The Good Dinosaur: 22 Easter Eggs & References You Probably Missed

17. The Lion King References

The film has actually been criticised for being derivative because of how closely it resembles The Lion King, and though that is rather reductive considering how many films borrow that central Oedipal Anxiety plot, there are a lot of very close parallels. The death scene of Poppa might as well be a clone of Mufasa's stampede death, but his kingly relationship with Simba clearly informs Poppa and Arlo's dynamic. In both cases, the father's attempts to get their sons to take their place as "heirs" end up getting them killed - as well as making it seem like it's their sons' faults. In both cases too the fathers appear from beyond the grave to offer sage advice, and in both films there are trios of secondary antagonists who try to kill the young leads (the Pteranodons replacing the hyenas here). And as a final parallel at the end, both leads get over themselves and go and rescue their mothers from a life of back-breaking work.