I’ve only seen it once, and I don’t have kids, so I’m curious: why do kids seem to love this film so much and above so many others?
I haven’t noticed that one to be way more popular then any of the others. Of course just because I haven’t noticed that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. So far as movies go I think my neices prefer either Toy Story movie to the Lion King.
As to why kids love the movie? Well it has everything. Good animation, comedy, action, and romance!
Marc
Our daughter is passionately in love with The Lion King. I don’t know why, but the Broadway Show certainly helped out (why it didn’t do the same for the popularity of Beauty and the Beast I do not know). But our 4 year old has the show memorized (as has my wife, from listening to it so often). She has a set of plastic jungle animals that she uses to re-play the entire story. There’s even a plastic rock that has become Pride Rock (even though it doesn’t look like the one in the film).
IANACP (child psychologist), but it seems to me that an important element that is unique to Lion King is that a young character grows up. This doesn’t happen in most other stories, and, frankly, most of the other story elements in movies of this type are fairly consistent.
I think that having Simba start as a child and then grow to an adult appeals to children. There is an identification with the young character, then the projection into adulthood, which children are wont to do anyway. Simba doesn’t stay a cute little cub the whole time. He eventually becomes a strong adult, and a leader. I think that’s a stronger draw, and perhaps more realistic, than a hero who prevails in spite of being a child.
Other Disney films, such as Beauty and the Beast, use the fantasy element (beautiful princesses or exotic castles or magical elements) to create their appeal. This is quite legitimate, as such things are important to children. But the Lion King has no such elements. Nothing magical happens, no one is transformed except through the natural aging process. It’s a more “real” story (except for the fact that lions don’t talk or hang out with meerkats and warthogs). And the protagonist’s problems and how he deals with them are more real. Nothing is solved with a kiss in real life. And neither is it in the Lion King.
I think the music is better than in a lot of Disney films, too.
I’m not sure it’s more popular than any other Disney film, either, but my own observation is that the fact that it has a boy main character makes it more appealing to boys as well as girls. Yes, my son watches and enjoys Mulan, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White etc., but having a boy character provides him with a specific character to identify with. For example, my husband told me his favorite Diseny movie growing up was The Jungle Book. Not surprising, I thought, seeing as it was one of the few from our era which did feature a male main character.
I also believe that children enjoy the “natural” setting of animals in the wild, just as they enjoy animals going about their business as they do in, say, The Aristocrats (one of the few Disney films, by the way, which don’t have a hideously evil antagonist. Just a mildly greedy butler.).
I allow my children to watch (and I also enjoy) many of the Disney animated films, but I continue to be annoyed by the message that beauty and getting the guy are the most important lessons in life a girl must learn. Mulan and Pocahantas circumvent this message somewhat, but the Indian princess is ridiculously proportioned and Mulan, after all, gets the guy in the end.
Good analysis, DAVEW and Ellen! BTW, it’s The Aristocats. (That’s a joke, son.) Thank you.
I own the movie and I’ve watched it myself umpteen times. For me, the pull is the music. Every once in a while at work the musical score from Lion King pops into my head with out warning.
It was the same thing with Aladdin, which by the way has a boy main character. And 101 Dalmations.
Yep, I’m a Disney movie junkie. 
Not a “child” here, but a 21 year old, whose favorite disney movie is the lion king. Got great animation, great music (both the “songs” and the score), and a really cool story. Probably the only disney film that made me cry. Don’t know one that’s really been good since (I did like Mulan, but all the songs were kind of lame).
Child, parent dies, evil relative takes over, and child reigns triumphant over evil relative… what could be better?