The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride)

Doug (vo): When I started telling people I was doing the direct-to-DVD sequels, a lot of people were saying that Lion King 2 actually was okay. And...yeah, I see what you're talking about. It's probably the best way to describe it: okay. Is it the first film? No. But is it Belle's Magical World? No. It's not good, it's not bad, it's not incredible, but it's not awful either. It's a perfect middle-of-the-road film that you would probably expect.

Story
Doug (vo): Simba and Nala have given birth to a bouncing baby girl named Kiara, voiced by Neve Campbell. Simba shows her the ropes, just like his father did, but it turns out there's a dark, shadowy place that they need to stay away from. No, not the hyenas. Now it's the outsiders, a group of lions that liked the leadership of Scar and vowed to get the land back. Their leader, named Zira, is training a lion cub named Kovu, to be a cold-blooded killer who grows back, kills Simba, and ultimately takes control. Why him? Well, apparently, he's a...not-descendant from Scar. Yeah, it's a little confusing. He's not his son, but Scar took him in as his own, even though there was...never anything in the last movie that showed that he did... It's pretty forced and stupid, but... D'oh, it makes the message in the end so much stronger! Kiara, or course, befriends Kovu, but they're told that they're gonna grow up to be natural enemies. A few years pass, and, seemingly, it looks like Kovu wants to leave his pack, having saved Kiara's life and using that as leverage to join Simba. What they don't know is that Kovu is actually planning to kill Simba when he has the chance. Don't you know it: the two (Kiara and Kovu) just happen to get along and, of course, fall in love, and that makes things really complicated. Will love prevail in the two warring sides see their faults? Is this as clear metaphor for Romeo and Juliet as the first one was for Hamlet? Personally, I think it's clever that they're taking from Shakespeare's second-biggest play after his first-biggest play. Apart from a few other things, but...that's another story.

(A poster for Kimba the White Lion is shown)