My Review of The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride · 10:26pm Mar 16th, 2021
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
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Greetings, my little cubs. This is yours truly with another Disney film review which will be covering the sequel to the original Lion King movie. This is The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride. Oh yes, indeed... it was Simba’s overbearing and self-righteous attitude that almost ruined this movie for me. But that’s not the only thing of course. What’s even more annoying is the fact that this was wholly inspired by the old story of Romeo and Juliet. Facepalm Why? Just why do we need repetitive, boring, and sappy Romeo and Juliet type films that are just overall uninspiring and dull? It is just meaningless to me personally. I respect your opinion if you like these stories including this one.
But, please, for the love of Primus, just stop with that nonsense already! Sigh Anyway, most Disney sequels have a knack for being sub-par and underwhelming in comparison to their predecessors which are often better and superior to the sequels themselves. This sequel is one of them. Granted, it’s not completely terrible because it does have really good moments; however, the story and the character development were not well-written.
Aside from the good voice acting and the animation quality, this film was below average at best. But what did I truly like in this film?
Well, first off, I somewhat like Zira as a fanatical follower of Scar. Her zealous dedication in trying to overthrow Simba so that Scar’s heir—Kovu—can take over the Pride Lands was very interesting to see. Her psychopathy and narcissism were very scary, and her goal was quite clear. Plus, it would have been interesting for her original death scene to make it into the movie, but I can understand why they cut it. Suicide is too dark of a subject to incorporate into a kid’s movie. Nonetheless, that very aspect would have solidified her character and perfectly concluded her villain arc.
Nuka and Vitani were likewise entertaining to watch. But let me get this straight: if Scar wasn’t really Kovu’s father and neither for Zira’s two other children, then... why the heck do they have similar facial features that Scar had? Nuka almost looks exactly like Scar, and so does Kovu. Are you sure Scar didn’t Hakuna Matata your ass in bed, Zira?
Timon and Pumbaa were... okay in this film. That’s all I have to say about them.
Now as for Kiara... the daughter of King Simba... the future queen of the Pride Lands... I hate her character. Seriously, she was annoying as hell, she was very stubborn, and she just was too irritating to watch. Simba himself was no better as I already implied at the beginning. He was too high minded and arrogant to see how he was becoming more prejudiced and hateful towards Kovu and his family. I can understand why since they, except Kovu, were devout followers of Scar which prompted him to banish them. However, what did Zira and the others specifically do to him that resulted in their banishment?
You know the penalty for turning on the Pride Lands!
That line does not explain anything. It is so broad that it could mean anything. What did she do to him in particular? Never once explained.
Yes, yes, yes, everyone became happy and friends again after the final battle was over after Kiara herself is the one who reminded them of who they were supposed to be. 🙄
Why couldn’t Kovu be the one to say that? You know what? Never mind... it would been better if Simba wasn’t written this bad just to learn a lesson at the end. That’s just stupid.
This movie gets a 4/10. Stick to the original one, folks. If there is one thing this film managed to accomplish, its that Kovu managed to gain so many fangirls including my former coworker. Yeah, I guess that’s... something.
Peace.
I actually liked the movie.
5476855
Happy for you, buddy. 👍🏼
Suicide?
For me, the original movie is the only installment in the franchise that should be considered canon.
It's one of those movies that do not benefit from sequels and spin-offs.
5476859
5476872
Well spoken.
5476874
Honestly, sometimes I think these movies shouldn't be considered Children Movies.
5476875
I see where you’re coming from. I’m surprised most of them are even rated G instead of PG.
5476878
Mother Gothel, Scar, Clayton, Ursula, etc. Not one villain was ever just locked up in jail. Okay, I found Judge Frollo's death satisfying because I'm a Christian. But he's the exception.
To be completely honest here, I actually love this film. It’s one of my favorite movies, and I enjoyed everything about it. Including Kiara, who’s one of my favorite characters in the Lion King franchise.
Because Simba didn’t trust Kovu as much as he did Kiara, and the Outlanders were bitter towards Kovu at the time for not completing Zira’s original plan.
5496168
That makes sense. I just hate Kiara.
5496229
It’s funny, really.
In contrast to what you think of Nuka compared to Kiara, I myself was never the most fond of Nuka. As entertaining as he was to watch, he didn’t exactly stand out to me as someone that I’d want to hang out with personally after a long period of time. I was actually glad that he died after getting crushed by those logs, really.
Also, as entertained as I was by Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed in the first movie, I like to think that they died after getting surrounded by the flames of the fire, because the idea of them surviving while Scar died does not sit well with me.
5496254
Cool. 👍🏼
5496257
What surprises me the most nowadays is the fact that Disney didn’t decide to create a Lion King miniseries depicting Nala’s time growing up in the Pridelands and to explain how Zira and the Outlanders came into the picture, really. It’s something that I believe would have great potential.
5496261
I guess that would’ve been interesting to watch.
5496263
On the subject of Kovu, I’ve often theorized that he wasn’t Zira’s son at all. That he was the son of another Outlander lioness and was unrelated to Scar and Zira, while Nuka and Vitani were both Zira and Scar’s children.
Kovu’s origins are another element that I would’ve loved to see Disney explore, really.
5496264
Man, you’re so invested in all this, huh?
5496265
What do you mean?
5496267
It means you’re very devoted to something which I can admire.
5496270
Oh. Thank you.
5496273
Also, why do you like this franchise so much? Because I can see you’re all over the place with your replies and comments about it, trying to address the points I made.
5496274
It’s something I grew up with and cared for over the years, for one. I love the characters, songs, storytelling, everything.
Among other things I’ve loved about the franchise, though, are that my head has brimmed with inspiration for as long as I can remember. In this case, it inspired me to make my own stories based on it by building off of certain elements in the hopes of introducing them to Disney.
5496288
That’s wonderful, Mr. Undercover.
5476874
I’m gonna be honest about this, I was actually glad that Zira’s death scene was altered to where it didn’t look like she committed suicide. Even if it looked like she was smiling as she fell.
5496254
Why?
5533073
Maybe it’s me, but I feel that they deserve death since they too were responsible for Mufasa’s death. Aside from that, I’ve frequently studied the final moment featuring both them and Scar and it doesn’t seem likely that the hyenas would survive the fire, mostly because it looked like the flames engulfed them before it started raining.
5533082
I'm not sure if I agree with you on that. Nuka stated in this movie that the elephant graveyard got more creepy since "the hyenas ran off." That implies they survived the fire and left the Pride Lands.
Also, I actually hate the idea they were burned to death because I love these characters.
5533086
Except that Nuka could very well mean other hyenas. He didn’t specifically say that the hyena trio were the ones that ran off.
If you look back on the battle scene at Pride Rock, you’ll find that there were many hyenas who retreated down the slope of Pride Rock, leaving whoever was still fighting the lions and trying to win the battle behind. As a matter of fact, I’m certain that Nuka was referring to whatever remaining hyenas retreated during the battle before Scar died and the flames got worse.
5533091
That is highly debatable, but it is open to interpretation. To me, the hyena trio survived everything that happened.
5533095
All the same. I honestly believe that Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed are dead rather than alive. It’s something I hope for too, because death is what they deserve. And, maybe if they weren’t killed by the flames, perhaps by Zira and the Outlanders.
So, I’m well aware that you’re not fond of this movie. But…
How interesting do you think it’d be if Disney did a complete re-animating of this film? Mainly to help it match more with the colors and visualization of the first film?
Are there any story points that you think could use some further exploration or improvement?
5563072
1). This film didn’t need a sequel.
2). The animation is fine, but it’s not that great.
5563132
I was just wondering.
I never had any problems with the sequel at all, although I will admit that, just like you, I did wish they had expanded on the backgrounds of Kovu and Zira more. The same with Nuka and Vitani.
As much as I enjoyed the movie’s animation, I had thought that it became kinda dated because of the colors not matching the predecessor’s. That’s why I think it wouldn’t hurt for Disney to give the movie an upgrade animation-wise, especially considering it’s the only in-canon Lion King movie with different colorings.