May 16, 20214 min read

Leo the Lion(2003): The Worst Crime against Mankind

Updated: Feb 1, 2023

Reviews by:

@the_owlseyes

RATE THIS MOVIE

Oh god. Oh god. Oh goddddd. No, I'm not able to be restrained with this piece of hot sh%t made by a-holes who thinks that this is cinema. This is an abomination. What should I say? That's "so bad it's good", no, this is the Antichrist of Hollywood, the nightmare of Kubrick, Scorsese and Tarantino, the end of all things. This is a dangerous movie and I don't know how it aired on Netflix but I understand why it was removed. This is below The Room and Who Killed Captain Alex? and this movie is just the iceberg's tip because there's an entire world, the animation's dark side, who waits to see the light. I wasn't alone when I saw it, this is why I kept my sanity but I hate it a lot.

Ok, I'm done with the ranting and cussing.

PLOT

"Leo is a young vegetarian lion who has trouble fitting in, so he leaves the jungle to go on a quest to find himself" or "The Lion King junkie, dumb, adopted and hated nemesis breeded by a drunk hooker".

SCRIPT

It's so ill conceived that I don't understand if it's a joke or just the product of a twisted and disturbed mind. It's the bad copycat of The Lion King with some dumb changes and elements which are bonkers. There're a lot of character, only of them is "developed". Every side character is a stereotype of someone: elefants represent the oversized people(DUH!), monkeys represent afro-american people(subtle racism), chameleons are magic creatures like penniless fortune-tellers and other which you'll figure out by yourself. There's an heavily marked sexual innuendo which is revolting. I don't know, how you ever wanted to watch a lion f#£&!ng an elephant? No? Me too, but unfortunately I did. Let's talk about Leo, the protagonist. First, a vegetarian lion doesn't make sense. This is a thing which is approached in a song of The Lion King but here, here is used to brainwash the viewer. He doesn't have an arch but he's a vaguely likeable character. There's nothing more to say about him because his charcaterization is poor and limited. A lot of the problems are in the plot itself, made of a non linear and incomprehensible plot. Also, it's narrated in first person by two characters but it isn't clear till the end who is the stortyteller. This is a bad, uninspired, plagiarist, offensive and boring script. It's a 77 minutes feature but it feels like a century after 15 minutes.

Script: 1/10

ACTING

It's the only decent thing about it. The actors do what they can with poor dialogues and try to be as professional as possible. They should have sticked to dubbing and their inability to sing is clear. I want to give a lot of credit to Daniel Amerman for making Leo a likeable character, because it should've been a gargantuan feat.

Acting: 5/10

PHOTOGRAPHY

Colours are flat and the background is fuzzy and uninteresting. I think that all this flashy colours could create a schizophrenic seizure in a any kid who decides to watch something like that. At least it's clear, sometimes too clear, what's happening on the screen.

Photography: 2/10

EDITING

Not only it's below average but it's also tedious. There're random jump cuts and some shots are idiotic, like they wanted to hide what's on display here. There's also a weird and tedious use of slow motion which is harmful for the movie's flow and the logic of it. At least it isn't the worst section of this review but it's a good warmup for what's coming next.

Editing: 2/10

SPECIAL EFFECTS

Lion-elephant hybrids. I think that's enough to give nightmares. The animation is pretty basic and stale. A lot of times doesn't make sense in terms of physics but a lot of things are trashy here, so I'm not surprised. Look the cover image and you'll get the level of this shitty production. There's worse but it's still bad, for the industry's standards.

Special Effects: 2/10

SOUNDTRACK

The songs are bad and the soundtrack is just background music. I don't like it because it copies certain songs of The Lion King, Scar's one is warped and twisted to fit an elephant, and because they are useless. This is why it's hard to make a good musical and a good animated music. I guess that the producers felt too cocky without reconsidering what they've done.

Soundtrack: 1/10

COSTUMES

The movie blows this section up even though it shouldn't be an issu for a movie about animals. There's only one costume and is used with a racist connotation: the monkey's jamaican hat. I have no words. I'm beyond desolation, I'm disgusted.

Costumes: 1/10

CONCLUSION