Lion Around (1950) User Reviews

Very nice Donald Duck cartoon

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 15 November 2009]

I will admit that this doesn't for me rank among Donald's best, but it is a very nice and humorous cartoon. It is rather predictable for my tastes, but you are guaranteed to have a lot of laughs here, because it is very funny indeed. Especially when Donald finds that the lion is real, not his nephews tricking him like he thought.

The cartoon is compensated by firstly some lovely Technicolour animation. Also the music is really pleasant to listen to. Plus the presence of Donald is a real treat, and Clarence Nash as always voices him superbly. Huey, Duey and Louie are as funny and cute as ever. Overall, not Donald's best but a pleasant and humorous diversion if you don't think too much. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Just nice

[rbverhoef · 7/10 · 14 August 2004]

One of Donald's nephews has an encounter with a lion but it turns out that it is just a suit, with both other two nephews in it. When Donald has made a pie the nephews decide to scare him off with the lion-suit while the third one steals the pie. Things do not go as planned and Donald gets quite mad. When the nephews walk away they encounter a real lion. They make sure they're save and when the real lion arrives at Donald's house of course he thinks he deals with the nephews again.

Although this Disney cartoon has its predictable moments there are quite some good laughs as well. When Donald has find out the lion is real there is a very funny part when he tries to hide between some fake ducks. Overall this is a nice one. You will not be bored but it does not belong to the best out there.

One of my favorites

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 7 January 2018]

"Lion Around" is an American 7-minute cartoon from 1950, so this one is already over 65 years old, soon 70. If the names who made this still don't sound familiar to you, then voice actor Clarence Nash should as he is the one doing Donald as always and this means we got another Disney work here. The first half is basically Uncle Donald against the nephews who are wearing a mountain lion costume and the second half the real lion appears and there is a lot more at stake than just cake. That even rhymes. I think this was a very witty and smart cartoon and still one that was childish enough to be really entertaining on several occasions. It's not the first time I watched it, but it is as good on rewatch as it is on first watch. There aren't too many Donald/Disney cartoons that really have virtually no weakness at all, but for this one it's true. I also quite liked the ending when we have the nephews somewhat make uop for what they did earlier. You can really feel sorry for Donald here and hands down it is pretty impossibke not to like him and not to find him funny. My favorite short film from 1950 and actually probably also my favorite film from 1950. Severely underseen and underappreciated (no awards recognition), an absolute must-see for cartoon lovers from the old days of the Golden Age of Animation. Watch it now,

Donald and nephews in hilarious cartoon!

[OllieSuave-007 · 9/10 · 11 May 2016]

Donald and his nephews star in a hilarious cartoon where the nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, disguise themselves as a mountain lion so they could fool their uncle and grab a piece of pie he was making. Later, a real mountain lion comes along and wants to make a meal out of the pie and Donald himself.

Plenty of laughs as the lion chase Donald around, while Huey, Dewey and Louie were entertaining themselves, playful and fun.

The animation was great and there are plenty of times where I've found myself laughing out loud. When the Donald is in a cartoon with his nephews, you know that playful mischief and funny misfortune awaits!

Grade A

A Duck Tale With Danger

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 12 January 2003]

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

Bad behavior from Donald's Nephews draws the unwanted attention of a hungry Mountain Lion.

Huey, Dewey & Louie are up to their usual high jinks again in LION AROUND, a fairly routine, albeit humorous, little film. Coupled with the Mountain Lion (making one of his infrequent Disney appearances) they provide poor Donald with almost more antagonists than he can handle. Clarence "Ducky" supplies he voices for the entire Duck family.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

As the beloved song verse says . . .

[cricket30 · 5/10 · 11 May 2022]

. . . "Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and big shot guns" are as American as it gets. Don Duck is pictured prancing around with the latter U. S. essential early on during LION AROUND, but when the time arrives to protect his pie at this story's conclusion, his Difference Maker is nowhere to be seen. Ownership of a firearm is no be-all or end-all, LION AROUND suggests. Unless your firearm is fully loaded and ready-at-hand, it might as well be a paperweight, Drizzly reveals. If you do not want the first miscreant to stumble along filching ALL of your pie, generously support your local chapter of BANGS: Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps.

A Few Good Laughs

[Michael_Elliott · 25 May 2016]

Lion Around (1950)

*** (out of 4)

Donald's nephews are once again causing trouble. This time they decide to play a prank on their poor uncle with a lion costume but things take a turn for the worse when a real lion shows up.

LION AROUND is fairly predictable from start to finish but we do get several funny scenes scattered throughout and they make this worth sitting through. Once again the film benefits from some very good animation but would you expect anything less from Disney? The highlight is certainly the action that happens at the end when Donald realizes that the lion is real and he's not playing around.