Bunga; or the lion guard writers trying too hard to make...

[Rollo]

.

[Gaze]

it's especially annoying because IMO, the non-Bunga-related toilet humor in the show has actually been pretty funny (like Simba's mishap at the elephant funeral, and Ono's casual "that's not mud!" line). it's a shame they can execute those jokes so well, but there's really nothing genuinely entertaining or creative about the Bunga fart jokes.

[Elton John]

I abhor toilet humor, to me it is never funny.

[Rollo]

.

[Squeely]

I agree with this. When Timon and Pumbaa debuted in TLK, toilet humor in children's entertainment wasn't widespread. TLK usually kept things subtle, or tongue-in-cheek. Fast forward a little over 20 years, and it's like adults think kids will automatically find a fart funny. We have characters that literally spout gibberish and crack up at their own farts (Minions). It's getting really, really old, so it's no surprise Bunga has become unpopular with older fans. We've heard the joke already, and it wasn't even that funny the first time.

[quote="Sadiki"]it's especially annoying because IMO, the non-Bunga-related toilet humor in the show has actually been pretty funny (like Simba's mishap at the elephant funeral, and Ono's casual "that's not mud!" line). it's a shame they can execute those jokes so well, but there's really nothing genuinely entertaining or creative about the Bunga fart jokes.[/quote]
I also agree with this. There was enough thought put into these jokes to make me chuckle. The mistake they make with Bunga is they assume fart = automatically funny. It doesn't. A joke needs more thought put into it than that.

That said, I really like Bunga. Once you look past the farting and the annoying catchphrases, you see that he does really care about his friends. He's had some very sweet moments, he's cute, I can't help but love the guy. And it seems like the writers have been gradually toning him down, which is welcome.

[Amur_Tiger]

[quote="Alexterri1"]^ Honestly, if there's one thing that bugs me about the original movie, it's that, if the message of the movie is that you shouldn't shirk your responsibilities and that life isn't all happy daisy sunshine, why does Hakuna Matata get its own song? And why is it one of the most iconic parts of the film? [/quote]

I can't speak to TLG stuff as I haven't seen it but I'd like to respond to this and perhaps shed some light on why T&P end up the way they do.

To quote an 'Honest Trailers' rendition of the song:
"I went through trauma
At a very young age
They just killed my dad
Forget all thaaaaat"

This is really the crux of T&P's role, the audience just witnessed a traumatic scene with Mufasa's death it's now time to 'send in the clowns' to lighten the mood and lessen the impact of what you just saw. I don't think this makes for good movies but it does make for a more PG movie then would have come out if you treated the childhood trauma & depression seriously. Would have been awfully powerful if they had done the latter but that's not really in Disney's nature and I can't really blame them from shying away from that alternative. I suppose another option might have been just cutting out everything Simba between him running off and Nala finding him but I think that'd just further cheapen the whole thing.

Of course being clowns they don't have a lot of room to show character and depth and those initial characterizations stick with the characters.

[Ninclow]

[quote="Elton John"]My complaint about the song 'zuka zama' is that the lyrics don't flow very well at all.[/quote]

You should try hear the Norwegian version. When I saw it the first time, I came dangerously close to paying off someone to beat up the guy who translated the song, and I'm just a 22 year old guy with no official education. The Norwegian version is much, MUCH worse in how the 'lyrics flow', and as for the original version, I think Bunga is spot on. The kid voicing him does an excellent job with what he get to work with, unlike some Norwegian kids dubbing the show... Someone should get (me for example) anyone else than the Norwegian Disney director to direct the kids in how to voice the characters. They do terrible, and probably don't even know it.

[Elton John]

[quote="Ninclow"][quote="Elton John"]My complaint about the song 'zuka zama' is that the lyrics don't flow very well at all.[/quote]

You should try hear the Norwegian version. When I saw it the first time, I came dangerously close to paying off someone to beat up the guy who translated the song, and I'm just a 22 year old guy with no official education. The Norwegian version is much, MUCH worse in how the 'lyrics flow', and as for the original version, I think Bunga is spot on. The kid voicing him does an excellent job with what he get to work with, unlike some Norwegian kids dubbing the show... Someone should get (me for example) anyone else than the Norwegian Disney director to direct the kids in how to voice the characters. They do terrible, and probably don't even know it.[/quote]

That doesn't sound good.

And tlk wasn't going to be pg because the previous disney pg rated film, the black cauldren was such a financial disaster that it almost closed down walt disney animation studios. That or oliver and company, I forget which was almost the straw that broke the camels back.

They needed the levity in the movie to keep things from getting too depressing and away from a pg rating. TLK wasn't a sure success as many of you know that disney had little faith in the movie and placed a lot of their veteran animators on pocahontas. I forgot who but a disney exec questioned the film by saying 'nobody is going to watch this' or something close to that.

[Ninclow]

I know that some talk about Bunga's annoying voice, yet I can't help but find that the original voice cast was more or less flawless. Sure, they recast some people, but when TLG Simba speaks, it genuinely sounds like Simba. Not 'the' Simba, but I have little trouble hearing who the replacement are trying to portray. The same goes for Timon. The new Timon is sufficiently similar to the original voice that I sometimes forget its not the same actor.

I was uncertain of whom they would use to voice Kion, but Max Charles - utterly and completely ingenious!
I also like the kid voicing Bunga, the energy and 'thrill' sounds genuine, and I like that.

Unlike with our dub, with mismatched voices for almost everyone but Kiara, Simba, Nala and Zazu. Kion and Bunga sounds so similar that I can't help but think there are some kid on a studio in the capital or somewhere talking to himself, and Ono, the kid voicing him would actually be a good match for a Norwegian-speaking Bunga.

I've listened to 'Kion's lament' in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish in addition to the original version, and both of our neighboring countries translated the show better and the kids of the two latter countries did a way better job making a non-Max Chales Kion sounds real and believable. Please take specific notice of how I speak well of Sweden's processing the show, because this comes from a Norwegian, and that should tell you something.

[Gaze]

[quote="Ninclow"]Sure, they recast some people, but when TLG Simba speaks, it genuinely sounds like Simba. Not 'the' Simba, but I have little trouble hearing who the replacement are trying to portray. The same goes for Timon. The new Timon is sufficiently similar to the original voice that I sometimes forget its not the same actor.[/quote]
I agree. I didn't notice anything wrong with TLG Simba's voice until I saw a lot of other people were disappointed about it. now that everyone else has pointed it out, I do occasionally notice.....but I actually think the problem isn't so much with Simba's voice actor himself, but rather the delivery of the lines. I'm just not used to Simba sounding as serious as he does in TLG!