Is Zazu a completly worthless character?

[DGFone]

[quote="EdtheHyena"]But Scar had already warned Mufasa in time. From what I recall, all Zazu did was tell Simba his father was coming.
[/quote]

Except that you are forgetting a very important part.

Scar only mentioned that there is a stampede in the gorge, and that Simba is down there too. In terms of Mufasa actually finding his son on that information, it's rather useless, as the gorge is a rather large canyon to look for a small lion cub in the middle of a stampede made up of easily thousands of animals much larger than Simba. This is not even taking all the dust into account.

Zazu actually found Simba and immediately relayed his exact position to Mufasa: "There! There! On that tree!" If Zazu didn't show Mufasa exactly which tree Simba was on, the cub would have been history.

[Carl]

[quote="EdtheHyena"]But Scar had already warned Mufasa in time. From what I recall, all Zazu did was tell Simba his father was coming.[/quote]
As DGF said, he pointed out Simba's exact location to Mufasa. Scar warned him of the stampede, but Scar didn't know where Simba was in there either, he'd left to fetch Mufasa. If Zazu hadn't pointed out Simba's location, Simba would have died alongside Mufasa as Scar had planned.

[quote]He didn't take part in the battle, he didn't help Simba regain the throne[/quote]
Actually, there was another thread that discussed this, and in fact, Zazu has a line during the battle "Take that, you stupid..." he's not on-screen, as he was in the cave of Pride Rock, but that proves he did take part in the battle.

[quote]Zazu may be a bird, but sure doesn't seem like one. All of the times he could escape by just flying he doesn't. If they're going to give the movie a bird character, at least make him one who can fly.[/quote]
He doesn't escape by flying away because he's loyal to Mufasa and the lionesses. He doesn't want to abandon them, and, they could have used him for something. This is presumably also why Scar confined him to the rib cage in the den on Pride Rock, so that he couldn't assist in anyway, because he can't fly through bones.

[Timon the great]

I wouldn't say so. To say that Zazu is a "worthless character" is going a little overboard.

Although he is my least favorite TLK film character, I don't disrespect him which is the wrong thing to do. Just like all the other ones, he serves a purpose in the films as well. And so this is something to consider firsthand.

It kind of goes back to Timon being a non-lion character as well but has a bigger role in the films than Zazu, and also being the central main protagonist of TLK 3.

But in my opinion about himself, I don't see how Zazu served much comic relief to this TLK film when even Scar and the other main main characters had some of their own too in the movie.
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On a side note and based on what was written by the topic poster, "The Lion King" is simply the title of this and its following two film works. It's used to identify this work out there and it doesn't determine that that is what the films are actually about.

It goes with basically every film out there that is truly good. But then again, each and every film is its own work, despite if its also part of a franchise.

[SimbaTheShiningStar]

I don't think Zazu is a worthless character, he was there to look out for Simba when Mufasa and Sarabi weren't. He would have been the one to lead Mufasa to the cubs when they were trapped in the elephant graveyard, and he guided Mufasa to Simba's location in the middle of the stampede. So he practically saved Simba's (and Nala's) life. And not to mention he was kind of a mentor to cub Simba, comforting him and giving him encouragement before being disciplined by his father.
It was also nice to see Zazu at the end, watching Simba climb Pride Rock to take his place as king. You could see how proud he felt that the mischievous little cub he had babysat was now the leader of his pride.
I like Zazu, I think he is too underrated

[EdtheHyena]

Um...I don't think Zazu saving Simba and Nala meant anything, considering the glare Mufasa gave him after he scared the hyenas off.

On the other hand, he did result in some pretty funny episodes on the Timon and Pumbaa show, but it would have been fine without him.

[Carl]

^How so? If he hadn't saved them, the movie would have ended.

[EdtheHyena]

Well, I guess you could also look at it as if he wasn't there, they wouldn't have been there in the first place...

[Carl]

How do you figure? If it was necessary, Simba would have snuck away with Nala in tow. However, in reality they probably would have had another babysitter, most likely a young lioness, that would have been unable to do what Zazu could without flight. In this case, the babysitter could not have saved the cubs as easily, if at all. And if the cubs snuck away, which as mischievous as Simba was, they would have if it was the only way to go to the graveyard, then they would have been completely alone, and would have been killed right there.

[zinxscar]

I always thought of Zazu being there for that extra comedic effect once in a while, such as him having the lines "No the birdie boiler!" and "He'd make a very nice throw rug." He also helped with the introduction of Scar, which was the intrtoduction for the movie as well! So he's not utterly pointless, but personally he could in fact have been removed. I would have loved Mheetu to actually take his place! Mheetu I feel would have been a wonderful addition, as he would have most likely shown what the rule of Scar was like, and how he would have been treated as another male in the pride.

[ScarLoyal]

Hm. Well I don't like Zazu but I don't hate him. He's like one of those 'nerdy' or 'serious' characters that don't condone silliness or ridicule. And you have to remember that he is Mufasa's Majordomo, he helps and assists him.