[quote="Rollo"]I actually think the character development in SP should've been 100% better because one big chore had already been alleviated for the creators--the universe had been established. We had to spend quite a while in TLK establishing the universe and the setting. I agree that Mufasa has no character development but...why would he need it? He dies incredibly quickly in this movie. Character development cannot be done that quickly without it coming across as completely shoddy and poorly written. A great example of this is in
Gremlins where Phoebe Cates' character just suddenly decides to get her development over and done with by telling a story about her dad dying on Christmas Eve. It's supposed to be sad, but it comes across as hilarious because it's out of nowhere. A bit off-topic, yes, but a good example for those of you trying to figure out the importance of pacing your character development.
Another good example of this is... Vitani. Where is Vitani's character development? Oh, right at the end when she suddenly decides to go against her mother's wishes. Uh, sorry, what? We have almost no forewarning to that, it just happens. As a result, it's lackluster and her character suffers for it. It's not developed--it's just an instant change of character that makes no sense whatsoever. (If we had a couple of scenes showing Vitani doubting her mother, then yes, that would've been excellent character development. But we don't.)
Nuka has great character development. Probably the best in the entire film. He's not my favourite character by any means, but certainly the most interesting one in the trio of Outlander cubs.
Kiara's character development is there, but again, similarly to Vitani, there's nothing that really shows this because Kiara seems to never face any consequences, or have a moment where she realises she's wrong. A lot of people refer to her as a mary-sue because of that and I do agree that it's hard for her to be taken seriously when she seems to be the all-mighty, all-knowing heroine. I would relate to her much better if she made actual mistakes and had to pay the price. Her character development would be a lot stronger if she did.
Kovu's development could've been wonderful, but falls flat because he doesn't really have a character at all. He's a puppet for Zira, but also lacks personality in general. He is very much the 90s archetypal emo devilishly handsome male protag. We still see this in a lot of cartoon media today. If he had been fleshed out more, and we got a lot more information on his family, his relationship with Scar and his own inner turmoil, aside from a brief scene with Kiara under the stars and him looking sad during a song, then it would've been pretty good. You know, this
is TLK we're talking about. The original movie already proved that audiences can take the lion drama seriously without a song playing in the background.
Simba's further character development in TLK II is actually brilliant. I think he acts exactly as he should do, so I'll give them that. They respected him quite a bit, although the fandom make him out to be totally evil in this which is insane, but non surprising.
But yeah, character development is absolutely essential to a story. TLK wouldn't have worked if Simba's character hadn't developed and that he realised he had to face his responsibilities. We wouldn't have had a story.
EDIT: Sorry for all the edits, lol, but I don't think people realise that TLK is a
coming-of-age movie. It's Bambi in Africa. What other character development did we see in Bambi aside from Bambi's himself? It's Simba's story, not anyone else's. The reason we have more character development in Simba's Pride is because it's Kiara
and Kovu's story. It's impossible to compare the two in terms of character development because these are not similar stories.
We see Scar's character development. He goes from being pretty self-assured in his ways and rather dignified, to being a huge spoiled brat.
We see Nala's development, though it's subtle. She goes from being a carefree cub, much like Simba, to having to grow up instantly--compare that to Simba, who has the luxury of spending a pretty long time being a manchild.

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I didn't even acknowledge Vitani as an example of character development Vitani is at the top of my flaws with that movie. It has nothing with it being edgy I don't like meaningless dark stuff never have.
Kovu has a personality and it's the one someone like him would have. You say it's stereotypical but you can say that about anyone plus don't use the term emo it doesn't mean what people say it does. Kovu is lost confused and uncertain of his path. He follows in Scar's paw prints despite not really wanting to. He knows nothing about fun nor does he even understand the concept of it. He is an outsider in more ways than one and feels a great sense of burden with his mission and legacy not unlike Simba. Kovu however does show a cocky arrogant side that matches when he was a cub. He was rather prideful when declaring his rescue of Kiara and even smirks when she recognizes him. He clearly takes pride in his hunting skills, the lesson scene in particular highlights Kovu's confidence. Kovu is also very emotionally closed enough not expressing any real emotion unless required to or it is forced out. He rarely if ever raises his voice a result of being bred into a soldier by Zira. Kovu actually shows two very clear sides the soldier drone who only talks in one or two tones and is very guarded and closed off and the cub he used to be who is more expressive uncertain and opened. He fears his mother as the outland scene shows and doesn't seem to have any goal of his own beyond his mother's intentions. The whole point of Kovu is that he is a lifeless puppet who becomes a real person, him being Zira's puppet is kind of the point if he had his own agenda and agreed to the mission for personal reasons he wouldn't of betrayed the outsiders. The only reason he did is because he had no personal investment beyond his mother's wishes, nothing waiting for him. He was a puppet who realized this and when he found something he valued there was no reason to abandon it. His personality isn't very prominent at first glance but once you look at his psyche it's there and it's pretty clear. Just because Kovu is broody doesn't mean he didn't have a personality. Kovu wasn't a nineties anti hero because he wasn't an anti hero at all he didn't have his own morals he was a lifeless soldier, an anti hero is defined usually by their morals and methods Kovu didn't have any morals just what he was told.
This is just part of how much I can go into this I didn't even touch on his relationship with Kiara or Simba, there is so much I can say. This is a reoccurring thing I'm noticing Kiara has an arc and it's not what you think it is at least I'm pretty sure of that. The thing here is this Nuka, Zira, Simba, Kovu, Kiara you could break them down psychologically that's how much we know about them through what we get. All five of those characters I could write a mini psychiatric file on on their personality traits what lies hidden beneath them, what drives them and more importantly why. What are their flaws where do these flaws come from. I can't do this with anyone but Simba in the first movie maybe Scar but no one else.
That's my point LK is great with a great message and a great character arc for Simba with a great villain, LK II however just goes further and deeper there is so much buried beneath the surface regarding the characters, morals and themes. I have seen LK and LK II too many times to count but I'm still discovering things about SP I didn't notice and I have been able to recite it for years. These Thesis I write are because I keep discovering more and more as I delve deeper and deeper. I glorify SP because it deserves it because there's so much there that so few noticed that I did, did it take time yes it did but it was worth it. That's my reasoning I don't think there's anything else to say, we clearly are coming from completely different perspectives so no point in prolonging this. Just consider what I said about saying the remake cannot be as good that's not a good mind set to watch a movie with.