The Lion Guard (2015 / 2016)

[Elton John]

The Lion King was a G rated movie. Granted, it had a lot of mature themes for a G rated movie but a PG rating was below a PG13 and a G rated movie was meant for audiences at a young age. Disney made these movies to be enjoyable for the whole family.

People quickly assume that The Lion Guard will be solely made for a young audience and not so that a wider audience can't enjoy it too. Disney knows that there are a lot of older lion king fans, so I believe that the TV movie and show won't be dora the explorer shlock.

[SimbasGuard]

That is the point I was trying to make, with Lion King Disney was making a movie that anyone could see. The Lion Guard is targeted at preschoolers and their families. Being that Disney phrased it that way leads me to believe that The Lion Guard is going to be focused on a younger audience that the Lion King was intended for. I hope and expect The Lion Guard to be far above Dora The Explorer in terms of story quality. However I feel the death of Simba would be far to deep and emotional of story for a preschool series.

[Carl]

They chickened out of killing Simba in TLK and SP; I don't see them doing it in TLG.

[SimbasGuard]

They chickened out of killing Simba in TLK and SP; I don't see them doing it in TLG.

I agree I think Disney is as likely to kill off Simba as they are Mickey Mouse.

[Elton John]

I don't think they ever intended to kill simba in the original lion king.

The last disney movie, big hero 6, also had a lot of mature themes for something intended towards a younger audience. I think it proves that disney can still make things for a younger audience that also caters toward a family audience.

BIG HERO 6 SPOILERS

Spoiler: show

The way Hiro Hamada deals with the death of his brother, which was a fairly violent death scene even though it was mostly implied, is outright violent and anti-hero like for a disney hero. It's also implied that Hiro's grief period was full of unhealthy behaviors such as starving himself, among other things

[Carl]

I don't think they ever intended to kill simba in the original lion king.

Actually, in the first version of the ending, Scar killed Simba before being engulfed in flames.

[SimbasGuard]

The last disney movie, big hero 6, also had a lot of mature themes for something intended towards a younger audience. I think it proves that disney can still make things for a younger audience that also caters toward a family audience.

Yes, but once again Big Hero 6 is a PG rated movie. so it definitely wants to appeal to more than just a young audience. When I heard that The Lion Guard was intended for preschoolers and their families I expect that to be even more kid friendly than a G rated movie. I expect The Lion Guard to be good despite it's target audience, I just don't think we can expect any deep emotional thought provoking story lines. In short I don't expect The Lion Guard to have the epic Majesty of Lion King. I'm just hoping for a good enjoyable show that won't make me feel as if I'm too old to watch it.

[Elton John]

Huh, strange. I never knew that about the original lion king.

Holy cheese that video is dark. No wonder they never made the ending that way, it would give kids nightmares for years.

and honestly, I think the ending they chose was way better than that. I'm not a fan of dark endings unless it's a horror movie.

I rewatched that video......simba didn't die but it looks like sarabi or nala did.....I really don't know which is worse........

[goody2shoes]

lion guard should be perty much the same as lion king

Excellent point. A Spim-Off of Lion King Should not be too different from the nature of The Lion King. After all Disney wants people to know of the connection between Lion King and The Lion Guard. changing the nature of the franchise too drastically would defeat the purpose of making a Lion King Spin-Off in the first place.

yeah

[Captain Cupcake]

I don't think they ever intended to kill simba in the original lion king.

Actually, in the first version of the ending, Scar killed Simba before being engulfed in flames.

Actually, Simba still survived in that version. He just lost the actual battle and Scar wound up being the only one getting caught in the flames as a result. You can see a lengthier clip from the work print that goes all the way to the ending here: http://youtu.be/9KW4UnT1G8Y?list=UUg1Ck ... UmW2axoxmQ

I rewatched that video......simba didn't die but it looks like sarabi or nala did.....I really don't know which is worse........

Nah, whichever fallen lioness that is(I assume it's Sarabi, with Nala being the one who comes out of the smoke and reunites with Simba beforehand) turns out fine. The work print fades to Simba taking his place as king right after they nuzzle and all is well.