The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride [G]

Now the king of his own pride, Simba is also the father of a beautiful cub named Kiara, who is every bit as rambunctious and defiant as he was when he was young. Whilst exploring the Pride Lands, Kiara one day ventures from the path and ends up in the Outlands where she meets Kovu: son of Zira and chosen heir of Scar. Their friendship is short-lived until many years later when they are all grown up and cross paths again when Kovu saves Kiara from a fire that he and his pride of Outlanders deliberately started. The plan is to get close to Kiara and then kill Simba and take control of the Pride Lands, but it soon changes when Kovu falls in love with Kiara and the two realise that they are the only hope of ending the feud between their prides. 

This has to be, without a doubt, the best Disney sequel to be created. Sequels were made of pretty much all the Disney classics and, though I haven’t seen all of them because I think it’s blasphemous to do such a thing, I have to seriously say that this is the best. The Return of Jafar has its merits, though it tended towards the more comedic side-character-becomes-the-hero type side, but Simba’s Pride takes the cake for me because it harbours everything from romance to drama to comedy and war. There are some really lovely morals about love and equality to be taken from this film, practically all the original stars reprise their roles, and the script does not degrade itself to being something of a cheesy and comedic nature. By no means as emotive and irrevocably beautiful as the first one, The Lion King 2 is still a beautiful little movie that I’ll want my kids to grow up on.

Now the king of his own pride, Simba is also the father of a beautiful cub named Kiara, who is every bit as rambunctious and defiant as he was when he was young. Whilst exploring the Pride Lands, Kiara one day ventures from the path and ends up in the Outlands where she meets Kovu: son of Zira and chosen heir of Scar. Their friendship is short-lived until many years later when they are all grown up and cross paths again when Kovu saves Kiara from a fire that he and his pride of Outlanders deliberately started. The plan is to get close to Kiara and then kill Simba and take control of the Pride Lands, but it soon changes when Kovu falls in love with Kiara and the two realise that they are the only hope of ending the feud between their prides.

As an English student, I just love all the meanings and metaphors that are associated with the word “pride” in this flick. It seems that the film’s central stories and morals all revolve around that one word: we’ve got the literal pride that Simba is now king of, then we have the emotional pride that blinds him and creates prejudices towards the Outsiders and visa versa. Simba’s “pride” could also be his daughter, Kiara, and how she grows and develops a whole new type of wisdom that is very reflective of Pocahontas. Maybe it doesn’t mean to do it, but this movie offers more food for thought than could be expected from an animated family feature. I love that.
All our favourite characters are back with the addition of a few new ones, I particularly love that the villain is female this time and has a real animal sensuality about her, even though she is power-hungry and deranged. We’ve also got catchy new songs that bring substance, romance, and drama into the mix. Lovely.
Featuring the voice talents of Matthew Broderick, Neve Campbell, Andy Dick, Robert Guillaume, James Earl Jones, Moira Kelly, Nathan Lane, Jason Marsden, Suzanne Pleshette, and Ernie Sabella, The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride is a lovely sequel that stands up and roars at its predecessor, though of course The Lion King comes out on top. Filled with music, romance, action, war, prejudice, drama, and comedy, I really love it.