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These things about ''[[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]'' are subjective - not everyone will agree with all of them.
== Movie ==
* [[Alternative Character Interpretation]]: There are more than a few people who view Scar as an [[Ambiguously Gay]] [[Depraved Homosexual]], due to his lack of a mate and somewhat effeminate manner. The Broadway play seems to play this up to extreme levels. Scar goes from scary angry dude to Paul Lynde turned psychopath, which is still scary but filled with [[Unfortunate Implications]].
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*** As for Timon and Pumbaa, they're just outcasts simply because they were a klutzy screwup and a guy with farting problems. Timon and Pumbaa go by the philosophy of "If your life used to suck, just move on and be merry". They probably thought Simba went through the same sort of thing. They had no idea he was a young prince with responsibilities. Simba, being [[Heroic BSOD|mentally scarred by his father's death]] and having been [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulated by Scar]] took their philosophy, and abused it to the point of shirking his responsibilities. Plus, a little bit of what Timon and Pumbaa had to offer was probably good for Simba at the time, considering before they found him he was a little kid drowning in guilt to the point of nearly letting himself die.
* [[And the Fandom Rejoiced]]: Lion King in 3D!
* [[
* [[Complete Monster]]: Scar is defined by his envy and hatred of his elder brother Mufasa. Hating that he isn't king, Scar hatches a scheme to remove Mufasa from the equation as well as Mufasa's young son Simba. When Scar's first attempt to murder Simba and his best friend Nala fails, Scar has his Hyena cohorts cause a stampede and personally throws Mufasa in to be trampled when he escapes it. He then convinces Simba the whole thing was his fault, convincing him to go into self imposed exile before ordering the hyenas to murder Simba anyways. Scar's incompetence as king leads to a famine, and when Simba returns, he sees Scar refuse to allow anyone to leave to go anywhere else, declaring "so be it" when Mufasa's widow Sarabi says he's condemning everyone to death. He proceeds to backhand her when she compares him unfavorably to Mufasa, and when he confronts Simba, Scar tries to break him by bringing up Mufasa's death. He only pauses in his attempt at a public execution to mock Simba with the knowledge that ''he'' was Mufasa's true murderer.
** To make things worse, Scar wanted the Hyenas to kill Simba after he'd just manipulated him into self-guilt. Just so that the guilt would be one of the last things Simba was feeling before he died. Tricking him into thinking it was his fault that his father died was all for his own pleasure, as were all the sick double-meaning phrases like 'Simba it's to die for'. He could have lied flat out and told him it was the best thing ever, but he came out with a sick 'not quite a lie' to make himself feel smarter than a cub barely a year old.
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** Shenzi and her pack. It sure doesn't hurt to have Whoopi Goldberg's talents.
* [[Dude, Not Funny]]: An in-universe variation. Banzai is complaining about his injuries after the hyenas' scuffle with Mufasa, and Ed ticks Banzai off because he ''won't stop laughing''.
{{quote|
''(Ed tries briefly to stop before bursting out again)''
'''Banzai:''' Hey, shut up! }}
** Related to that, when Banzai falls into the thorns, the other two laugh at him. When Banzai starts pulling them out, he spits a few into Ed's face. He doesn't dare spit any at Shenzi - she's his boss.
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* [[Furry Fandom]]: This movie is popular in it.
* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]:
{{quote|
'''Timon:''' Yeah?
'''Pumbaa:''' Ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?
'''Timon:''' Pumbaa, I don't wonder, I know.
'''Pumbaa:''' Oh. What are they?
'''Timon:''' They're [[The Princess and the Frog|fireflies. Fireflies that got stuck up in that]] [[Buffy-Speak|big bluish black thing]]. This was probably intentional considering the number of [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] in [[The Princess and the Frog|that film]]. }}
** Early in the film, Zazu joking says that Scar will "make a great throw rug". Three years later in ''[[Hercules (
* [[Internet Backdraft]]: Do '''not''' mention ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'' to any Lion King fans (And vice versa) due to the ongoing "debate" (IE:[[Flame War]]) as to whether or not Lion King ripped off Kimba.
** It's not a good idea to mention you don't like Scar.
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* [[Memetic Mutation]]: "Mu-fasa!" "Oooooh! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhZ0TKdgJGg&feature=related Do it again]."
** "Hakuna Matata" became a HUGE hit, with children singing it at school all over the world.
* [[Moral Event Horizon]]: Guess who provides the image for the [[Moral Event Horizon/Film/Animated
* [[Narm Charm]]: Some viewers thought the images of Mufasa in the sky were just ridiculously cheesy and goofy, especially in the sequel; others got a bit choked up, considering what a [[Tear Jerker]] both his death in the first film and his benediction to Simba when he took the throne were.
* [[Nightmare Fuel]]: [[The Lion King/Nightmare Fuel|Of course]].
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* [[They Copied It, So It Sucks]]: There is much controversy (READ: [[Flame War]]) over whether this film is a ripoff of ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'' or not.
** There are several differences, although there are many similarities. Here are the key differences in the narrative:
*** ''The Lion King'' lacks any human presence. In ''Kimba'', humans were often present [[Humans Are
*** In ''Kimba'', [[Big Bad|Claw]] is a rogue lion who wants to be king with two hyena minions, but is continually beaten down by Kimba after he attempts to take over the jungle when Hamegg kills Caesar. In ''The Lion King'', [[Captain Ersatz|Scar]] is Mufasa's treacherous brother with three named hyena minions and hundreds more nameless ones, so he hatches a plan to become king by organizing the death of Mufasa and Simba. [[Captain Obvious|He succeeds]] at killing Mufasa and scaring Simba away, and is a [[Magnificent Bastard|far]] more [[Complete Monster|effective]] villain than Claw was. In addition, the hyenas in The Lion King were originally planned as African Wild Dogs - they were presumably changed either because African wild dogs aren't as well known as [[The Hyena|hyenas]], or simply because hyenas [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?|look more "evil"]].
*** In ''The Lion King'', the circle of life is used to get around [[Carnivore Confusion]]. In ''Kimba'', Kimba decrees that the animals should only eat insects and plants and live in peace with each other; however, this causes quite a few problems, and Kimba has to learn the hard way that [[Knight in Sour Armor|Caesar]] was right about the animals.
*** ''The Lion King'' is about Simba accepting his responsibility as king in the archetypal [[
*** In ''Kimba'', both of Kimba's parents are dead and he more immediately becomes king. In ''The Lion King'', only his father is killed, and he blames himself for it, running away from his responsibility. His mother, Sarabi, lives to see his coronation.
*** Oh, and despite being [[Dueling Shows]], both are quite good on their own merits. It's best to think of the situation as being more like how ''[[The Magnificent Seven]]'' borrowed from ''[[The Seven Samurai]]'', even though ''The Magnificent Seven'' was more of a direct lift of ''The Seven Samurai'' than ''The Lion King'' was of ''Kimba''.
*** The most famous iteration of ''Kimba'' in the West, the anime made in the 1960s [[International Coproduction|with help from NBC]], also contains a lot more, ah... ''fantastical'' elements, such as [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|giant radioactive grasshoppers]] and unfrozen mammoths, and is far more comedic in tone than ''The Lion King'', while still being [[Darker and Edgier]] than its [[The Dark Age of Animation|Western contemporaries]]. The Lion King focuses more on heavier themes like guilt, the loss of a father/king, and accepting responsibility - it actually started a trend for Disney films to be [[Darker and Edgier]], in that its follow-ups, ''[[Pocahontas]]'', ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'', ''[[Mulan]]'' and ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]'' often dealt with much heavier themes such as racism and war to [[Your Mileage May Vary|variable success]]. However, The Lion King is STILL [[Lighter and Softer]] than the Kimba manga and later remakes of the series, which often edged into [[Bittersweet Ending|Bittersweet]] or even [[Downer Ending
*** For what it's worth, the film may have originally been planned as a ''Kimba'' remake - however, because the rights to Kimba are entangled with multiple companies, including [[NBC]] (as with many anime that have been dubbed - that's why ''[[Jump Ultimate Stars]]'' can't make it to US shores, due to the dubbing rights being split among Viz, [[FUNimation]] and 4Kids, among others), it simply wasn't possible to get the rights. Regardless, production was far enough along that it was likely too late to change things aside from the names and Simba's fur color - in addition, the film's development had a lot of cut characters who didn't correspond to Kimba's cast. As a matter of fact, there are still two characters in The Lion King who bare no resemblance to anyone in Kimba - [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Timon and Pumbaa]].
**** The smoking gun in favor of it being originally planned as a remake and having to be retooled? [[Osamu Tezuka]] himself [[Word of God|wanted to see]] Disney [[What Could Have Been|remake]] Kimba.
* [[Unfortunate Implications]]: "I Just Can't Wait to be King" is a song about [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|how much Simba wants to be king]]. How does one become king? By ascending the throne when the previous king dies. Simba is essentially singing about how he can't wait for his father to die so he can take his place. Which turns into [[Harsher in Hindsight]] when Mufasa ''does'' die.
* [[Unintentionally Sympathetic]]: Zazu, definitely.
** Being a kid, he probably thinks that his father would just give the throne to him when he's old enough.
* [[Weird Al Effect]]: Good luck to you trying to find anybody who knows the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" existed for over 30 years before this movie came out.
* [[Win the Crowd]]: If there was any doubt on how this film would do, the teaser using the entire "Circle of Life" sequence and the rapturous audience reaction to it settled them all.
** Disney briefly flirted with the idea of Re-Releasing ''Beauty and the Beast'' in 2010 as a 3D movie, but scrapped it. 2011, ''Lion King'' ended up getting the re-release to theaters and made well over $150 million. Disney is now planning to do the same type of re-releases with [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo, and Monster's Inc]].
* [[The Woobie]]: Most of the cast, obviously including main character Simba, are this at some point, but one nobody seems to realize is this is Zazu. Out of all the characters, he, from the start, seems to constantly have it pretty rough. He doesn't appear to have any true friends and the closest thing he has to one appears to treat him questionably; said friend ends up getting murdered. He’s constantly abused, which is almost always [[Played for Laughs]], and his situation just gets bleaker as the film continues. And finally, after all is said and done and all the rest of the surviving characters get the obvious happy ending they deserve, it’s still not clear if Zazu is respected or treated any better than he was at the start of the film.
** [[Jerkass Woobie]]: The hyenas are, perhaps, Woobie villains, as they're quite put-upon throughout the film and are more or less [[Punch Clock Villain
* [[Woolseyism]]: In the Spanish release of the film. In the scene where Banzai is kicked in the ribcage by Shenzie before he prounces the name of Mufasa again. In the original English dub he says "¿Qué pasa?", a Spanish line that means "What's up?". In the Spanish dub the line was dubbed as "¿Cón mostaza?" which means "With mustard?". This was likely done because of phonetic similarities.
** Likewise in the German dub he says "Mit Wasser?"<ref>
== Sequels ==
* [[Alas, Poor Villain]]: Doubles as a [[Tear Jerker]], you can't help it when {{spoiler|[["Well Done, Son" Guy|Nuka]] goes after Simba on the dam, whilst proclaiming "I'll do it for YOU MOTHER! -- I'll do it for you.. And I'll do it for ''me''!", and he inadvertedly gets dislodged, [[Disney Villain Death|falls]] and manages to ask [[Big Bad|Zira]] "I'm sorry mother... I... ''tried''..." causing Zira to go from [[My God, What Have I Done?]] to [[Never My Fault]] under three seconds flat.}}
** Even more so in the deleted extended version where {{spoiler|Nuka actually asks with his last breath if Zira is finally proud of him.}}
** Depending on how you view Zira's [[Freudian Excuse]] and how you view her [[Alternative Character Interpretation]], she may also qualify.
* [[Alternative Character Interpretation]]: Arguably the entire movie. Zira could be anything from a [[Jerkass Woobie]] to a [[Complete Monster]], depending on how you interpret her [[Freudian Excuse]].
* [[Awesome Music (Sugar Wiki)|Awesome Music]]: In ''1 1/2'', prarticularly at this moment, the music which plays when Simba takes the throne is still pretty damn cool. It even retains the African chanting!
** TLK 2's [[Villain Song]], "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xoDgbVdrj8 My Lullaby]" which is a blood-thirsty song devoted to a vendetta.
* [[Broken Base]]: To some, ''The Lion King II'' is a great extension of the series. To others, it's clunky and plothole-ridden.
* [[Canon Sue]]: Apparently, several years of more-or-less constant mental conditioning doesn't count for much when Kiara does her schpeil...
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* [[Fanon]]: Many speculate that Sarafina is the lioness who tells Kiara, "My, how you've grown!" at one point in the movie. This is otherwise unconfirmed, however.
** There's an ''extremely'' common fan theory that Zira's banishment was due to murdering Simba and Nala's first born cub, Kopa, who appeared in the ''Six New Adventures'' books (whose canon is disputed rather heavily). While this has never been confirmed, it would explain Simba being so (over)protective of Kiara...
* Fridge Logic: Practically the entire premise of Simba’s Pride.
** Where was Zira during the first movie? Or all the other lionesses that would become Outlanders?
** For that matter would ''any'' lioness (let alone roughly half of them) approve of Scar, who forced them to hunt for his hyena buddies, rendered the Pride Lands barren, and had doomed them to all die of starvation?
** Why doesn’t anyone bring up the fact that it was Scar who ''killed Mufasa'' and started the whole mess? Or the fact that it was actually the hyenas who killed Scar after he tried to sell them out?
** If Zira loved Scar so much, why did she have her first two children with him but mated with another lion that resulted in Kovu?
*** Why would Scar approve of Kovu, an unrelated cub, to be his successor? If Nuka wasn't good enough, why not try having another male cub of his own?
** Kovu is the same age as Kiara, who was born awhile after Simba became king. Yet Zira talks about how Scar had specifically selected Kovu to be his successor.
** With how much Zira wanted Kovu to be like Scar, one would think she would approve of Kovu committing fratricide.
* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]: ''Simba's Pride'' and ''[[Mulan]]'' came out the same year (1998) and in each there's a moment where Kiara and Mulan are not being listened to:
{{quote|
'''Timon:''' I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. Did you say something, princess? }}
▲{{quote| '''Mulan:''' (to Mushu) No one will listen.<br />
▲'''Mushu:''' I'm sorry, did you say something?<br />
'''Mulan:''' Mushu! }}
** [[Cam Clarke|Liquid]] [[Metal Gear|Snake]] is the one singing about how family is awesome in "We Are One".
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** In the same vein as [[Gargoyles|Demona]], Zira COULD be this, if you believe her [[Freudian Excuse]] and pity her enough for it.
* [[Magnificent Bitch]]: Zira, in ''Simba's Pride''.
* [[Moral Event Horizon]]: Zira
* [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]]: ''Lion King 1 1/2'' is noticeably told more from Timon's perspective than Pumbaa's (Possibly because Pumbaa's "origins" had already been touched upon in the original movie.)
* [[Tear Jerker]]: Many fans got misty eyed when Nuka died and during "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp_mXkoRzU0 Not One of Us]".
** From the growing-up montage in ''1 1/2'', [[Fridge Brilliance|once you realize]] it must have been referring to the stampede sequence and Mufasa's death:
{{quote|
* [[The Woobie]]: Kovu, particularly after his [[Heel Face Turn]], when both the Pridelanders and Outlanders distrust and exile him. Kiara and Kovu both arguably qualify as this, what with their respective parents' resentment towards their respective lovers, but Kovu especially. At least Kiara was a bit more respected within her own family, even if it didn't show.
** Also, Nuka, in particular for his last line;
{{quote|
== Video Games ==
* [[The Problem with Licensed Games]]: [[Averted]] with the console games; while they are [[Nintendo Hard|tough]], they're still solid games. Played straight with the NES and Game Boy ports of the games, which feel like lesser derivatives of the Genesis/Super Nintendo games; the former [[Obvious Beta|wasn't even finished]]!
* [[That One Level]]: The console game features a waterfall in the 'Hakuna Matata' level that is a ''real'' pain in the butt to climb. There's also the very annoying puzzles with the monkeys in level 2 and the tricky ostrich rides between them.
== Lion Guard ==
* [[Periphery Demographic]]: It isn’t wrong to like the show if you’re not a toddler, considering how true it is to the source material. And Scar is every bit as evil as before (more or less) despite the horror being toned down to an extent from the films overall.
== Stage Musical ==
* [[Awesome Music]]: Songs not from the movie like "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1lSvvubI6M Endless Night]", "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0xU6Pu3ifw Shadowland]", and the musical's take on "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2OmNwx61Lc&feature=relmfu They Live In You]"/"[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=337-X4msyFY He Lives In You]" stand out, as do its takes on "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYGFqF80gCE Can You Feel the Love Tonight]", "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrvE4MufZ9c The Circle of Life]", "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeOfg3yiQzE Hakuna Matata]" and "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj8pG71NPi8 I Just Can't Wait to be King]". "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUA6rvPnigs Be Prepared]" is also quite good, but it naturally falls short of the sheer badass [[Jeremy Irons]] and [[Jim Cummings]] brought to the song.
* [[Complete Monster]]: Scar commits the same crimes that his movie counterpart did and goes beyond that. During the musical, Scar became more and more paranoid as time went by and he also felt that he was being tormented by his older brother even in death. Unwilling to admit that he was terrible at governing the Pride Lands, he instead condemns all his subjects to death so that he wouldn't have to accept that maybe he wasn't as good at being a king that he thought he would be. He also attempted to force himself onto Nala (a scene cut from the film), which becomes even more disturbing in hindsight considering that he tried to have her killed along with his nephew when they were children. Scar is ultimately no more than an egotistical, treacherous, and murderous feline.
* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]: "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh8M8x_0Qp0 The Madness of King Scar]", in light of the plot of the animated sequel that was released a year after the musical premiered.
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