My Lion King Forum

Just out of interest, what are people's ideas on what makes the Lion King such a timeless movie?

Because it such a good one! TLK was actually really unique in my opinion. A movie about a pride of lions, a brother jealous because he is not king, a tragic story for Simba, and then unique characters being introduced such as Rafiki and Puumba. There are so many things that make this such a great movie, in my personal opinion.

It's the only movie I know being worth it. It's so magical and unique. The Lion King fandom shall never die, it also seems to unite all the great people around the world and that makes awesome communities

The Lion King is timeless because of its very nature. The score, first of all, is just amazing. It gives off a certain mood and draws you in, it fits with the movie perfectly and with real life as well. The musical numbers were well-integrated into the story without seeming unnatural. None of the characters are unlikeable, the plot is based on a classic (hello, Shakespeare still sells, even centuries after his demise), and the emotion is raw and real. The voice actors were amazing, the animation is amazing, the growing-up-tale is priceless. The message always holds true, and the underlying messages do as well. The backgrounds are gorgeous. There's so much depth to everything; the story, the characters, the emotions, the scenery, the humor, everything. It was also spectacular that they didn't play off the predatory animals as having become vegetarians due to being "civilized." Carnivores have to eat meat to live and it bugs me when movies make them eat plants so they can befriend prey animals. TLK didn't do that. It's just such a magical and majestic experience that's just not going to be found in any other film.

It's a story of themes that are still relevant: Love and revenge. It has amazing songs. Hakuna Matata is actually one of my favorite Disney songs, which is unique (To me), because most of my favorite Disney songs are obscure. The story is really interesting and makes you want to watch it over and over again. Simba is energetic and cares about others. Sure, he took Nala to the elephant graveyard, but when she was falling down the bones, he clawed Shenzi in the face. When all three hyenas were coming towards them he was standing in front of her, roaring. Then as an adult Nala was about to eat Pumbaa, but Simba protected him. It manages to be a mix of sadness, love, and even comedy and does it really well. The Lion King will defiantly roar on for generations to come.

I think the lack of any human influence has a lot to do with it - obviously the characters have human qualities, seeing as they are deliberately anthropomorphic, but besides Simba's uber 90's middle part , there is no indication as to what time period we are in. We never see a human on screen, so it literally could be any time at all.

(unless you get technical and get all like "oh it has to be after nineteen whatever seeing as Zazu is singing "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" or whatever)

To be honest, it feels quite new to me, because of the animation, mostly.

It has unique characters and no human influence. It also has a great story line and it's own musical.

I think its because there is no sign of humans or anything built by them, signs of humans somehow show the period of time what the characters are in... The story fits any generation, and that's probably one of the reasons why TLK keeps its place as the best animated film, as many people find it (though, in my opinion, best movie ever!)

I think the fact that the movie is set in the African wilderness, without any human influence, gives it an atmosphere you don't see in many other movies. And there's also the amount of impacting scenes, and the fact that it's based on Hamlet, which is definitely a timeless story.