History YMMV / TheLionKing

** In the Mexican Spanish dub, during the final duel between Simba and Scar, Simba's voice became more deeper and creepier, compared how his voice sounds in the original English version, when he speaks louder than usual, and how he normally sounds before that battle in that dub, probably to emphatize he's going to kill Scar for good this time.

* HeReallyCanAct: In the 90's, no one really took JTT seriously and was mostly seen as a tween heart throb, mostly for his huge fan following with tween girls, and his only notable role was in the sitcom ''Series/HomeImprovement''. And yet he surprisingly does a great job, especially during Mufasa's Death.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Adult Simba. Depending on who you ask, he's either a likeable, sympathetic protagonist; the least interesting character of the movie; or a jerk who was willing to let everyone starve until Rafiki, Nala, and Mufasa forced him to fight Scar.

* AmbiguousSpecies: The enemy cats in the adult Simba level. They look like they may be cheetahs because of their slim build and solid spots (as opposed to a leopard's rosettes) but they are in a jungle instead of the savanna, and they are not shown to be particularly fast, so it's possible they are meant to be leopards and the solid spots are just a stylization. Hard call.

* EarWorm:
** "I Just Can't Wait to be King", "Hakuna Matata" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08-uyfp2iPM Be Prepared]]". The chanting at the beginning of the movie may count.
** "Aaaaare you achin'?" "Yup yup yup." "Foooor some bacon? "Yup yup yup yup."

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: As mentioned in the ''Movie'' section above, there are AmbiguouslyGay / DepravedHomosexual elements to Scar's performance. Top of the list for hints is the breakdown during "Be Prepared", which has a very 90s-club beat to it, while the Hyenas on stage move aside for more muscly, shirtless Hyenas to dance in the steam...

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** There are more than a few people who view Scar as a DepravedHomosexual, due to his lack of a mate and somewhat effeminate manner. The Broadway play seems to play this up to extreme levels. Scar goes from scary angry dude to Creator/PaulLynde turned psychopath, which is still scary. This is ironic since a deleted scene (which was re-added for the musical) shows Scar choosing [[{{Squick}} a grown up Nala as his mate]] and seeming rather disturbingly excited about making "little Scars" with her. So maybe more of a DepravedBisexual?
** Also, was Scar's hatred towards Mufasa caused only by [[GreenEyedMonster envy]] or was there a solid FreudianExcuse (like being always TheUnfavorite, maybe also mistreated by his brother)?
** Mufasa. Noble, courageous king and loving father... or pompous {{Jerkass}} who threw his weight around to bully his little brother, was letting a bunch of hyenas starve for no reason, and who was raising his son to be as big a douche as he was? Or, [[TakeAThirdOption alternately]], a generally decent king and good father, but who's prejudiced against hyenas?
** Mufasa and his dynasty can easily be seen as pompous, racist tyrants and Scar as a WellIntentionedExtremist trying to liberate oppressed people from Mufasa's regime. An alternative take is that [[EvilVersusEvil both Scar and Mufasa are jerks]], Mufasa exiling the hyenas to the badlands, and Scar exploiting their desperation for his own gain.
** Zazu. Mufasa's loyal adviser and careful supervisor of Simba during his childhood... or just the comical sidekick of both?
** The hyenas. Were they really banished for not respecting the Circle of Life? They think of themselves as being oppressed underdogs, and in real life they're very real competition with lions in the food chain. After all, as others have pointed out, Scar enlists their aid not by promising them power or conquest, but ''food.'' The hyenas seem most excited about the fact that they'll be able to ''eat.'' Their apparent poverty and Scar's manipulation of it is just another eerie parallel to the Third Reich and the duped German population. The documentary Mickey Mouse Monopoly pointed this out.
** Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed - friends, or family? It's almost a 50/50 split. Other combinations include Shenzi, the alpha female, with Banzai being her alpha male and Ed his brother who hangs around with him, and Banzai and Ed both courting Shenzi at once.
** In regards to the ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' parallels, is Nala based on [[GenderFlip Horatio]] or Ophelia? [[TakeaThirdOption Or both?]]
** Also one review has interpreted that Rafiki was meant to be a living version of Yorick.

** Disney's [[Film/TheJungleBook2016 Jungle Book remake]] drew some attention due to casting many actors who had also appeared in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse [[note]]Creator/JonFavreau, the film's director, also directed the [[Film/IronMan1 first]] [[Film/IronMan2 two]] ''ComicBook/IronMan'' films[[/note]]. Jon Favreau appears to be continuing this tradition in ''The Lion King'' remake, by casting Creator/DonaldGlover, who appears in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming''[[note]]Favreau also reprises his role of Happy Hogan in that film[[/note]], as Simba, John Kani (King T'Chaka in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' and ''Film/BlackPanther'') as Rafiki, Alfre Woodard (who also appeared in ''Civil War'' and ''Series/{{Luke Cage|2016}}''[[note]]albeit as two different characters[[/note]]) as Sarabi, Creator/FlorenceKasumba (one of the Dora Milaje soldiers Ayo in ''Civil War'', ''Black Panther'', and ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'') as Shenzi, and Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor (Mordo from ''Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}}'') as Scar.

* ValuesDissonance:
** When Timon is volunteered to be bait, he is forced to do the hula. In the 90's, this was seen as merely an attempt to be hilarious. Nowadays, with the awareness of transgender rights, it is much harder to see this as comedic. The remake, likely aware of this, promptly has a different form of distraction.
** Simba wants to get rid of betrothed marriages, as he sees it as disgusting. While at the time, he is a kid, the movie's attempt to portray this as arrogant falls really flat, especially with the knowledge of the damage that arranged marriages can do. The sequel later goes out of its way to show that people should be free to choose their love, instead of it being decided for them.

* WTHCastingAgency: Skinny, nerdy sounding actor Creator/MatthewBroderick as a lion can seem like an odd fit. To some, though,[[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct he's actually great in the role in spite of that]] while, to others, [[BrokenBase he's the weakest actor in the film]].

* WTHCastingAgency: Skinny, nerdy sounding actor Creator/MatthewBroderick as a lion can seem like an odd fit. [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct Then we hear him get mad...]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Creator/MatthewBroderick as Simba. Some people thought he gave a decent or even great performance as Adult Simba while other people felt he was miscast and thought his voice didn't fit or he was wooden and unconvincing in the role.
** This is especially true once the remake came out (though the entire cast of that remake could count as a BaseBreakingCharacter). People either seem to think Broderick gave a much better performance than Creator/DonaldGlover, Creator/DonaldGlover gave a much better performance than Creator/MatthewBroderick, or Creator/DonaldGlover was a worthy successor to Creator/MatthewBroderick.
** Even outside of whoever's playing him, Adult Simba is probably a BaseBreakingCharacter to many people just by himself. Depending on who you ask, he's either a likeable, sympathetic protagonist, the least interesting character of the movie, or a jerk who was willing to let everyone starve until Rafiki, Nala, and Mufasa forced him to fight Scar.

** Even outside of whoever's playing him, Adult Simba is probably a BaseBreakingCharacter to many people just by himself. Depending on who you ask, he's either a likable, sympathetic protagonist, the least interesting character of the movie, or a jerk who was willing to let everyone starve until Rafiki, Nala, and Mufasa forced him to fight Scar.

* CompleteMonster: [[Characters/TheLionKingScar Scar]] is the [[CainAndAbel scheming younger brother]] of King Mufasa, [[DrivenByEnvy driven to bitterness]] when his position in line to the throne is lost after the birth of his nephew, Simba. [[EvilUncle Tricking Simba]] and his friend Nala into entering the Elephant Graveyard to be killed by his hyena henchmen, Scar then orchestrates a wildebeest stampede and tosses Mufasa to his death when his former plan fails, blaming and exiling Simba for the deed. As [[TyrantTakesTheHelm king]], Scar's [[TheCaligula mismanagement]] leads the Pride Lands to ruin, with him remaining apathetic to the mass starvation. When Simba returns, Scar tries to have him publicly executed, revealing his role in Mufasa's death to torment Simba and cowardly trying to blame his crimes on his hyenas when Simba has him at his mercy. ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'' reveals that Scar lead the original Lion Guard, [[BadBoss killing them all]] when they refused his earlier attempts to overthrow Mufasa with him. In the second season, Scar's spirit tries to lead the animals of the Outlands on a brutal conquest of the Pride Lands: cutting off the river and entire water supply of the whole Pride Lands; and eventually simply trying to have them burn the savannah and all its inhabitants. Even after the death of his physical body, Scar remained a hateful creature driven by spite.

* EarWorm: "I Just Can't Wait to be King", "Hakuna Matata" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08-uyfp2iPM Be Prepared]]". The chanting at the beginning of the movie may count.

* EvilIsCool:
** Scar, so very much. [[Creator/JeremyIrons His voice is cool]], his design is cool, his VillainSong is cool, [[spoiler: he's one of the few Disney villains to commit murder on-screen and actually ''succeed'' in his plans]], and he's also an awesome fighter. He's a fan-favorite among the Disney villains, and one of the few who can give [[Disney/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]] a run for her money in terms of popularity.
** But he's nothing compared to [[DracoInLeatherPants Shenzi]], [[TheBrute Banzai]], and [[CrazyAwesome Ed]].

* BreatherLevel: The game alternates between easier and harder levels.

* CompleteMonster: [[ManipulativeBastard Scar]] is the [[CainAndAbel scheming younger brother]] of King Mufasa, [[DrivenByEnvy driven to bitterness]] when his position in line to the throne is lost after the birth of his nephew, Simba. [[EvilUncle Tricking Simba]] and his friend Nala into entering the Elephant Graveyard to be killed by his hyena henchmen, Scar then orchestrates a wildebeest stampede and tosses Mufasa to his death when his former plan fails, blaming and exiling Simba for the deed. As [[TyrantTakesTheHelm king]], Scar's [[TheCaligula mismanagement]] leads the Pride Lands to ruin, with him remaining apathetic to the mass starvation. When Simba returns, Scar tries to have him publicly executed, revealing his role in Mufasa's death to torment Simba and cowardly trying to blame his crimes on his hyenas when Simba has him at his mercy. ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'' reveals that Scar lead the original Lion Guard, [[BadBoss killing them all]] when they refused his earlier attempts to overthrow Mufasa with him. In the second season, Scar's spirit tries to lead the animals of the Outlands on a brutal conquest of the Pride Lands: cutting off the river and entire water supply of the whole Pride Lands; and eventually simply trying to have them burn the savannah and all its inhabitants. Even after the death of his physical body, Scar remained a hateful creature driven by spite.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Scar]] commits the same crimes that his aforementioned movie counterpart did and goes beyond that, notably [[AttemptedRape attempting to force himself onto Nala]]. During the musical, Scar becomes [[SanitySlippage more and more paranoid]] as time goes by, also feeling that he was being tormented by his older brother even in death. Unwilling to admit that he's [[TheCaligula terrible at governing the Pride Lands]], he instead condemns all his subjects to death so that he wouldn't have to accept that maybe he wasn't as good at being a king that he thought he would be.

** Claw is a lot closer to Scar in the manga, managing to become the de facto leader of the jungle in Kimba's absence and dying after his and Kimba's first battle instead of hanging around to suffer VillainDecay. He does not however have his hyenas in the manga. Scar also shares many characteristics with Hamegg, being smug, flamboyant, having Nazi associations (in the manga [[spoiler: Hamegg is eventually revealed to have been a SS officer]]) and being the person who killed Kimba's father and sent him into exile. In the manga he is also [[spoiler: speared by Kimba when he is defeated by him just to be killed by Claw instead, like Simba spares Scar before he is killed by the hyenas]]. Hamegg however has HiddenDepths and a sympathetic side that Scar do not share.

** Simba, a young cub, telling three full-grown hyenas "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Nala even gives him a look that all but reads "Are you crazy!?".

*** And then, at the end, ''telling'' Simba that he killed Mufasa when he had no reason to do so and was on the verge of total victory.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Crossing into WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical below - a number of critics, professional and otherwise, note that the movie's attempted aversion of PredatorsAreMean creates a system of government literally ''built'' on killing and otherwise exploiting equally sentient creatures by having the predators continue to prey on other animals. Mufasa's "Circle of Life" speech is meant to assuage such implications, but it's not hard to see that as cold comfort to the gazelle or wildebeest who winds up on the lions' menu for no other reason than circumstance of birth. And of course, some critics take it a step further and use the whole movie as proof (or scorn it as denial) that any and all exploitative systems of government (capitalism, monarchy, etc.) are inherently bad even if a "good" leader is in charge.

** As brought up under UnintetionallyUnsympathetic, Simba wants to get rid of betrothed marriages, as he sees it as disgusting. While at the time, he is a kid, the movie's attempt to portray this as arrogant falls really flat, especially with the knowledge of the damage that arranged marriages can do. The sequel later goes out of its way to show that people should be free to choose their love, instead of it being decided for them.

* TooCoolToLive: Mufasa.

* UglyCute: Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. Shenzi is actually quite popular among furries.

* NarmCharm: Some viewers thought the images of Mufasa in the sky were just ridiculously cheesy and goofy, especially in the sequel; others got a bit choked up, considering what a TearJerker both his death in the first film and his benediction to Simba when he took the throne were. In fact, the producers had thought about removing them for those reasons, before deciding to leave it in.
** Really, the movie is generally overblown most of the time, but it makes it what it is, in a way.

* NauseaFuel: Pumbaa ''farts''. Enough said.

* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:Mufasa dies]].

* IronWoobie: Zazu, Timon, Pumbaa, and the Hyenas.