Did the writers miss the entire story?

[DGFone]

In Simba's Pride, the tag line for the movie might as well be "We are one."

This line is at its core what SP is about. And at the end, Mufasa's line, "well done my son," should have been the real ending of SP. I know that SP was about Kiara and Kovu reuniting the Pride Landers and Outsiders à la Rome and Juliet (therefore the ending of them getting married), but the writers missed the real story: Of Simba trying to live up to his expectations of what he believes Mufasa would have ruled as. Much more of the movie should have been about Simba's struggle as he tries to live up to basically a perfect image of his father, and instead we get most of the movie being some side story with Kiara and Kovu. As Timon says: "Oy!"

So for me, Mufasa's praise of Simba in the end is how the movie should have ended. It would have made SP better, and it would have made the two movies closer linked. SP just sorta copied The Lion King scene by scene, and adopting them to fit the SP characters, but if they had went with the Simba/Mufasa plot, they could have done much more. The writers would have had a real reason as to why have Mufasa speak at the end: to have the duo movies have a book end, with Simba and Mufasa finally united again, even if only by spirit and not body.

And think about it: SP starts with "He Lives in You." Not some love song. The intro sets up the movie to be about Simba and Mufasa, as Mufasa lives in Simba, while Kiara doesn't quite live in Kovu. Even the title itself is "Simba's Pride", not "Kiara and Kovu". Yes, no one would call SP "Kiara and Kovu", because initially, no one would know who they are, but the title "Simba's Pride" makes you want to have Simba being the main character, no?

So what do you guys think: Was Simba's Pride good the way it is, or do you think like me, that the small side story of Simba living up to Mufasa's standards should have been what the movie was about.

[cleargreenwater]

No, they dropped the ball on it.

Apparently according to not just SP but most children's movies, development/growth stops the moment someone becomes a parent and Parents becomes a concept. In most kids movies, though, this is fine because it keeps the plot simpler and suits it's audience; in a movie in the TLK franchise though it's a very apparent weakness, because the first original Lion King was a coming of age story and we being to think of Simba grappling with deeper themes in the manner of a guiding myth sort of. So the way the story involved Simba only in as much as SP could continue to revolve around Kiara was a major disservice. I had enjoyed growing up with Simba as a teenager; I would have dearly loved to have continued to watch him develop and possibly grow with him just a little more.

Instead we get Kiara Being Right (tm), and Simba being a bigot and the only growth being Seeing The Error of His Ways.

Because you know, none of this could have been a struggle or challenge for him personally worth focusing on at all.

[Lauren]

As much as I am a big Simba fan, here's what I think. I think that probably having two of the subplots (Simba living up to Mufasa's place/Kiara and Kovu's love story) at the same time throughout the movie would have been alright with me, but I'm fine with the actual movie itself. People who aren't that much of a Simba fan would have probably been annoyed if everything was always about him and not enough about the other characters. If this was the case, we would have been questioning about how were the other characters in the movie. Of course, we saw how his child was like and how he was dealing with his fatherhood, but we did see a few moments with him trying to live up to Mufasa's standards without actually happening. Well, symbolically, the movie was also about Simba dealing with his shadow side but I felt that it managed to keep the real story working alright. I'm not sure how to quite explain it, but that's my opinion.

[SophieCub]

I never thought of it that way but that would have been a good storyline for SP. But I quite like it the way it is. You have to remember this is a movie made for kids so they make it more simple and I like how it showed you Kiara making the same mistakes as Simba did and her learning from them like he did. Both storylines would have been great for SP but it is what it is. Simba is a great character and most people love him but it's good to let other characters have a shot in the main role. If your unhappy with SP, you could always make your own fanfiction with what you wanted to happen. But I'm quite happy with the way everything turned out. It was nice to see Simba having a daughter and him teaching her things his father taught him when he was her age. Everyone has their own opinions of SP and most people will agree with you but I was happy with it. ^^

[morning-star]

I think it's great the way it is -both stories are needed for each one to work -simba learns from kiara about the whole 'we are one' thing (though he knew it all along and partly taught her that) and he learns becomes more like his father because kiara, grows, learns to love and is influenced by simba's actions -what I'm trying to say is that both stories interconnect and support each other, and one story line on its own would be weaker without the other.

[SimbasGuard]

I also like Simba's Pride (yes there are things I would have liked to see within it, but I do love the movie). I also really like DGFone's idea, more focus on Simba would not have been a bad thing.

[Regulus]

Well, that is a good point. I'm surprised I never really thought of it that way.

But, I'm just going to add that the ending lines in SP should have been in the original, as with he lives in you. Although I wouldn't want to take the circle of life out of the ending.

In fact, I kinda think SP as a whole was a bit unnecessary. There really weren't any loose ends to be tied up at the end of TLK. That's why we get Zira and the Outsiders. It's kinda like Disney created more characters just so that they could make a sequel. We don't have any sort of canonical explanation as to what happened to Kopa, Zira, and the Outsiders after Simba took over.

[morning-star]

yes it was a little unnecessary - but I'm sure it lined the disney pockets nicely

-and its the best damn squeal of any movie I have ever seen

[SimbasGuard]

I have to politely disagree with that Simba's Pride in My view was necessary. I desperately wanted there to be a sequel, I wanted to see Simba and Nala again. I wanted to know the name of their cub (I didn't have the internet in 1994 and I literally did not know of a Cannon name for the cub until I bought The Black Cauldron on VHS in 1998) Had Simba's Pride not been made I could very well be insane by now. However I admit that certain things about the movie could have been better, it was still a great movie.

[Lauren]

[quote="SimbasGuard"]I have to politely disagree with that Simba's Pride in My view was necessary. I desperately wanted there to be a sequel, I wanted to see Simba and Nala again. I wanted to know the name of their cub (I didn't have the internet in 1994 and I literally did not know of a Cannon name for the cub until I bought The Black Cauldron on VHS in 1998) Had Simba's Pride not been made I could very well be insane by now. However I admit that certain things about the movie could have been better, it was still a great movie.[/quote]
I am the same way. Even though I already explained my thoughts in the last post, I still appreciate this sequel very much. ^^