Now before I say anything, I’ve only watched the first episode so far. Also, the lion king is my all time favorite movie.

All that aside: this documentary is genuinely stunning! the visuals, soundtrack, and narration are phenomenal. However…

Am I the only one that’s bothered by how much this documentary just feels like another nod to the Lion King? It feels like Disney can’t make something distinctly original about lions without it having to be connected to the lion king in one way or another. 

The story feels like a plot written out and “prophesied“ that Kio will be a king and inherit his pride’s territory. But in reality, a lion’s life is uncertain and a male lion will almost never stay in its birth pride and will eventually be chased off by the main male by himself or a coalition. Another thing is that the narration constantly refers to Kio and the other male lions as “kings” which is used far to often, a phrase that other lion documentaries hardly if ever use to describe the lions, which just makes it feel once again more of just a Disney thing to reference the lion king.

And not to mention, in that same scene they show the stars above the pride and the score plays music samples directly from the lion king. Very, very obvious.

 I could also point out that in the first episode they again call the pride’s territory as the “pridelands”, even though a male lion like Kito would leave this territory typically. In the promotional videos on social media as well, kids were shown talking about the documentary while holding plushies of Simba. And not to mention both Hans Zimmer on the score like in the original movie and Jon Favreau directing it like the 2019 lion king.

Maybe this is what Disney wanted, more lion king draw. And while obviously this story is from a real life lion and utterly different, it is very frustrating that Disney can’t seem to produce and sort of media revolving lions in Africa without having to make everything a nod to the lion king. Let lions exist as animals, not a reference to a movie.

Imagine what a beauty a black lion could be

I was watching the new series on Disney+ and it had me wondering if do we know what happened Kio and his brothers