Nuka is one of those characters that didn't get popularity very quickly because visually, he wasn't appealing to the eye, but you couldn't help but feel sorry for him when he died. It's typical for hollywood and in other movies to have the more attractive and brightly colored characters be the main characters. If not the good characters. Funny, in the 90s, Disney showed Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame and both the leading males, were not very attractive. (Others may disagree with me on this, but think about it, it was about finding beauty on the inside, that was the moral of both films) Now they showed this film and Kovu is as cute and attractive as heck, and he is the main male character. So...it's just funny how the Disney studios evolved over the years...
Personally, the studio should have added that line, "I finally got your attention." and has Zira just stare gapping, not smile softly like she did.
Zira seemed to blame everyone else but herself, again she is the villain of the film, but she's a realistic villain.
Anyhow, on with Nuka, I actually liked this character better then Kovu. I thought he had more depth and I can actually relate myself with him. He was funny and neuratic.
And the comments about the less drama in this film...well wait...the ORIGINAL film was a family/children's film and look at all of the drama it had! So to me...many disney sequels in the late 90s to the early 2000s were dumbed down from the originals. I'm not trying to say the LK sequel was a terrible sequel, but it just could be SO much better in so MANY ways. They could have filled those plot holes with the family tree of the LK lions and probably some other things too.