The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998)
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Simba's daughter Kiara falls in love with a lion from an exiled pride, sparking a conflict between their two kingdoms.
The story
King Simba and Queen Nala's daughter Kiara grows frustrated with her father's parenting and wanders into the barren Outlands. There, she encounters Kovu, a cub from an enemy pride of Scar's exiled followers called the Outsiders. After narrowly escaping a crocodile-infested river, the cubs befriend each other. However, Simba misinterprets their play as fighting and confronts Kovu, who is being secretly trained as an assassin by his mother, Zira. Zira plans to use Kovu's friendship with Kiara to kill Simba and usurp the throne, while the spirit of Mufasa seeks to reunite the estranged prides.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Years later, an adolescent Kovu rescues Kiara after her siblings Nuka and Vitani start a wildfire. Simba accepts Kovu into the Pridelanders but remains suspicious. Kovu eventually reveals he is not Scar's actual son and begins to reconsider his mission to kill Simba. Rafiki helps the two fall in love by introducing them to 'upendi.' After Kovu spends a night at Pride Rock, Zira learns of his failure to kill Simba. The Outsiders ambush Simba, tricking him into thinking Kovu betrayed him. In the battle, Nuka is killed and Simba is injured; Zira leaves a scar on his eye. Kovu turns on Zira but is exiled. Kiara argues with Simba, who realizes he will never be Mufasa, and she goes to find Kovu. They reunite and convince both prides to stop fighting. Zira attacks Simba, but Kiara pushes her off a cliff to her death. Simba welcomes the Outsiders back, and Mufasa's spirit congratulates him.
- First release year
- 1998
- Runtime (minutes)
- 80
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Darrell Rooney
- Writers
- Flip Kobler · screenplay; Cindy Marcus · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Matthew Broderick · Simba; Neve Campbell · Kiara; Andy Dick · Nuka; Robert Guillaume · Rafiki; James Earl Jones · Mufasa; Moira Kelly · Nala; Nathan Lane · Timon; Jason Marsden · Kovu
- Genres
- musical drama; adventure; comedy; coming-of-age; romantic drama
- Themes
- prejudice; dysfunctional families; father-daughter relationships; royalty
- Tone and mood
- musical; drama; adventure
- Premise and plot tags
- sequel; coming-of-age; romance; animated
- Source material / true-story basis
- William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
- Franchise connections
- The Lion King
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences, though it was noted to be less of a success than its predecessor. It was a major commercial success for a direct-to-video release, selling over 15 million copies.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 67% · review count: 12; Rotten Tomatoes · score: 6.1/10 · scale: 10
- Production trivia
- The film was intended to be a variation of Romeo and Juliet.; The character Binti was dropped from the film.; The character Aisha was renamed Kiara because Aisha was the name of a female Power Ranger.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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