FACE OFF: The Lion King vs. Beauty & the Beast

[elwood731]

"Simba, I am your father, Simba..."

[Jerm]

While I agree that The Lion King is an awesome movie, noting can compare to Beauty And The Beast. That is my all time favorite Disney movie.

[mtcarmel00]

I also have to give my vote up to Beauty & The Beast. I like the music a whole lot better. The story works better for me. It also has my favorite animation of any Disney animated movie.

And lastly... "No... one... fights like Gaston!"

[Jerm]

Originally Posted by mtcarmel00

And lastly... "No... one... fights like Gaston!"

And no one bites like Gaston!

[Jerm]

Originally Posted by mtcarmel00

II like the music a whole lot better. The story works better for me.

For me, the music...it's awesome. I love how certain conversations/lines of dialogues seamlessly flow into musical numbers. Songs like "Kill The Beast", "Gaston" and the Sound of Music looking number (can't remember what it's called) Belle did after she was proposed to.

[jmoney]

I feel like less of a girl admitting to liking The Lion King. Plus it is one of the movies that I have given the most viewings. This is the one video tape (sue me it was before DVD became popular) that I watched every time my niece and nephew put it in. Every time.

[reapersaurus]

The fact that anyone thinks this is even remotely a reasonable comparison frightens me.

[Jerm]

Originally Posted by reapersaurus

The fact that anyone thinks this is even remotely a reasonable comparison frightens me.

They were two major hits for Disney. They were released a couple of years apart, what's not to compare?

[SeanL]

I voted for Lion King. The humor was good, the animation of the various animals was top notch, and I have a fondness for Africa.

[NotaNumber]

I didn't vote, only because I like both so much that I honestly could not choose between them.

[manicsounds]

I put a vote in for KIMBA THE WHITE LION instead.

[reapersaurus]

Originally Posted by manicsounds

I put a vote in for KIMBA THE WHITE LION instead.

Thank you.

Someone gets it.

Jerm, these 2 movies are worlds apart. The fact that they were a few years apart chronologically speaks nothing about their quality or creativeness.

Beauty & the Beast is a landmark of animation. It was so damn good - fresh & creative, that it was nominated for the Best Movie Oscar.
It single-handedly resurrected animated movies. The Little Mermaid didn't accomplish that, revisionist history notwithstanding. It simply was a blip on the animation radar, comparatively.

If not for B&tB, there might not have been any PIXAR. Animated movies would not have been given the money they needed to be made.
BTW: Lion King wouldn't have been made, either.
So that covers the importance angle.

As for the artistic merits of the 2 movies..... there's simply no comparison.
Hasn't anybody read http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm ?
I just don't see how this much likelihood that the Lion King was plagiarized can be hand-waved away.

As for the story, the Lion King is very weak, pacing wise, character-motivation wise, and song-wise. Even if it wasn't plagiarized from Kimba, it's simply a bad copy of Hamlet, minus intrigue, or nuance and adding questionable comic relief.

Here's the 5 second version of Lion King:
Be a wuss for all but 3 minutes of the movie, and still win just because you're born royalty.

In fact, I'd conclude that a vote for Lion King reveals a serious ignorance of animation history.

But most votes for Lion King (in my experience) are simply unexamined sympathy votes due to youngsters growing up with the movie, therefore being indoctrinated (brainwashed) into liking it young.

And that's my 2 cents.
No offense to anyone who happens to possess one of the criteria I described.

[BubbleGumUK]

Originally Posted by reapersaurus

Beauty & the Beast is a landmark of animation. It was so damn good - fresh & creative, that it was nominated for the Best Movie Oscar. It single-handedly resurrected animated movies. The Little Mermaid was a blip on the animation radar. BTW: Lion King wouldn't have been made, either.

While I totally agree with you, the animation purest in me has to point out:

Beauty And The Beast (which I love, BTW), was riding the crest of the wave that began with The Little Mermaid (and even n American Tail and Oliver And Company a couple of years earlier). It WAS that film (TLM) that got the ball rolling (first animated film to break $100m at the box office) and led to the Disney team upping their game and providing us with Beauty (and Aladdin, the joint high-point of the recent Mouse House flicks).

The Lion King WOULD have been made. In fact, since these films take four years to produce, it would have been ramping up production even before Beauty was completed. What Beauty And The Beast DID do was to urge Katzenberg to chase the Best Picture Oscar. Once Beauty showed it could be done, he began to turn every film into an Oscar-worthy "epic".

So, while TLK would have seen the light anyway, the additional production money spent on it was down to B&TB's commercial, artistic and award-winning success.

[SharpShooter5]

i love both, but i gotta go with Beauty and the beast