[National Champion Chris Cole]

The Lion King


vs.

Sleeping Beauty


Poll closes Monday, August 27th, 8 AM Eastern.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

I'm putting my vote towards Sleeping Beauty. It has to be the best movie to ever get tagged with a very feminine name. It had sword fights, dragons, and the most wicked of all Disney Villains.

[Moreofabreadguyanyway]

Lion King is by far and away the best animated film I've ever seen.

[Batman]

The plot of Lion King is ripped off from Star Wars. The look is ripped off from Kimba the White Lion. And the music is exceptionally bad, gay Broadway crap.



Whereas the plot of Sleeping Beauty comes from "Mother Goose," the look from medieval frescoes, and the music from Tchaikovski.

I don't see how this is even a contest. Can you feel the love?

[creepy]

metallikid said:

I'm putting my vote towards Sleeping Beauty. It has to be the best movie to ever get tagged with a very feminine name. It had sword fights, dragons, and the most wicked of all Disney Villains.

So very, very true. I'm not even that much of a fan of animation movies, but the story is awesome.

And I don't feel like modifying this, so just quote Sergei on what he said. Thank you.

[Krydor]

Lion King is closer to Hamlet.

Star Wars? Are you serious, there Sir Gay? Was Scar Simba's father?

[Batman]

Yeah, they'd like you to think they ripped it from Hamlet. That would be classy. Also it's public domain.

Almost every single character in The Lion King fits into the role of a Star Wars character (before the revelations in the sequels that Anakin and Vader are the same person, and that Leia is actually Luke's sister.)

Protagonist who must grow up so he can avenge his father - Luke - Simba
Protagonist's dignified, honorable father - Anakin - Mufasa
Villain who killed protagonist's father - Darth Vader - Scar
Wise, old mentor - Obi-Wan - Rafiki
Protagonist's friend, who philosophically believes in only doing what's good for him, but decides to be noble in the end - Han Solo - Timon
Mercenary's big, funny sidekick - Chewbacca - Pumbaa
(Apparently) destined love interest - Leia - Nala
Protagonist's comically dignified servant - C3P0 - Zazu
Villain's comically inept henchmen - Stormtroopers - Hyenas

[Krydor]

Wow, that's the biggest stretch I've ever seen to compare movies. You are talking about archetypes and not actual film comparisons. Han Solo as Timon? I see where you are going, but it's a stretch. Timon was a coward, and Han Solo was AWESOMELY COOL.

[Batman]

While Han Solo was, without a doubt, AWESOMELY COOL, he was also a coward. He avoided risk assiduously.

[Krydor]

What? A coward? BLASPHEMY! The risk avoidance comes about because he was a smuggler. Did the Kessel run in record time, doncha know.

Anyway, comparing the incredibly gay Timon, voiced by the incredibly gay Nathan Lane to HAN SOLO is insane man.

Who is Simba's mother's counterpart in Star Wars?

At what point did Annie appear to Luke? You know, to remind him that he was more than what he had become? What life lessons did the elder Skywalker impart to his youthful charge prior to assasination?

Ph33r my 1337n355 with regards to this topic!

[Stu]

No coward flies a ship through an asteroid field, or chases a squad of Stormtroopers down a corridor just to kill an extra one of them, or take a Tautaun into freezing Hoth temperatures!

[The Canadian Content]

He was pragmatic.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

Even he gets boarded sometimes.

[williamssl]

[Batman]

Whether you want to call it cowardice or not, the important thing is that neither of them believed in sticking their neck out. But they are inspired by their friendship with the protagonist to do that anyway in the end.

[Batman]

Another point:

You can point out all of the discrepancies, between Star Wars and Lion King, they obviously went in a different direction with the characters and premise. But it's a lot closer than the correspondence between Lion King and Hamlet--the "son out to avenge father's murder" tale that they claim that they modeled the story after. Who was the wise old man like Obi Wan and Rafiki? Polonius? Yeah, not really. How about a comically dignified servant like C3P0 or Zazu? Um . . . Polonius? Closer, but still no. Do Laertes, Ophelia, or Horatio have anything close to an equivalent in Lion King? No.

Also, what do Spider-Man 2 and Superman 2 have in common again? I never did get that.

[williamssl]

You are taking this way too deep.

Lion King had a singing warthog. Star Wars had Ewoks.

Case closed.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

sergeial said:

Also, what do Spider-Man 2 and Superman 2 have in common again? I never did get that.

Giving up their powers to be with the one they love?

Definitely wasn't the villain. General Zod kicked about 500 kinds of ass while Doc Ock was kinda meh.

[Courtney]

I would vote Lion King in almost any case...

Except against Sleeping Beauty.

[Krydor]

Timon went willingly with Simba

'If it's important to you, it's important to us"

Han left

"I'm getting my reward and I'm out of here"

The two movies aren't even CLOSE. Seriously. Luke wasn't on a quest to avenge his father, nor did he shirk his responsibility. Luke had no relationship at all with his father. Princess Leia, while we didn't know of the creepy incest angle, was in harm's way with Vader. Nala was never in any danger from Scar.

Besides, it's a Disneyfied version of Hamlet. Much like everything else they touch, they altered the ending and added sidekicks.

You might as well say that Lion King is the Hidden Fortress because Star Wars and Hidden Fortress have incredible similarities. But wait, it also has similarities with Flash Gordon, so now Lion King is Flash Gordon. Star Wars lifted heavily from the numerous WWII movies, therefore Lion King is a WWII action pic.

Man-oh-man. I will PWN you all day on this, Serg.

[Batman]

Yes, yes I PH33R U.

Dude you can point out dissimilarities all day long. And you're right that all they really borrowed were the archetypes. It would be hard to make an adventure story without some of the same archetypes as Star Wars. The only thing is: they borrowed all of them.

[Lucky]

The real problem is that a lot of your similarities are just basic elements in all Disney pictures. Comedic sidekicks? Check. Promised loves? Check. Comedic inept evil henchmen? Check. They're basic ideas in stories and Disney stories.

Not to mention that Leia is NOT Luke's destined love. He digs her, she clearly doesn't, and Han is right there making it a triangle from Day One even before Star Wars is revealed to be the creepy incest story it is. As Krydor said Luke is out to save her, not avenge his daddy. Its just something that comes up along the way and motivates him when it comes down to the end game. Luke and Vader don't even fight like Simba and Scar do. And as Krydor also pointed out Luke has NO relationship with his father. All of this is also based in ignoring every revelation that is made in the rest of the story.

Personally I consider the fact that I can't find a website or blog post devoted to this as evidence enough that its not real. I mean its the internet. And Star Wars!

Serg convinced me to vote for Lion King.

[Batman]

luckylopez said:

Serg convinced me to vote for Lion King.

Damn it! I'm completely cool with anybody disagreeing with the Star Wars thing. But to vote against the awesome, near-perfect Sleeping Beauty just because of that?

Come on! The music in The Lion King still sucks. And the visuals are 1) indisputably a rip-off:

,

and 2) nowhere near as cool as this:

!

[Krydor]

The only thing is: they borrowed all none of them

Fixed!

[Stu]

....since when is a Dragon part of the Sleeping Beauty story?