YMMV / Leo the Lion

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: This movie has several hallmarks of Italian adult humor, which might suggest that the foreign dubs just didn't get the memo. If this is the case then it's basically mocking vegetarianism and liberal politics.
• Bile Fascination: Well, it's not like there's any other reason to watch this movie.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Maximus, thanks to his voice actor and his electric guitar Leitmotif.
• Fridge Brilliance:
  • Why exactly is Leo a vegetarian in the first place? Well, judging by the beginning, Leo was just about to learn how to eat meat. He probably had some birth defects or something, so he had to eat softer foods until his mother thought he was ready. But because his mom died, eating soft fruits and veggies was the only thing he knew how to do.
    • His mother also died on a hunting trip while pursuing a zebra, forever associating the two in his mind. If there was any chance of him learning to eat a normal big cat diet, that pretty much killed it right there.
• Ham and Cheese: Maximus is just about the only entertaining thing to watch from the movie, in no small part thanks to Matthew Mercer's performance. Can potentially double as Rooting for the Empire.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The rape-looking scene of the zebra is even more uncomfortable to look at after the Harvey Weinstein sexual scandal (the film was distributed in the United States by The Weinstein Company).
• Memetic Mutation: See here.
• Quirky Work: Generally considered this, due to the weird animation style and trippy ending song.
• Rooting for the Empire: Because Maximus is a genuinely fun character with a cool voice and an awesome background theme, many largely prefer him over the flat and uninteresting protagonists, to the point they almost expect and want him to succeed in his Evil Plan.
• So Bad, It's Good: An absolutely shining modern example, especially the ending song. In fact, all the songs get this treatment due to how pretty much no one in the cast can sing at all, so they make up for it by absolutely hamming it up, like Matt Mercer as Maximus.
• Special Effect Failure: The numerous slow-motion scenes are very unconvincing, looking like the footage was simply slowed down rather than being filmed and rendered with slow-motion in mind.
• Squick:
  • Somehow, Leo and Savannah have babies, which are a pair of hideous elephant-lion hybrids.
  • The part where Leo grabs a female zebra and convinces her to give milk to the baby elephants, Spots and the little monkey joining him. Not only is this scene out of place and generally awful (the zebra's daughter is one of the children they found and they imply they won't give her back unless she feeds all the kids), but the way it's played out looks uncomfortably similar to rape.
• Ugly Cute: Leo and Savannah's kids, if you divorce them from their gross conception and awful father, are actually pretty cute.

---