Top 10 Reasons Why The Lion King Does Not Deserve the Praise It Gets

I love hyenas and have been researching them for a while. I hate when Mufasa says to Simba, "Respect all creatures," and yet they push the hyenas into the Elephant Graveyard. Respect all creatures, my ass.

It disgusts me that Disney brought the stereotypes about hyenas to life, making those untrue "facts" known worldwide. First of all, they made the hyenas seem stupid and cowardly. Hyenas are one of the most intelligent animals in the world. In fact, they are on par with primates. They are actually known for being brave if you read actual documents about them. They chase larger predators away, such as leopards and even lions. So, if hyenas actually face lions to chase them, would you call that cowardly?

The only thing they got right was Shenzi (being a female) as the leader of the hyena clan. Spotted hyenas are matriarchal in real life.

Yup! It is 100% clearly ripped off from Kimba in many ways. But what angers me the most is that Disney tried to call it their own original idea when that is clearly not true! They even waited for the creator of Kimba to die to start making the movie. How immoral is that!

They refuse to give Kimba any recognition for inspiring the movie and flat out lied, calling it *their* original idea. I have no respect for a movie that clearly ripped off something else, and what it was inspired by got no recognition. Lion Kong = Worst Disney movie ever.

I think "The Lion King" is a 36/100 in my book. But don't get me started on Mufasa, who is probably the most overrated Disney character. In my opinion, Mufasa is the worst Disney character ever. He's strict, mean, demanding, etc.

When Scar was too sad to go to the presentation of Simba, Mufasa just yelled at him. While attending presentations is important, a sad mood would likely affect everyone negatively. Instead of asking, "Hey, what's wrong, brother?" Mufasa just shouts at him. Worst of all, Zazu made a mean joke about Scar, and Mufasa just laughs. This doesn't justify Scar killing Mufasa, but Mufasa certainly deserves criticism.

Mufasa even uses Zazu, his friend, as a prop for Simba. So, he's not only a bad brother but also a bad friend. When Zazu reports that there are hyenas in the Pride Lands, Mufasa decides to kick them out. The hyena territory has no food or water, and they will definitely die from starvation and thirst.

Mufasa even lies to the other animals and his son about the circle of life, saying, "When we die, our bodies turn into the grass, and the gazelles and wildebeest eat the grass." While it's true that lions mainly eat gazelles and wildebeest, and those animals eat grass, there's no need to lie about becoming their food later. Moreover, Mufasa died in a place with no grass at all, just a lone acacia tree. The two strongest animals in Africa, the Masai giraffe and the African bush elephant, eat acacia leaves, but Mufasa's prey don't. So, Mufasa is also a bad king.

After Mufasa saves Simba and Nala from the hyenas, he doesn't even ask Simba why he went there in the first place. He just says, "You deliberately disobeyed me," even though Scar tricked Simba into going. If Mufasa had asked, Simba could have explained that it was an accident and he never meant to cause any trouble. Mufasa would then most likely apologize to his son for being tricked and warn him that Scar is not to be trusted. This scenario would have... more

I'll admit that it was sad to see Simba lose his dad and that my favorite Disney character died, but we knew Mufasa for like half an hour. We knew Kokichi for five whole chapters in Danganronpa V3 (there are six chapters in total), which is the equivalent of 10+ hours!

While Mufasa did save Simba from a stampede, Kokichi literally (tried to) save EVERYONE by lying about the Killing Game! As he stated, "That was a lie, obviously... How can something you're being forced to play... be fun?" He "told the truth" about enjoying the game, and then before he died, he straight-up lied to save everyone by saying that the game was torture.

I understand if you feel upset about Mufasa's death, but that was nothing compared to what Kokichi did before he died. And yes, even Bambi's mom's death was sadder. Mufasa's death was sad, but compare that to Kokichi's death and see how you think. Please respect my opinion. If you have any thoughts about this, let me know! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I could've fallen asleep if my eyes weren't itching up a storm. I don't understand why people say it's the best. It's boring and unoriginal. I wouldn't watch it if it were the only thing on TV.

Yep, totally! Horrible and non-realistic.

Many claim they're the best songs in any Disney film, but they aren't. Examples:

"Circle of Life" just encourages everyone to follow the same old "when you're older, you have to get laid, get married and have children. When you grow old, you die. That's just the way it is" rule, in which not everyone wants to get laid or have children, for crying out loud.

"I Just Can't Wait To Be King" is about abusing your power. It is annoying and a pain to listen to, if you ask me.

"Be Prepared" is praised by fans to the point that it's much more overrated than "Let It Go." It even has a Nazi reference because of how the hyenas goose-step while marching. How horrible is that?

"Hakuna Matata" has no moral value whatsoever. It's like, "No worries! Forget the death of your family member and move on. Eat like us and enjoy our farts!" You get the point.

"Can You Feel The Love Tonight" is just a sappy ripoff of either "Bella Notte" or *barf* "Some Day My Prince Will Come." Nothing more.

Not only were hyenas still villains in this, but Disney also made the black-backed jackals villains, too! Those puppies were so cute! They strongly resembled Chihuahuas, and Disney must have forgotten they made the Beverly Hills Chihuahua franchise!

How mean of Disney, first they honor these cute dog breeds with their own movie franchise, but then they antagonize their wild counterparts in the TLK franchise!

It should've never been made, and it sucked big time. I fear it may give kids the wrong message about African wildlife by portraying hyenas as bad animals (despite having one good one in the show), while all the other animals are depicted as good.

There have to be movies that people like better than The Lion King. Heck, perhaps I could go as far as to say that ALL other movies are better than The Lion King, even the cruddy ones. There are plenty of alternatives out there.

I know. Much better movies than The Lion King are The Shawshank Redemption, The Avengers, Megamind, Surf's Up, Ice Age, Big Hero 6, Saving Private Ryan, Aladdin, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, Punch-Drunk Love, An American Tail, Aardman movies, and Citizen Kane. Tell me why you think so.

Nala may have been "strong" as a cub when she wrestled Simba to the Elephant Graveyard, but then she becomes a wuss as an adult, as she and the other lionesses were unable to fight Scar until Simba comes and joins them in the fight.

Like goose-stepping Nazi hyenas...

Fun fact: If the movie was made in the 21st century, it would have been rated PG!

Alright, so adults scold kids because they say they hate adults' movies, but adults can talk trash about kids' movies all they like. Such a good attitude.

Believe it or not, this is one of the reasons why the movie is bad. In order to be a "hero," you have to follow this piece of crud known as "the Circle of Life," which just... What the--? It seems that Mufasa's words are nothing more than a way to justify being a murderer.

The exchange isn't really "balanced," for one thing. How many antelope and other herbivores have died compared to a lion or other predator passing from old age? And why would animals accept a killer as their king? Are we to just believe that all the non-predators who watch their kind be slain and mauled by Simba and his lions just say, "Well, that's the Circle of Life?" Even if it's a mother antelope or some other herbivore watching their child die? Hey, if some world leader wanted to shoot your children, you would one hundred percent not just give them up without a fight. I find that to be very cruel, and no bodies become grass, so why bother? I just think that the "Circle of Life" is filled with lies that nobody knows.

The non-Disney animated movie that I worry about more than the rest is Balto because people constantly compare it to The Lion King too much and even think of it as a ripoff of TLK when it isn't.

Balto's characters are not the same as those of The Lion King. And just don't get me started on the sequels, as they were only made to cash in on the success of the first movie.

Balto is also mistaken for a Disney film when it's not that, either. Balto was made by Universal and Amblimation, by the way.

Did you know that The Shawshank Redemption, the classic that is seen as one of the best films ever made, tanked at the box office? Instead, this feature was literally everywhere that year. Really?

Well, if you think of it, TLK is a lot darker and edgier than the other Disney animated films during that time period. It features a lot more drama than most of the other films, is a lot more violent, and introduces the first character ever to fart in the Disney animated canon (Pumbaa).

The list keeps going on and on. Many people on the Internet have written essays on The Lion King and other films many times, in case you'd like to know more.

In the past, the Disney company and the films they made were supposed to be all family-friendly and conservative, setting new standards for most non-Disney studios to be inspired by, but not anymore thanks to The Lion King.

It made everything worse, much worse, to the point that it is no longer acceptable.

I always thought Zira was a more menacing villain, like AniMat, according to his list of "Top 10 Best Animated Sequels." I've seen way worse Disney movies than The Lion King (not that this trilogy is a masterpiece, but I give it a 4/5 for trying).

Some examples are Mr. Magoo, some Disney Channel Original Movies (such as Zapped!, Girl vs. Monster, Teen Beach Movie, and Return to Halloweentown), Strange Magic, Home on the Range, Doug's 1st Movie, Disney Junior movies, Chicken Little, Frozen, straight-to-video Disney sequels (especially Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, and Mulan II), and Miley Cyrus movies.

True, true. (And this is coming from someone who is not even a Disney fan.)

I like the moral, but it doesn't do anything with it until the middle, and the execution is poorly constructed. Check out NC's review for more information on this if you don't understand.

Enough with the clichés already.

I know this is a Disney animated movie and the characters are all fictional, but it is still true that Disney animators tried to make the animals look realistic, even bringing real animals to the studio and going to various zoos and wildlife parks as a reference. People think the characters act true to their real species because of this, but they're just fictional characters.

It is a problem when people think every lion in the world is like Simba or Mufasa, or that every hyena is like Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, for example, when that is not true at all. In fact, the villainous hyenas are such a bad representation of their species that a hyena biologist tried to sue Disney because of this, and another encouraged audiences to boycott the movie.

I find it completely unfair to say that this movie is better than Spiderverse. On what level? That movie is more adult, has a similar moral, looks ten times better, and is more iconic. What made The Lion King earn the praise it got?

Not everyone is going to love the movie, so people have every right to hate it as much as its fans love it.

Mufasa told Simba to respect all creatures? All we got is that when hyenas came to the Pride Lands, Mufasa rushed out and forced them into a ghetto where they starve for no reason. I wouldn't want anyone treating me like that.

One may argue, "The hyenas are the bad guys," but Simba and Mufasa forced the WHOLE species to live in the ghetto called the "Outlands" or "Elephant Graveyard" or whatnot, and not just the evil hyena characters. Even when the new spinoff The Lion Guard introduced the so-called good hyena Jasiri, she still lives in the same ghetto as the evil hyenas. This shows that Simba and the rest of the Pride-landers are prejudiced against hyenas no matter what, just for being hyenas. It's like the Pride Lands is home to all the bullies of the African savannah.

The same thing can be said about leopards, since the leopards in The Lion Guard live somewhere outside the Pride Lands. But unlike hyenas, leopards aren't as discriminated against. I wonder why? It's probably because of this phrase from the song Circle of Life: "A lion and a leopard come to this open place./Ingonyama nengw' enamabala." Hmmm...

Very true. The Lion King is one of, if not the most, controversial Disney movies ever.

You never learn much about any of them, or at least not enough to care.