Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44 in VHS
• Brand: WALT DISNEY HOME VIDEO
• Model: 2077-1/C9353
• Released on: 1998-10-27
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Formats: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 81 minutes

Amazon.com
Another made-for-video sequel to a Disney masterpiece. As with the Beauty and the Beast and Pocahontas sequels, most of the recognizable vocal talents return, creating a worthwhile successor to the highest-grossing animated film ever. We pick up the story as the lion king, Simba (voiced by Matthew Broderick), and Nala (Moira Kelly) have a new baby cub, a girl named Kiara (Neve Campbell). Like her father before, she seeks adventure and ends up outside the Pridelands, where lions loyal to the evil Scar (who died in the original) have lived with revenge in their hearts. The leader, Zira (a spunky turn from Suzanne Pleshette), schemes to use her son Kovu (Jason Marsden) to destroy Simba. As luck with have it, Kiara has bumped into Kovu and fallen in love.

This all sounds familiar since all of Disney's straight-to-video sequels have played it very safe, nearly repeating the originals' story, tone, and pace. Perhaps there were too many cooks for this production. Besides the two screenplay credits, there are eight other writers credited for additional written material. The look of the film has none of the surprise of the original but is far superior to other animated videos. In fact, the film played in European theaters.

For kids, the sequel will be a favorite. The comic antics of Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumba (Ernie Sabella) are enjoyable, as is Andy Dick as Nuka, the mixed-up older son of Zira. And there's plenty of action. The best element is the music. Relying on more African-influenced music, the five songs featured are far superior to those in Disney's other sequels. Zira's song of revenge, "My Lullaby," was cowritten by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. The standout opening number, "He Lives in You," was created for the Lion King Broadway smash and now finds a whole new audience. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly Good Sequel to the 1994 Classic
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

Six stars out of five!
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!

I have to give it a star?
I'm a big fan of the film "The Lion King", and tried not to have a major stroke during the preview for "Simba's Pride". But I have a few pros and cons I'd like to share...
Cons:
1. The new characters were too under-developed. We have no glimpse of Scar's widow Zira in the original. No explaination of Kovu's father. Zira and Nuka get killed off...And the old characters, were terrible. Simba was just shallow!He threatens Zira, and then sings "We Are One"! Ha! Zazu only had about 4 lines, Nala was silent, and Serabi and Sarafina were gone!
2. Animation. In several scenes the lines were way too thick. Simba is often drawn sloppily, and after Zira drowns Kovu's scar vanishes.
3. Timon & Pumbaa. They took drama away from all the scenes they were in. They had an argument over GRUBS taken from a beer commercial. They had the first lines. Guess who?
4.Cut scenes. They removed too many scenes with the Outsiders. (See 5.)
5.The scenes with Vitani and Nuka watching the presentation should've stayed in. But, one scene was horrifying, and deserved to be removed. Zira commits suicide.
In the scene, Kiara reaches for Zira with the "I'll help you!" stuff. Zira slashes Kiara and looks into the water. She stares up at Kiara and says really blankly,"No. Never." She starts laughing and falls right in. There's a VIEW of her drowning, *shiver* and then her paw gets moved up and she dies...scary. And I heard a scene was yanked where Kovu tries impressing Kiara by trying to kill an alligator, and that was how they got in the whole mess with the alligators. It was cut that they showed blood on Kovu's scratch and that Simba died.
In short, younger audiences might like this, but I didn't.