DOUG: When I started telling people I was doing the Direct-to-DVD sequels, a lot of people were saying that The Lion King II actually was okay.

and... yeah, I see what they'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 the perfect middle-of-the-road film you'd probably expect.

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 vow to get the land back.

Their leader, named Zira, is training a lion cub, named Kovu,

to be a cold-blooded killer who grows up, 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, oh it makes the message in the end so much stronger!

Kiara, of course, befriends Kovu. but they're told they're going to 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 Kovu is actually planning to kill Simba when he has the chance.

Wouldn't you know it, the two just happen to get along and, of course, fall in love, and that makes things *really* complicated.

Will love prevail and the two warring sides see their faults?

Is this as clear a metaphor for Romeo & 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.)

The old characters like Simba, Timon, Pumbaa and Zazu

all feel kinda recycled, even with the original voice actors coming back.

but the new characters and their actors seem to breathe this very likeable life into them.

I really like the people they got to play the new parts

where the original actors, while not all bad, just kinda feel like they're doing their usual schtick

Rafiki has a song that doesn't really add much,

Simba has a cool dream sequence, but outside of that, he's just kinda the mean father.

Nala's practically pointless, Timon & Pumbaa I didn't even like that much in the first film, now in the sequel we get the table scraps of that comedy.

but everyone else really seems to care about this story, even if it doesn't always make sense.

It's almost cruel to compare the animation of this one to the original

as the original was one of the BIGGEST animated movies ever made.

It's just HUGE! it's one of the few films where, when they re-release it, I go to see it on the big screen every time.

Now we have that animation budget cut in half, and what do you expect? it's Direct-to-Video.

and as Direct-to-Video goes, it's not bad.

they still have some of that nice line work and try to work in some good backgrounds, but yeah.

You're always gonna be comparing it to how good the first one looked, and that's always gonna be a little distracting.

But honestly, for what it is, it's pretty decent.

The songs I surprisingly kinda like.

I even found myself humming some of them after the movie was done.

"We are One" is a nice melody,

and "Upendi" while pointless is still a nice rhythm.

And even the song "He Lives in You." I think that's in the broadway version, isn't it?

So you know that's gotta be pretty solid.

In many respects, this film doesn't NEED to exist.

The first "Lion King" truly was a spectacle to look at

And when you do a Direct-to-DVD movie that's trying to capture something similar, you know you're not gonna get it.

so it almost seems pointless.

But, if I was forced to make a Direct-to-Video sequel on "The Lion King," this is probably what I would turn in, too.

There is a lot of effort, in what I'm sure is not a lot of time and not a lot of money.

at least, by Disney feature film standards.

Is it awkward at times? yeah, but it still had enough character to it that even if I felt like I knew what was gonna happen, I still wanted to see it happen.

If it was a feature film, I'd probably be a little harder on it, but since it's a Direct-to-Video movie, I think it's okay.

It gave me exactly what I expected and nothing really more, but I wasn't expecting more. If anything I was expecting less.

If you wanna see something on-par with the first "Lion King," you're definitely not gonna get that here, but honestly I don't know anyone who thinks they're gonna get that.

If you wanna see a sort-of TV sequel with better-than-TV animation, I think this one's fine.

Kind of a middle-of-the-road review, but it's kind of a middle-of-the-road movie.

Pop it in and judge for yourself.

[Music swells]