My Lion King Forum

Personally, while the story is dramatic, I'd say it's more of a comedy (though not as much as 1 1/2 is) because there's more comedy than drama in the movie overall (there's pretty much comedy in almost every scene) and 90% of the characters are comic relief (Timon, Pumbaa, Shenzi, Banzai, Ed, Zazu, and Rafiki).

I know, as a kids movie, it has to have some comedy but, even for a kids movie, there's a lot of comedy, so I'd call it a comedy. What do you think?

More "drama" to me

Overall I'd say it's more 'drama'. Though it does have its fair share of comedy moments, I would never first consider it 'comedy'. The emotional impact and all that of the film feels stronger for me, making 'drama' fit more appropriately.

Um the first movie? We're talking about uncle kills dad, brings ruin to the lands, inspired by Hamlet, The Lion King? How is it anything but a drama? Although in Shakespearian terms it's either 'comedy' or 'tragedy', with tragedy meaning the main characters die at the end and comdey meaning they get married... so in Shakespearian terms, yes it is a comedy, instead of the tragedy Hamlet was. However by today's standards, to call it a comedy would be to belittle the majority of the movie.

I would go with comedy. I mean there is drama, but the humor stands out to me more than anything else.

Sure, The Lion King has enough funny scenes to be considered a comedy, however, everyone really remember the toned down, dramatic scenes in the end as the scenes that really mattered in the movie. So I am going with that it's a drama rather than a comedy.

Defiantly a drama to me. The story is one of the strongest elements of the movie because it makes us invested in what the situation is and care about the characters. A perfect example of a comedy movie from Disney is The Emperor's New Groove. That movie has the jokes that pull off as the strong element to it since it's supposed to be silly and make you laugh at the situations going on. Plus, the story in Groove is nowhere near as serious as Lion King's storyline since it involves murder, exile, guilt, self-identity, family drama, royalty, and a life-and-death situation.

[quote="MooLion"]Overall I'd say it's more 'drama'. Though it does have its fair share of comedy moments, I would never first consider it 'comedy'. The emotional impact and all that of the film feels stronger for me, making 'drama' fit more appropriately. [/quote]

I'm personally going to say 'comedy' - I think the humorous element of this movie kind of spoils its dramatic-ness, especially with the wise-cracking Timon makes before CYFTLT. Still though I was able to feel something special from that scene (maybe it was the love, but I've never felt love so I dunno), but I believe it would have been a much more serious-toned, strictly lovey-dovey love scene had it not have made me laugh my arse off for the first 30 or so seconds of the song. This is the main reason I like the Broadway musical version (and even the pre-production version) more than the film version.

I also think that the reason Mufasa's death made such an emotional impact on a lot of people is because for the 5 minutes before he died, all we saw was mostly tragic - the hyenas waiting around to chase the wildebeest, and then Simba's face when he saw the stampede, and then Scar telling Mufasa about said stampede, knowing that he's planning to kill them both. And then we saw Simba getting chased by the stampede and, of course, Mufasa trying to save him (and consequently sacrificing his life in the process). Really, the only thing I can remember seeing from that scene that I could consider 'comical' is how Zazu's like 'omg what can I do? Oh, right, I can fly and get help!' and then getting smacked by Scar.

This is the same for when Kovu got banished in TLK2, the couple of minutes before it happened, all we saw was serious stuff, and little to no comedy.

I'm not saying the movies weren't dramatic at all, I'm saying that the comedy overpowers the drama in some parts, and kind of ruins the serious tone that I would consider 'dramatic'.

Drama. Dude. Dem uncle killed the father.

This movie is unique because it takes the shakespearean tragedy and mixes it with a disney animated movie. It is both, that is what makes it such a good story is that it can't be defined with a single category, it takes up the genre of life. There is not a black and white dichotomy of genres but rather a smooth grey.