[quote="Kopalover"][quote="TheLionPrince"]Seeing as she startled a gazelle stampede when she tripped over a rock she tried to above and couldn't keep up with the running herd, she would have struggled to catch her prey if the fire outbreak didn't occur. Plus, when Kovu was teaching her to hunt, he told her that she was breathing too hard (and was making noises), so the herd would have heard this, and ran. She probably would catch her prey, but it would have took longer than Nala or the matured lionesses would take.
It's obvious that Simba's over-protection played a role in Kiara's hunting skills. It's otherwise confirmed that Simba makes judgement on it when he yells, "No more hunts for you! Not ever!" As hinted in the first movie when Scar summons Sarabi, the Queen of the Pride Lands is the leader of the hunting party. So yes, Kiara's hunting lessons fell on Nala, but Simba's over-protectiveness hindered her from being an accomplished huntress. I'm sure Nala taught her well, but Simba stood as the barrier from her hunting skills to improve. And like DGFone stated, this opened the door for Kiara and Kovu to develop their relationship at the expense of Nala's character.
One theory I have to add to the table as to why her hunting skills were below par is that her build (and her body length) wasn't fully developed yet. In this
screenshot, she only comes up to Nala's shoulder, and her body length isn't as long as her mother's. Director Darrell Rooney did mentioned that Kovu was a "teenaged killer" in the
Proud of Simba's Pride documentary, and Kiara being around that same age-span makes sense as
Romeo & Juliet serves as the inspiration for the storyline in SP...and the title characters are, you guess it, teenagers. Meanwhile, I can assume adult Nala in the first movie was much older than "adult" Kiara so her body was capable of the challenges of hunting.
So, in conclusion, I believe Kiara can be a much better hunter now that Simba doesn't have to be over-protective of her now and that her body needs to mature more.[/quote]
I agree with you.
But like she said "I don't want to be Queen", maybe she didn't want to hunt either ? She didn't want the female tasks to be put on her, she just wanted to be free?[/quote]
I was actually thinking about adding that to my post when I was typing based on what I read from cleargreenwater's post. However, I talked myself out when I remembered she appeared joyful when she was about to embark on her solo hunt before looking back to see Simba's "go ahead" nod. Also, she was assured that Simba wouldn't try to protect her, and was disappointed when he did. Going on her first hunt without Simba's interference would have gladly made her happy; it was one of the rare chances for her to get from under Simba's nose.