Customer Reviews

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride [VHS]

5 star:		(160)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(48)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

Yeah, I know that this direct-to-video sequel was put out to cash in even more so on the original, which itself grossed over $300 in U.S. box office receipts to become the most successful Disney film ever! However, after watching this a couple of years back and revisiting it today, I know that there was another, much better, reason: four years after THE LION KING, we were all missing the characters...and we were hungry for more. As much as us fans of the original did not want the possibility of having the franchise tainted by an inferior sequel, it seemed to be worth the risk.

And it was. In 1998, Disney got most of the principal voice-over actors back from the original---Matthew Broderick as Simba, Moira Kelly as Nala, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella as Timon & Pumbaa, respectively, and of course, Robert Guillaume as the hilarious Rafiki---and made THE LION KING II: SIMBA'S PRIDE, which follows our favorite Lion hero (and King) & family as they pick up from where they left off in the first film. Now Simba is the King and his young offspring is a lioness cub named Kiara; he's the worried dad in this one, always fearing for the safety of the young precocious girl, but they're nevertheless a happy family just the same. Of course, danger lurks in the shadows, as Zira (Suzanne Pleshette---yes, *that* Suzanne Pleshette), the villainous ex-mate of Scar, is training her young son Kovu to grow up to avenge Scar's death by killing Simba. However, Rafiki, the silly-acting but nevertheless wise monkey, finds out to his horrified amazement that Kiara and Kovu are destined for each other. Sure enough, Kiara and Kovu meet each other as cubs and take an immediate strong liking to each other. Can true love overcome true evil?

This film, by itself, is very well-written and acted, with excellent production values for the fact that it is a direct-to-video sequel. It has really no flaws of its own, just one obvious inconsistency between it and the first film: Scar's 'ex-mate' Zira (and, by extension, Kovu) simply did not exist in the original THE LION KING! She was obviously made up just to have a sequel. However, this is the only major thing to overlook, and if you can forgive this movie for it, then you should be able to easily enjoy yourself. As I said, this is a good animated movie, and I recommend it for any fan of the original. This sequel isn't quite as dark; however, I still would not recommend showing it to very young kids. Suzanne Pleshette does a surprisingly good job as the evil, scheming, vengeful Zira (basically a female versdion of old Scar himself). Neve Campbell does a solid job as the voice of the adult Kiara, and Jason Marsden does excellently as the conflicted Kovu, who wants to do good, but...he made a promise to his mother...didn't he?!

Listen, THE LION KING II: SIMBA'S PRIDE is not the masterpiece that THE LION KING is...however, it is much better than it perhaps should be. Fans of the original should definitely own it.

RECOMMENDED, AGES 8 & UP

The Lion King II-Simba's Pride is a better than excellent movie! I really loved it. I watched it at a friend's house a few months ago and we all loved it. Simba is grown up and has mated with his childhood sweetheart Nala. He has a daughter, Kiara, who wanders onto the territory belonging to Scar's mate, Zira. She starts playing with Zira's son, Kovu, but soon Zira finds out and she snarls and all. Simba comes to the rescue and forbids Kiara to go there again. Kovu is sent to Simba's territory to live there and kill him. But, like any Disney movie, Kovu and Kiara fall in love! It's about the relationships between Kiara and Kovu and Simba and Kovu. In the end there is a fight, but I'm not going to tell you who dies or lives! Watch this movie that brings The Lion King back to life!

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride is by far one of the best, if not the best, Disney sequel produced to date. It has sold more copies than any other Disney sequel, and for good reason -- it is a worthy successor to the throne.

The animation is high quality, especially for a direct-to-video sequel. Instead of using hand-drawn characters and computers to color the images, TLK2 was done in traditional cel animation, unlike the original Lion King. This makes the movie even more classic, and easily appreciated not only for its wonderful story, but the artwork involved in creating it.

The story is stunning and picks up basically where TLK left off. Simba and Nala's daughter, Kiara, is being raised to become the future queen. In the meantime, she encounters a cub from a tribe of outsiders named Kovu, and they immediatly become friends. However, both of their families stand in the way of their friendship continuing, and they never see each other again until they are adults - and that's where things really get interesting! Zira, the leader of the outsiders and Scar's mate, is trying to kill Simba, and Kovu figures into the plan. In the end, both tribes clash in all out war. You'll just have to watch to see how the story ends.

Definitely a worthy sequel to the first, get a copy if you can.

Set after Lion King and Lion King 1/2, Simba has defeated Scar and got the throne at last. Simba ( voiced by Matthew Broderick) and Nala now have a daughter named "Kiara" whom is the heir of the pridelands, one day while wondering around the pridelands she meets a mysterious lion cub named " Kovu" and becomes friends with him. Unknown to Kiara, Kovu is a young member of the banished outland pride whom were part of Scar's pride. Now there is a war between the prides lead by the dark Zira ( voiced by Suzanne Pleshette), only Kovu ( Jason Marsden) and Kiara ( voiced by Neve Campbell) with their love can straighten things up between the two prides.

Terrific sequel to both " Lion King" and " Lion King 1/2", it's another sequel that proves not all the disney sequels can stink. What works here is that some of the cast members from the original with a new one ( Robert Guillium, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Andy Dick) come back, the animation is theatrical quality on a good level and the soundtrack to it isn't bad at all.

The 2-Disc special edition is great! there are fine extras like " One By One" an all-new animated short from the makers of "Lion King" and " Lilo and Stitch", Timon and Pumbaa's virtual safari 2.0, fun games, pop-up trivia when you play the movie on pop-up triva mode, featurettes and great Picture & Sound quality.

Highly recommended movie but first watch the original then Lion King 1/2 and then this one, i think the Lion King trilogy is probably the "Star Wars Trilogy" of animated trilogies.

I enjoyed this sequel. The songs are enjoyable. I like the songs "He Lives in You," "My Lullaby," and "One of Us." Plus the story is a sweet one. The romance between Kovu and Kiara is sweet. Also, the story is dramatic. This second film is darker and grimmer than the first film. It does have some funny parts, though, provided by Timon and Pumbaa and also by Nuka. I also like the bonus feature "Proud of Simba's Pride," which is a backstage behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie. It's good even though it's really short.

I'm a big "Lion King" fan and I was pleasantly surprised back in 1998 to find out they were making a sequel. I was diagnosed with cancer before this film came out, and it provided me with a means of escaping my illness. I really ejoyed the movie and hopefully you will, too.

Personally, I feel that the two Lion King movies are probably the best Disney movies out. It's definitely worth watching if you like movies that have a combination of: tragidy, romance, adventure, and maturing. The songs are pretty cool. This movie definitely is a good sequil, I think that Disney should make a third Lion King movie.
In this movie Simba and Nalla have their kid "Kiara" (a girl). And the boy Kovu who is chosen by Scar to follow in his paw prints, as it's clearly stated in the movie. Kovu is raised by Zira, Scars mate. And like in the first Lion King Kovu grows up with a girl as a child hood friend named Vitanni and a klutz of a brother name Nuka. But the difference between the first and the second Lion King movie is Kovu doesent hook up with his child hood friend. Vitanni plays a main part in the end which helps change the minds of the outsiders and the pridelanders, suprisingly. And that's all I'm going to tell you about the movie, except for it's really worth seeing!!!

This is an amazing wonderful film. The story is magical, the songs are breathtaking and the characters are unique.
The story of a young, sweet and brave cub called Kiara who is heir to the throne to follow in Simba's pawprints. She meets the cute Outlander called Kovu and no matter what their parents do, Kiara and Kovu realise their feelings for each other are growing stronger. As they grow up, they fall in love. But their parents are mortal enemies and they forbid their children to see each other. But will love re-unite the prides and The Pridelands will be restored to its original perfection? Simba is adorable (but annoying) and Nala, Simba's true love, will always be her wise, wonderful self and Zira is cool and evil. Timon and Pumbaa are hilarious and Zazu has changed his voice. Why!!!!????
This love story will take your breath away and Kiara and Kovu's love bring the prides together. The song "Love will find a Way" was just unreal. This love story will capture your heart and imagination forever. A truly magical romantic story that teaches you that true love will solve most problems.

i loved this movie. simba is trying to teach his daughter to stay away from a group of lions called the outsiders. following a child's natural curiosity, Kira stumbles into the outlands and there she meets Kovu. The two would not meet again until Kovu, now grown up, saves Kira from a fire. Reluctantly, Simba allows Kovu to join his pride. As Kira and Kovu begins to fall in love, Kovu's mother and her pride attacks Simba as he and Kovu was alone. Thinking that Kovu was part of the plan, Simba excelled him. Kira ran away to find him and they were able to stop the fight between their two prides. As Kira was talking to Simba, the words that she spoke started to make sense. As Kira said," They are us. What differnces do you see?" I would defintly recomend this film to anyone who has children. This movie teaches them that no matter how diffrent everyone seems, we are still one.

The Lion King II, I will admit, doesn't have alot of what the origianal had. There is no emotional scene like where Mufasa dies (that scene will still choke me up) or the stunning background music from the origional. However, there is alot you can take from this movie, if you only take the time to look. TKL was about responsibility. Everyone can see that. The sequal is about love, but more than that, it's about hate and letting go. It's about deciding to do what your heart tells you, not what your supposed to do. The scene with the song "One of Us" is one of the most powerful i have ever felt. I know how it feels to be accepted by a group and then be sudenly thrown out. Imagine how Kovu feels at that time. Now he has no family, no friends. He is completely alone, at least for a while. I usually have to pause after this scene, because I feel so angry toward Simba for doing that to Kovu i practically miss the song "Love will Find a Way." Overall, if you take Simba's Pride at face value alone, you will only get out of it what most children who only look that deep get out of it. If you look deeper into the emotions of the characters, it becomes an emensly heart-wrenching movie.

Well, when I first saw the original TLK, I was floored. From age 10, I desired make every piece of merchandise known to man mine, etc. Then the sequel came out...

At the time, I was 14, and maybe it has to do with the age factor. But I was *so* incredibly disappointed, that even when I recieved the movie after Christmas, I didn't look at it for 4 months after that.

The plot seemed to be a little lacking, and the proantagoinist had the brain the size of a rasin. Kiara is unmistakably sweet, and kind, but under that is no intellegence whatsoever. Disney just replaced her personality with a bunch of laughing.

Kovu is mentioned not to be Scar's son (for incest reasons) but I think thats a silly reason to re-edit that for the simple fact that Lions regularly inbreed closer than second cousins. The only thing I didn't like about Kovu was his adult voice. Too ordinary.

Simba had a great downfall with his overprotection, which impacted his character too much. And I won't even get into Timon & Pumbaa's stale jokes.

I'd say the two things I DID like about it were 'My Lullaby' and Nuka's death scene. Very well done.