Titans Collide: Lion King vs. Aladdin

Now (ya Im excited and Im goin rite in on this one too) Ive been hyping this post and matchup like Don King minus the bad hair and worse grammar for weeks now. These are quite frankly the 2 best children's movies of all time and the question is: whose side are you on? In preparation for this post I actually watched them both again and for once not jus for my child-like enjoyment but for research purposes too. I love them both like children, but definitely not equally (ya Im gonna have favourite kids, deal with it) and my heart lies with Lion King. The street rat has and will continue to change lives but Lion King to me is just that much better. This kind of reminds me of the age old football debate between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Well to me Lion King is Tom Brady. Peyton Manning (Aladdin) is just great period no questions asked and quite possibly the best ever and the same can be said for Brady so it comes down to the little things and preferrence in this comparison. Brady has movie star good looks and a gorgeous model wife as well as 2 extra rings and thats why most people would choose him but thats not to discredit Peyton who has more MVP's. That comparison was only relevant if you follow sports so you could see how closely matched these 2 staples of childhood are. In this post Im goin to do a thorough analysis and breakdown/comparison of the 2 movies and show why (in my humble opinion) that Lion King takes the crown and of course it wouldnt be my blog if I didnt share some vids along the way :D 1st up, Storyline.


The storyline of these 2 movies could not be more different; 1 a young lion is born into royalty but sheds his responsibilities after a traumatic accident only to return home and save his pride; the other a young street rat tries to impress a princess by using the aid of a genie only to realize she didnt care about all the bells and whistles. Great messages, the both of them. the religious undertones of the Lion King kinda make it preachy which annoys me but it does show some different flavour which brings me back in. Aladdin being about literally from the outhouse to the penthouse (palace...house) is truly inspiring altho it does seem kinda like gold digging and superficiality reigned supreme. In terms of representation of it, the music and grandeur and overall spectacle of Lion King (spawned an amazing broadway play) gives it an edge but the overall and literal magic of Aladdin as well as the (slightly better) character development and superior storyline bridges that gap. Before Lion King fans jump down my throat, Lion King is like an hour and 10 mins and of that time a good 30-40 mins is all Timon Pumbaa and Simba whereas Aladdin has a lot more going on.

Winner: Tie



Then you have the main protagonists. I already kind of went over them in the summation of the storylines but the brash cocky young lion whose subjected to major trauma and forced to grow much faster then he wanted to and ultimately accepts his responsibilities vs the street smart street rat who tries to change himself to get the girl he loves only to find she loves him for him (run on sentence I kno but Im excited about comparing these 2 movies I so much so I could have a run on post!) Disney clearly purposefully puts glaring flaws in their characters so their lessons are obvious for everyone to follow and learn from and I feel as tho, despite Simba's trauma, Aladdin's are more relatable, he lived the grass is greener life only to realize its better to be urself is the ultimate lesson. How many of us can relate to being on the come up and struggling to get our basic needs with the fuzz breathin down ur neck whereas Simba is quite relatable as well jus not as much. Often you'll find a child who crumbles under the heavy weight of expectation (heavy is the head that wears the crown) and runs away (no Kanye)

Winner: Aladdin



Onto love interests. The ladies who play vital roles in the growth and development to our leading gents. A personal favourite quote of mine (partly cause I made it up) is that "a woman can be a man's greatest assest or biggest liability". Its evident in EVERY comic book and practically every story ever written involving a love interest (providing the love interest is a woman). Being that Nala was there from BIRTH and they had that strong a bond Im already partial to her however Jasmine is the dime cartoon many of us wished so hard was real for many years (still do) and I can understand why Al fell so hard so fast. Now Jasmine was assertive and strong and desperately wanted to marry for love and was willing to risk a lot for that but Nala being a lioness is the epitome of female strength. Having lost her best friend as a child she grew in a corrupted pride and when they were starving went on a lone quest to find more food, only to find their long lost king and (help to) convince him to return. If I was going to fault Simba from running from his responsibilties than its only fair I do the same to the princess, not to mention everytime they (Simba & Nala) tangled she thoroughly whooped him... I never noticed how awkward it is to watch 2 lions romance each other....its like partial bestiality lol.

Winner: Lion King



For every protagonist, theres a pissed off antagonist who is scheming to take what they have (haters gotta hate). Lion King had Scar and Aladdin had Jafar (not meant to rhyme). Now Jafar was the Sultan's (jealous) Grand Vizier as well as a part time sorcerer and had the Sultan's ear. Scar was Mufassa's jealous younger brother who was incredibly pissed that Mufassa had a son who superseeded his place in the pecking order for the kingdom and planned to get rid of him. Jafar being the brilliant strategist and manipulator that he was initally catches your attention (and honestly puts you up on some pimp game) but loses points for having his sidekick (Iago) have such a major impact on his planning process and evil plan. Scar's straight ruthlessness and disregard for everyone and everything especially the people he called "friends and family" was beyond cold blooded, it was (dare I say it) MERCYLESS (all puns and misspelling intended). Now you can say Im partial to Scar, since in 8th grade I played him in our schools production of Lion King, and as such I have to pull back my Scar love some and at the end of the day most if not all Disney villains are surprisingly interchangeable...

Winner: Tie



Most villians rarely get their own hands dirty. Their either to good, or prissy to do it and really once you've paid the cost to be the boss you shouldnt dirty your hands unless you absolutely HAVE to. For Jafar he had the Sultan's guards at his disposal and as henchmen go they were pretty run of the mill. Brawny, stupid and good for a pretty decent humiliating laugh caused by the protagonist (+ their jus good comic relief). Unfortunately the guards were jus lame cookie cutter henchmen whereas the 3 hyenas (Banzai, Shenzi & Ed) were HIlarious on their own. Those 3 not only blindly followed orders but provided some amazing comic relief and made us tingle and shudder lol

Winner: Lion King



In terms of leadership and role modeling look no further than the father figures of the movies unfortunately its a no contest. Mufassa's pearls of wisdom and straight up Barry White-esque soothing deep voice (done by Darth Vader James Earl Jones) completely destroys the short stubby Sultan who was merely a place holder who got some weird pleasure from feeding Iago crackers....odd. This Mufassa clip explains his significance better than any spiel I could write...still brings tears to my eyes man, to go from fear of gettin a severe beating from daddy to a heart warming moment? Thats how Imma be a dad *sniffs*

Winner: Lion King



Im unsure how to properly transition into the bird brains of the movies so Imma just blurt out that I cannot hear Gilbert Godfrey's voice without breaking out into laughter as annoying as it is. Now Zazu is that dude you want handling your business if your in an office and need coping and collating done and what not but if you needed a worker whose down to do it by any means necessary than you want Iago on the roster. Iago did it all for Jafar, he was runnin on the cog to help him find out who was the person needed to get the lamp, stole the half of the beetle that showed where the lamp was, hell he stole the damn lamp! Iago was the MVP of the evil empire for Jafar and he can in no way be blamed for its downfall, and that ability to straight steal people's voices? What more can I say?

Winner: Aladdin



Moral guidance is quite key in the protagonist (ya Im workin my grade 12 english credit to its fullest) and these 2 movies have 2 of the most hilarious ones I can think of in Rafiki and Genie. Due to the limited influence from their "father figures" Rafiki and Genie played even bigger roles to Aladdin and Simba. Now as hilarious as the blue assed monkey is Im sad to say he's out gunned with the comedic genius that is Genie (Robin Williams) This comparison is almost unfair simply as great and wise as Rafiki was, Genie was just so amazingly outgoing and talented and scene stealing in the course of the entire movie compared to Rafiki's part in which was a 10-20 minute cameo where he blew all our minds

Winner: Aladdin



P.I.C, 3 simple letters that have a simple meaning (partner in crime) but an extremely significant relevance in ones life and especially so in the protagonists search for their purpose. To me, THIS is exactly where the war between these 2 giants is won. Timon and Pumbaa are quite possibly the greatest sidekicks in all of children's movies, ever. While Abu and Carpet's performance in Aladdin was great (and in my opinion severely under appreciated) the straight damage and cult effect that Timon and Pumbaa had was too large to overlook. "Hakuna Matata" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejEVczA8PLU) has been a staple in life for every child from the 80's (and if its not than that child seriously missed out, poor thing) and honestly has become a way of life and a way to cope. Abu and Carpet were both mute but their actions were so amazing and so hilarious in their subtlety that not acknowledging that is an insult to Aladdin on a whole, unfortunately they (like the all the teams MJ slaughtered) jus got matched up with the wrong opponent. Timon & Pumbaa are the protypical comic relief sidekicks. There isnt anything they didnt do. I coulda had them as the moral guides next to genie (altho Rafiki was clearly the better fit) and no one woulda complained (altho picking between them and Genie woulda been like asking which order do you want your family to die in) they would do anything they could (including run across an undefined stretch of desert) to help Simba out. In my head this is where this matchup is won simply because of the overall and "cant be ignored" impact that Timon and Pumbaa had and continue to have almost 15 years later.

Advantage: Lion King



Lion King 4 > Aladdin 3, thats jus my humble opinion. I know some (all) of you are going to rip me a new 1 but this is jus my breakdown, you disagree, prolly cause your not me. Essentially this was just to compare to heavyweights and you cant really go wrong either way, and a lot of these match-ups are fairly interchangeable however my heart lies in Africa....this still gives me goosebumps



@ItsJus2Easy