| The Lion King II: Simba's Pride | |
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The original 1998 VHS cover of the film |
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| Directed by | Darrell Rooney Rob LaDuca (co-director) |
| Produced by | Jeannine Roussel |
| Written by | Flip Kobler Cindy Marcus Additional Writing: Mark McCorkle Jonathan Cuba Bill Motz Gregory Poirier Bob Roth Robert Schooley Linda Voorhees Jenny Wingfield |
| Starring | Neve Campbell Jason Marsden Matthew Broderick Nathan Lane Ernie Sabella Suzanne Pleshette Robert Guillaume Jennifer Lien Andy Dick Moira Kelly |
| Music by | Nick Glennie-Smith |
| Editing by | Peter Lonsdale |
| Studio | DisneyToon Studios |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Home Video |
| Release date(s) | October 27, 1998 |
| Running time | 81 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (later retitled The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride) is a 1998 American direct-to-video animated film released by Walt Disney Home Video on October 27, 1998. The film is the sequel to the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King. It was later re-released as a special edition DVD (which altered the original title's "II" into "2") on August 31, 2004. It is the first film produced by DisneyToon Studios using Toon Boom.
Based loosely on of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet[1], the film centers around Simba and Nala's daughter, Kiara, who falls in love with Kovu, a male lion who was raised in a pride of Scar's followers, the Outsiders. Desperate to be together, they must overcome the two obstacles that are keeping them apart: Kovu's mother, Zira, and Simba's prejudices against the Outsiders.[2]
Discussion began about the possibility of a sequel to The Lion King before the first movie even hit theaters.[3] Most of the original cast reprised their roles from the first film, with the notable exceptions of Rowan Atkinson, who was replaced by Edward Hibbert as the voice of Zazu in this film and its follow-up/predecessor The Lion King 1½ and Jeremy Irons, who was replaced by Scar's singing voice actor from the first film Jim Cummings as the voice of Scar in this film. Also, Madge Sinclair, who was the voice of Simba's mother Sarabi, died before this film was released.
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The film opens with Rafiki (Robert Guillaume) gathering the animals of the Pride Lands together for the presentation of Simba (Matthew Broderick) and Nala’s (Moira Kelly) new daughter Kiara. Mufasa's spirit (James Earl Jones) watches over the ceremony. Later, Simba becomes very over-protective of an older Kiara (Michelle Horn), and to her dismay, he assigns Timon and Pumbaa (Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella) to be her babysitters. One day while they are arguing, Kiara sneaks into the "Outlands" where she meets Scar's heir, a young cub named Kovu (Ryan O'Donohue). After escaping a river filled with crocodiles, the two become friendly, but Simba and, Kovu's mother, Zira (Suzanne Pleshette), find them and quickly end their playing. During a tense face-off, Zira reminds Simba that he exiled the Outsiders, and notes that if he wants to punish them, Kovu is Scar's hand-chosen successor. Unwilling to harm the cub, Simba orders them to leave and later scolds Kiara for endangering herself. In the Outlands, Zira's elder son, Nuka (Andy Dick), complains to his younger sister Vitani (Lacey Chabert) about Kovu's status as "the Chosen One" — the cub chosen by Scar to lead the pride after he was gone. At that moment, Zira returns and scolds both of her sons, but then decides that she can use Kovu's new friendship with Kiara to get her revenge against Simba.
Now a young adult, Kiara (Neve Campbell) heads out from home to do her first solo hunt; however, Nuka and Vitani set fire to the plains where Kiara is hunting, causing her to faint and giving Kovu (Jason Marsden) the chance to rescue her. Drawn by the smoke, Simba finds them together and reluctantly accepts Kovu's request to come to Pride Rock, though he forces Kovu to sleep outside. Later, Simba goes outside to a watering hole where Kovu contemplates attacking him, but Kiara interrupts and they go off together so Kovu can help her learn to hunt. During the lesson, they run into Timon and Pumbaa struggling with some birds, so the two lions help them chase the birds off. Together, they have fun playing, something Kovu notes he has never experienced before. That night, Kovu tells Kiara that he is not Scar's real son, but "was a part of him". Meanwhile, Simba seeks guidance from the "Great Kings" and Nala advises him to give Kovu a chance because he is not Scar. Kovu decides to leave after trying to confess his real intentions, but Rafiki stops and invites the young lions to experience "Upendi" — love. After a musical journey through the jungle, the two fall in love.
In the morning, Kovu, feeling guilty for being in Zira's plot, decides to take responsibility by explaining the truth to Simba and Kiara, despite knowing that it will outrage them. Before he can tell the truth, Simba invites Kovu for a walk and tells him the true story of Scar, which Kovu had never heard. However, their walk is interrupted by an ambush by Zira and her pride. After a brief fight, Simba manages to escape by scaling a wall of logs in a gorge but is wounded. In chasing after him, Nuka slips and is killed by falling logs. Zira blames Kovu for Nuka's death, swiping a paw across his face and giving him a scar identical to Scar's. Fleeing from his mother, Kovu returns to the Pride Lands and begs forgiveness from Simba. Still believing Kovu knew about the ambush, Simba exiles him and the Pride Land animals begin to drive him out. Kiara tries to reach Kovu but the lionesses hold her back. She pleads with her father to reconsider, but he refuses, saying that Kovu only used her to get to him and that he knows that Kovu is following in Scar's pawprints. Angered, Kiara tells him that he will never be Mufasa, horrifying her father, she then goes Pride Rock crying. She later sneaks away from Pride Rock and eventually finds Kovu and convinces him to come back. Meanwhile, at Pride Rock, Simba discovers that Kiara is gone just when Zazu warns him that the Outsiders are coming. Knowing that it meant war, Simba sends him to find Kiara while he prepares the pride for battle.
Meanwhile, Zira leads the Outsiders towards the Pride Lands, and a fierce fight breaks out. As Zira and Simba face off, Kovu and Kiara leap between them and Kiara tells Simba the fighting has to stop. Kiara reminds her father that, by his own words, "we are one". Zira ignores her, but the rest of the outsiders falter after Vitani takes Kiara's side. Surprised and outraged, Zira threatens to kill her, which only causes the rest of the Outlanders to desert her. Now alone, Zira attempts to attack Simba but Kiara jumps in the way, sending them both over a cliff. Kiara lands on a rock, but Zira is dangling off a rock face and is sliding towards a storm-swollen river. She refuses Kiara's offer of help, and slips and falls to her death. Simba allows the Outlanders, including Kovu, to return to the Pride Lands, and Kovu is allowed to stand with Kiara at the top of Pride Rock. Simba looks up into the sky and smiles as he hears the spirit of Mufasa say, "Well done, my son. We are one."
In 1998, Disney believed that The Lion King II: Simba's Pride would be so popular that it shipped 15 million copies to stores for the October 27 release date.[4] Disney sold 3.5 million copies in three days. Thirteen million copies were sold while it was still in print in the late 90s.[5] The film was first released on VHS in the United States on October 27, 1998 and on DVD as a limited issue on November 23, 1999. The DVD was placed into moratorium on January 19, 2000. It was not released again on DVD until August 31, 2004, when it was a two-disc special edition. It went into moratorium in January 2005. The film has been rendered in high definition and, from October 4th, 2011, became available in a trilogy set with the other two films. The Blu-Ray edition for The Lion King II is scheduled for release on March 6, 2012.[6] The release is set to be released in two different packages, a two-disc package with Blu-Ray and DVD and a DVD edition. The release has also been attached with a new Timon & Pumbaa short, in which the two friends gaze at the night sky as the star constellations resemble their favorite meal, insects.[6]
The film had gained mixed to average reception. Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central stated that the film was "born of a desire to make money off of children who don't know any better and their indulgent parents who should." Siskel & Ebert gave the film a "two-thumbs up" and said it was a "satisfactory sequel to one of the most popular films of all time, The Lion King". However, they also said it was best that it went to video, citing that the music was lacking and not remotely equal to the original's soundtrack.[7]
TV Guide gave the film 2½ stars out of four, claiming that, despite being of slightly higher quality than Disney's previous direct-to-video animated sequels, "comes nowhere near the level of its big-screen predecessor", either musically or artistically. The review later went on to say that "Though most of the original characters and their voices are back, they all sound bored, apart from the zesty addition of Suzanne Pleshette as the scheming Zira. The overall result is OK for kids, who will enjoy the low humor provided by the comical meerkat Timon and the flatulent warthog Pumbaa, but it could have been so much better."[8]
There is also some debate over whether it depicts incest or not. Mufasa and Scar are brothers. Mufasa had Simba, and Simba had Kiara. Scar had Kovu. By this logic Kiara is mating with her second cousin. However it is stated by several characters during the course of the movie that Kovu is not the biological son of scar but his adoptive son. For example, when Nuka gets introduced into the movie, he's muttering the following line to himself: "Kovu, Kovu, Kovu. Scar wasn't even his father. He just took him in."
The songwriters were Marty Panzer, Tom Snow, Kevin Quinn, Randy Petersen, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Jack Feldman, Scott Warrender and Joss Whedon.
An audio CD entitled Return to Pride Rock: Songs Inspired by Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was released on September 8, 1998. Although not promoted as a soundtrack to the film, it contained all the songs from the film and some additional songs inspired by it by Lebo M. (Tina Turner recorded a version of "He Lives in You" for the film, which is not included on this album). On August 31, 2004, Disney released an "enhanced soundtrack" to coincide with the release of the film's 2-Disc Special Edition DVD. However, the CD only contains the songs featured in the film, without any of the inspired songs in The Lion King.
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