by yagodamalina » October 13th, 2014, 11:41 pm
The first thing that caught my attention was his claim that the first act has nothing to do with the rest of the movie, and meant nothing for Simba’s character development. This is just not true, because the idea that you should take responsibility is clear throughout the whole movie: when Simba is a cub, he doesn’t realize that being king comes with huge responsibility, he just wants to have fun and get his way, but still be seen as great; when he loses his father, he refuses to take responsibility for everything that’s happened, and refuses to take responsibility for his kingdom. That’s what “remember who you are” means. Simba should remember that he’s Mufasa’s heir, and the responsibility that comes with it.
Another comment that I found somewhat “off” was about Scar. Namely, what’ s Scar fighting for in the end, when he’s seemingly lost everything? Well, it might not actually be true in the character’s perception. He doesn’t know the hyenas overheard him; he might think that by defeating Simba, he’d be able to suppress a revolt with their help (that’s also what he needed all those other hyenas for – in the deleted scene, he calls them his “executive staff”). And, even though TLK 2 was made after a few years, it also adds some motivation for Scar to fight: he also had followers among the lionesses. And he had an heir.
Concerning “Be Prepared”, it is a necessary song, because Scar was doing a different thing before: he was trying to get rid of Simba in hopes he’ll outlive Mufasa and become the king after his brother’s death, because without Simba, he’ll be next in line again. But when Mufasa showed up and saved Simba, Scar realized he can’t effectively get his nephew out of his way while Mufasa can protect him. So Scar decided to get rid of both Simba and Mufasa instead, and finally become the king after “decades of denial”.
…And, even though the review is about the first movie, Confused Matthew didn’t object about cub Kovu’s behavior in the second, as far as I recall. But didn’t cub Kovu do a somewhat similar thing to what cub Simba did in the first movie? Kovu wandered off to the border with the Pridelands (entering which is punishable for the Outsiders), while Nuka should’ve been watching him, therefore putting his brother in trouble with their abusive mother. But both Kovu and Simba later take responsibility for what they did.