Zazu- love him or hate him?

[KentuckyWildcat]

I like Zazu. His wit and intelligence are underrated.

[TheBlackCatCrossing]

I like Zazu. He is the straight man who gets overlooked. He is the straight man and the comedian. I remember laughing when I first saw Zazu and Timon hugging in the ribcage towards the end of the movie.

[Lauren]

Not one of my favorite characters, but I have nothing against Zazu. I suppose he's alright with me.

[Dark Huntress]

I love him! He's so stuckupish! They kinda ruined him in SP though-he was so good in TLK!

[TheGunner18]

One does not simply make Zazu a marmite preposition! There's always a grey area :3 Most of the time anwyay.

I think he's a very respectable character with the right ethics and all that. He wants the best for everyone and that's a very good thing!

[Carl]

I like Zazu. I don't love the character, but I like him; always have. In fact, I remember as a youth I would often quote our feathered friend.

[MooLion]

Oh yeah, would like to add I feel they ruined him in the sequels. Hardly in it... guess he wasn't so needed really... but when he was it was not the same character. It would have been a waste for Rowan to return for sure.

There's a bit in TLK3 that bothers me when Mufasa and Zazu rush past T&P and Zazu says somethng like ''quick, the cubs are trapped by the hyenas!''. I'm pretty sure before then he would have told Mufasa the situation, even with Muf making a dash for it; they were already going the right way. Just struck me as an unnecessary comment.

[Akril]

He is definitely under-appreciated. Even if he is used almost solely for comic relief in most tie-in material, he's actually one of the best supporting characters in TLK.

In the original movie he does come across as a pompous authority figure at first, but for the most part, he is only trying to do what is best for Simba and serve his king -- just a guy trying to do his job. He takes more abuse than practically any other character in the movie, yet he always gets back up and never stops trying. He is somewhat pompous, but he has a razor-sharp wit as well. Yes, he does spoil Simba and Nala's fun, but he is only trying to save them from a very real threat -- heck, he actually saves their lives when they're in the elephant graveyard. How else would have Mufasa have known where his son was?

Then, despite how much he scolded Simba for getting into trouble earlier (not to mention the way Simba teased him and used him for pouncing practice), he shows genuine sympathy for Simba before escorting Nala back to Pride Rock. The way he acts when Scar tells the pride about Simba's and Mufasa's deaths makes it clear that he really cared about them, and it's really touching how he tries to comfort the widowed Sarabi. Yet, even when things are darkest, he even makes some jokes at Scar's expense, despite the horrible circumstances he is in.

He was pretty underutilized in Simba's Pride, but that's mostly because he didn't have that much to do during the story. Timon and Pumbaa take over his cub-watching role (and do a much worse job than he does), and the only thing he actually does is find Kiara during the fire and tell Simba that the Outsiders are on the warpath. Then when Simba sends him off to find Kiara again, we don't see him until the final scene. What a horror it must have been for Zazu to spend the night searching in vain for Kiara, only to return to Pride Rock to find it swarming with Outsiders. As if planning to get help to save Mufasa and Simba during the stampede, then getting knocked unconscious and waking up to discover that Mufasa is dead and (allegedly) so is Simba wasn't traumatic enough.

Also, this comic. I love how Zazu is in it. He pretty much mocks Simba nearly the entire time, but he still gets him out of trouble, even helping Simba do the very thing that Zazu was mocking him for attempting.

[PrincessKiara]

I love Zazu! He is a comic relief character and is mistreated quite severly throughout the first movie, poor bird.
But I think he is a sympathetic and likeable guy. He obviously loves and respects Mufasa and Sarabi, and wants to do a good job at serving the royal couple, whatever service they may require from him, from gathering news to watching over mischievous crownprinces.

I like his sense of humour and the interactions he has with Simba are very interesting in the way they range - in some scenes Simba is being extremly disrespectful to him, but Zazu still comes through for him and offers his support, and I think in the end Zazu was proud to start serving him as the new king.

As far as comic relief characters go, Zazu is definitly one of my top favourites.

[MrTitans]

Eh don't love him but don't hate him either. He is just a supporting character to all the other main characters so you can't get rid of him. He just help make the movie have more depth if that is the right word