufasa's head appearing in the clouds to give Simba confidence.
 * Bowling for Hyenas
 * Mufasa telling the hyenas in no uncertain terms that if they mess with his kid again, he will END them (also comes with a little bit of a Funny Moments). His perfectly timed arrival: Simba tries to scare the hyenas off with a roar, but it's a "rather uninspiring thing". The hyenas smirk and dare him to give it another crack. He takes another deep breath-and what seems to come out is the THUNDER of one VERY angry adult lion. The hyenas have just enough time to Oh Crap before Mufasa's Big Damn Heroes arrival is clear.
 * The Stampede was many many...many things...but the animation to do all that...simply SPECTACULAR! For one thing it marked a milestone in animated filmmaking as the first time computer generated animation was used heavily across a sequence. But more than that, the technical side isn't what people remember about the scene: all they remember is the incredible emotion it's imbued with.
 * The soundtrack for that scene.
 * The entire soundtrack is amazing
 * "Be Prepared". Yes, the part where the hyenas are Putting on the Reich may be a bit disturbing, but you have to admit it's one of the most bad-ass Villain Songs of all time.
 * Also, Simba's mother Sarabi gains one when she coldly and proudly walks down the hyena gauntlet.. Even their attempt to bait her by snapping at her haunch doesn't faze her one bit. Unflinching Walk indeed.
 * The fact that the beginning and ending of the movie was pretty much the same. Think about it. Rafiki holding up the new cup, animals rejoicing, the proud father and mother...
 * "MURDERER!!!!!
 * "So they can hear you."

The Lion King II

 * Kovu standing up to his mother and declaring he wants nothing more to do with the Cult of Scar.
 * Kiara standing up to her father, Simba, saying five words: "You will never be Mufasa!"
 * Kiara saving Simba from Zira's last attack, indirectly causing her Disney Villain Death.
 * "One of Us" is just... so primal in its expression of hatred and the casting-out of someone.

Stage Musical

 * Most of the crowning moments from the first film are cleverly symbolically shown in the musical. A few of the results potentially upstage the film:
 * If you thought "The Circle of Life" was a Moment of Awesome for the original film version of The Lion King, just wait until you see it live.
 * They found a way to have several actors appear from the crowds holding props that, together, materialized a full-scale African elephant which walked convincingly onto the stage! It always gets applause. Julie Taymor remembers this as one of the crowning achievements.
 * The Wildebeast stampede is completely on-stage, using a combination of a projected background of Afro-styled art depictions of them, along with a full group of costumes and some clever use of the rotating sets.
 * The use of full-human actors with distinctive facepaint for the lions allows fight scenes to be very distinctive - Your Mileage May Vary on which is better.
 * When Mufasa appears in the clouds to give Simba confidence, Mufasa's face is a gigantic prop that manages to shimmer into place from out of nowhere, larger than most of the entire sets of the show. This, accompanied by a chorus on-stage in the corners, gives the biggest chills in the show along with the Circle of Life opening.
 * Meta: While this is a highly personal one for Alaskan troper musical fans, this particular show was not built for two-thousand-seat facilities, nor for circular arenas - eliminating the two major performance spaces in the city (the Atwood Concert Hall and the Sullivan Arena). When local TV celebrity John Carpenter wanted to make it happen, he had to convince the city to let the show's producers massively modify the Atwood, taking out significant amounts of the sound-direction paneling to add two platforms for drum sets, taking out two columns of seats for specific moments where actors and/or gigantic costume animals ran through the aisles, and making sure that support actors could easily get up to higher levels in the audience; combined with a few precision tweaks to the show, the entire thing managed to run to two weeks of non-stop sold-out shows - a record for both that particular tour that far (this was 2009, ten years after the musical started) and for any multi-show event in Alaskan history - along with possibly one of the strongest performances the musical ever saw due to its more intimate audience.
 * Child Simba leaves during Hakuna Matata running offstage. ADULT SIMBA TARZAN SWINGS IN, SINGING THE SONG CALMLY THE ENTIRE TIME.