The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998, VHS)

I bought this movie, having loved the first Lion King, and while I doubted that it would fully live up to the first, hoped that it would carry on some of the good traits of its predecessor.
While overall I think that it is about half (if that much) as good as the first, I will be the first to admit that for some reason I'm mesmerized by it and thoroughly enjoy watching this film over and over again. I will go into further detail a little later as to why I dislike and/or liked this movie.
I'm nineteen years old and do not understand why certain things scare children but what baffles me further is how so many parents think that simply because a film is animated, that it will be acceptable for their children. Parents complain that the first was wonderful and the kiddies liked it, but how Simba's Pride bubbles over with hatred and evil.
Um, did I miss something, or does the thought of a child witnessing his father's death not bother most kids? Or, as the audience, you know and see that not only was the father killed, but his own brother was the murderer? How about that last scene where the starved hyenas kill Scar amongst mighty roaring flames? It's my belief that for years now Disney has been making films that aren't suitable for many of the young children I see in the theaters witnessing them. They should be rated PG, I think, but then Disney would lose its precious image (which I see as tarnished, full of potty jokes and violence.) Even my husband isn't fond of the bodily humor common in today's Disney films.
That being put out; if your kids were not scarred by The Lion King, they'll probably be fine with this one. The movie is a shade darker, I'll admit, but overall its message is one of love and acceptance. I was ecstatic to see the lionesses of Scar's (Scar was the villain in the first movie) pride, led by his own daughter, turn to the "light" side. To me this showed that there is good in everyone. Zira (Scar's wife/mate) let her pride and self-pity get in her way and ended up dying as the result.

**Positives**

What else did I like about the movie...I've always liked the wide variety of species portrayed in the first Lion King; there are far more than your "classic" African animals like lions, zebras, and elephants. If your child/ren love animals as much as I do then they should like the wide array of creatures portrayed, such as Kudu, Oryx (different kinds of antelope), baboons, hornbills, and many other kinds of animals. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the person!) there are no hyenas this go round.
And, as I mentioned above, the characters were likable except for a select few (which I will list in my negative paragraph); the storyline is very similar to Romeo and Juliet except the two young lovers don't die. The end scene is very joyful and you see the two lion families united as one, a very triumphant feel to the whole end of the movie...As an added bonus the new royal lion cub is a little female this time, so I enjoyed seeing a Disney heroine with some attitude for once. As a parallel, she resembles Nala, her mother, from the first movie.

**Negatives**

Now, what didn't I like. There's a bunch of this too. I mentioned characters I didn't like...There's Timon and Pumbaa, the annoying pair always ready with potty jokes or gross-out humor (eating grubs, flatulence humor.) They're annoying and Timon, the meerkat, is even more arrogant in this movie than in the first. Speaking of meanness...Much of what comes out of Timon's mouth is mean.
There's Scar's son, who doesn't make it to the end of the movie (thank goodness). He's nerve-grating, and overly helpless, a lame character who was placed in the script for comic relief when Timon and Pumbaa aren't present.
Scar's wife/mate throws the word "hate" around an awful lot, and even gives her other son a crash-course in Villainy 101 (don't worry, in the end, good pulls through).
The music is utter bunk. Horrible. Like another reviewer said, she doesn't go to movies for music, and neither do I...But I found the music so cheesy, so "kiddie", and without any of the real beauty that I think the first soundtrack possessed, that I found myself distracted from what was going on. In summary, I couldn't ignore it, it wasn't neutral...It detracted from my viewing pleasure.
Another point, the animation was not poor, but definitely below the par of the first Lion King. Some of the (relatively) natural-looking animals portrayed in the first movie lost their appeal to me with the addition of more "cartoony" eye-white and human expression. While a younger child might not notice, or even appreciate, older audiences might scoff at it being "cutesy" as I did.
All of which leads me to my final major dislike of the movie: the sort of saccharine-sweet flavor to some parts of the film that leave a really bad taste in my mouth. Such minor details like the humanization of some of the non-character animals and the music come to mind. I know it sounds like I'm being anal but little details like this really bother me if they're not resolved in my head, and I know I'm not the only one like that. I know it's not a nature documentary, but you're talking to the girl who watched Discovery channel instead of Nickelodeon! :-)
Speaking of minor details...Some parents might worry about the implied incest of a pairing between the granddaughter of Mufasa (the king in the original Lion King) and the son of his brother Scar. It's clearly stated several times in the movie that Kovu, Scar's heir and the secondary main character, is NOT Scar's son. He is, however, the son of Scar's consort, so...I think that Disney realized its mistake at the last minute and threw the lines in there to soothe parents. It's made almost too clear that Kovu is not Scar's son...Which leads to a whole other set of discrepancies, which I shall eschew for the reader's sanity...

In summary, I found this movie of below average quality, but still quite enjoyable. There are no major objections other than those I have mentioned: mainly, the music. The others are minor details that probably would be overlooked or would probably not bother the average consumer. Still a very pretty movie with a good pure message at its heart, despite a few insignificant dark spots.