To those that "hate" TLG, and what i think about it

[gothprincesskiara]

point is they need to at least give the first season a chance before they make a final and honest opinion about it

[TheLionPrince]

Okay, here's my two pieces on it.

The Lion King was always a film that could appeal to both adults and children. Brenda Chapman (story supervisor) or Lisa Keene (visual development artist) stated in the 2003 Platinum Edition bonus features that TLK was one of the films that helped Disney animated films to stop "being children's entertainment, and became just entertainment". I felt Simba's Pride continued that tradition. The Lion King 1½ feels like it was made for children, which is probably why it doesn't hold up as well as the first two movies did. The Lion Guard again is exclusively made for the pre-school audience with little to no adult appeal to older fans. I acknowledge that Ford Riley and his team have a target audience, but they could have took a page from the Toy Story 3 handbook and make a television movie and series that has cross-over appeal with adults. Even Sesame Street that is also targeted at the preschool crowd has adult appeal with their parody skits of popular media for the last forty-five years.

Nevertheless, my argument may be premature and the following series could appeal to us older fans, but what's done is done, and I will give it a chance before I decide if I want to continue watching or not.

My second reason is that the idea behind the Lion Guard doesn't mesh well with what has been established in the previous films. Scar would be banished for abusing his powers for evil, and it makes no sense how Mufasa never connected the disappearance of Scar's "roar of the elders" with the disappearance/murder of the male lions in his pride (it is never told if he did or not). However, if the commoner animals have heard rumors of Scar's abuse, why didn't they alert Mufasa about it? It's established that there is a shared mutal respect between the king and the animals. And it is annoying how what was established in Simba's Pride was ignored. With the rise of Zira and the Outsiders on the horizon, there has a good explanation why the Lion Guard weren't around when they invaded the Pride Lands at the end.

Lastly, Simba is a pretty take-charge father, and he ran at the sight and thought of Kiara being the danger when there was an erupting flame during her first hunt and when Kiara was hanging on the edge of the cliff towards the end after she tackled Zira. Here, he stood by and let the Lion Guard do all the work (which of course was necessary for the storyline).

And as far as I'm concerned, Don Hahn still works at Disney; he is producing the upcoming remake of Beauty and the Beast. He even introduced Ford Riley at the Disney D23 Expo so it leads to me to think he was aware it was being made. And I can live without the original filmmakers' involvement. Simba's Pride didn't have the involvement of the Allers-Minkoff-Hahn team, and it holds up just fine. 1½ had Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi's involvement, and I like that film the least of the two. The new filmmakers just need to respect the canon material and do it justice. It's all I'm asking.

[KentuckyWildcat]

I don't hate TLG, but I do agree with Gyramuur and TheLionPrince here. What made TLK a classic that we're still discussing on a forum 20 years later was its willingness to tackle very serious topics while not being so heavy-handed in its treatment of them that it alienated younger audiences. It had almost universal appeal as a result.

Now, while writing on the same level as the original film is probably too much to ask for a TV series, I felt like TLG was missing that element almost entirely. It mostly stayed safely within "kids show" tropes with very little other than a few previously established characters to set it apart. I would even go so far as to say it was largely forgettable. It's not bad when judged purely as a diversion for younger audiences, but unless the regular episodes are a big step up from the premiere, I certainly don't blame older viewers such as myself for being uninterested either.

[Squeely]

I don't hate TLG, but I do agree with Gyramuur and TheLionPrince here. What made TLK a classic that we're still discussing on a forum 20 years later was its willingness to tackle very serious topics while not being so heavy-handed in its treatment of them that it alienated younger audiences. It had almost universal appeal as a result.

Now, while writing on the same level as the original film is probably too much to ask for a TV series, I felt like TLG was missing that element almost entirely. It mostly stayed safely within "kids show" tropes with very little other than a few previously established characters to set it apart. I would even go so far as to say it was largely forgettable. It's not bad when judged purely as a diversion for younger audiences, but unless the regular episodes are a big step up from the premiere, I certainly don't blame older viewers such as myself for being uninterested either.

Now this is the kind of thing I'd like to see a lot more of. It annoys me when people blindly hate TLG, usually without even giving it a chance. I greatly prefer stuff like this; you watched it and you have legitimate reasons for not liking it. For that, you have my respect.

[KionofTheLionGuard]

I don't hate TLG, but I do agree with Gyramuur and TheLionPrince here. What made TLK a classic that we're still discussing on a forum 20 years later was its willingness to tackle very serious topics while not being so heavy-handed in its treatment of them that it alienated younger audiences. It had almost universal appeal as a result.

Now, while writing on the same level as the original film is probably too much to ask for a TV series, I felt like TLG was missing that element almost entirely. It mostly stayed safely within "kids show" tropes with very little other than a few previously established characters to set it apart. I would even go so far as to say it was largely forgettable. It's not bad when judged purely as a diversion for younger audiences, but unless the regular episodes are a big step up from the premiere, I certainly don't blame older viewers such as myself for being uninterested either.

Now this is the kind of thing I'd like to see a lot more of. It annoys me when people blindly hate TLG, usually without even giving it a chance. I greatly prefer stuff like this; you watched it and you have legitimate reasons for not liking it. For that, you have my respect.

Speaking of blind hate, check out this "review" of The Lion Guard. It's nothing but stupid hate, like this isn't even a legit kind of criticism. It's more like hate-bait, or even troll-bait:
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"TOO S*** FOR REVIEW
AVOID: THE LION GUARD (2015)

Terrible animation, bad dialogue, the voice over work is god awful – Rob Lowe as Simba makes William Shatner look like Robert De Niro.

If you show this movie to your children, you deserve to have them taken away from you. 0/10

An Alternative: The Lion King (1994)

- Keyser Soze"
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WOW...i suppose the child is strong in this guy -_-

[Squeely]

Speaking of blind hate, check out this "review" of The Lion Guard.

You showed your child a cute, fun, educational show? SOMEONE CALL CPS, QUICK!

[Troll Berserker]

Oh, I know that person. Used to be a famous internet troll.

[Elton John]

The lion prince, as far as don hahn is concerned I doubt he cares about source material much. He produced maleficent, which was completely degrading to the animated disney version. I don't want to go into too much detail but he doesn't seem like the best person for faithfulness.

As far as the lion guard goes the musical numbers could have been better and I don't like bungaa. Otherwise I enjoyed it but not on the same level as the original film.

This is definitely aimed at a young audience but at least it feels like they are trying to make something decent unlike most shows aimed at this demographic.

[gothprincesskiara]

Oh, I know that person. Used to be a famous internet troll.

Why am I not surprised?

[Amadi_the_Guard]

I watched 'The Lion Guard' when it first came out and I'm very happy to say that I actually like how it turned out. I've had my share of doubts from the very first image that was released, that featured Kion, a little Simba clone with a tuft of red hair with a silly yellow streak, and a paw print tattoo that nobody knew what it really was, but now that I've watched the show, I must say I am very glad I didn't judge it too early. It had its good and bad points, but it was a generally positive experience for me.

I'm kinda disappointed with the way some people are looking at the series, and what it's doing to this usually peaceful and supportive community. I'm a person who believes everyone should be entitled to have their own opinion, but there is a line between an opinion and a valid critique, and one shouldn't be confused for the other.