My Lion King Forum

...because they took the hyenas out of it, this movie isn't worth watching?

I dunno...I haven't seen all of it...I started and got bored. It just isn't worth it. As I've said before, Shenzi, Banzai, Ed, and the pack are the only reason I like the series. I hate pretty much everything about it, to be honest---the songs, the overdone animation, the other animals, the toilet humor...it just feels babyish.


When I see the hyenas, though, I feel like I'm watching Family Guy or some really funny animated adult show. I also really love hyenas in general, and find them quite beautiful, in stark contrast to the other characters of the movie. I feel they have extreme potential, yet were extremely underused throughtout the franchise, not just by discluding them from this film but from their lack of involvement in the third (which I could almost forgive if they didn't disappear out of it without so much as a last good scene).

I dunno. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I feel that SP is the worst movie of the franchise solely for the reason that they got rid of the one thing I respected it for.

No. I like TLK because of the lions. Simba's Pride is awesome!

I was initially disappointed it didn't have the hyenas in. When I used to imagine what a sequel for TLK could be like, I pretty much envisioned a 'Hyena's Return' for it. So yeah, I did miss the hyenas not being in Simba's Pride. Maybe it feels a bit too lion-y and hyena characters would have mixed it up some more. Anyway, as soon as I just accepted SP was as it was, it didn't bother me anymore. I was pleased they made an appearance in the third film, but then the were drawn oddly in a lot of the scenes...

To directly answer your first question: I do not think it's not worth watching just because there's no hyenas. It still works as a film; the hyenas being there was not vital for it.

Maybe some other hyena fans are too. I like the hyenas but it never bothered me that they weren't in the film. Simba's Pride is actually my favorite thing in The Lion King franchise. It would have been nice to see them. It would be interesting if the movie was about uniting the hyenas and the Pride Lands.

Oh yeah, that would be cool.

I love the hyenas to bits, so I understand where you're coming from. But if you can get over their absence, the awkward animation moments, the sub-par music (aside from some tracks), the plot holes (Kovu was adopted by Scar? Hello? Kovu is roughly the same age as Kiara, [maybe he's a little older, but that doesn't allow much room for error here] and what we presume to be Kiara is born by the end of the first film, after we see Scar get torn apart by the hyenas.), it's actually not too bad of a film.

It would have been a lot better if they fixed up the aforementioned issues and kept in some deleted scenes (actually one specific scene that I think really would have enhanced the film ) - but in its current state it's a decent film and I like it, even without the hyenas. I think every Lion King fan should at least give it a chance. ^^

Simba's Pride fell short on a lot of things, but excluding the hyenas is not of them. Nuka and Vitani are pretty much substitutes for the hyenas. Vitani has Shenzi's sassiness while Nuka has Banzai's quick aggressiveness and Ed's stupidity. Not to mention, Zira mistreats Nuka during the "My Lullaby" sequence in a similar manner to Scar's mistreatment of the hyenas in "Be Prepared".

Having the hyenas as Zira's sole allies would be a retread of the original film. Now, they could act as a third party that refuses to ally with Zira and the Outsiders, but is still against Simba and the Pridelanders. You could go somewhere with that story, but it would overstuff an already established storyline until written effectively. Not to mention, Simba's Pride is already continuing a closed storyline with the Scar-Mufasa conflict with Scar's allies as the new enemies, and bringing the hyenas back into the fold is just unnecessary when the original writers gave closure to their story arc. The filmmakers of Simba's Pride were wise to decide the hyenas were not needed in the story given they tried to do include them in early story drafts.

So, while I respect your concern, it's just my opinion that the hyenas were simply not needed, but I'm satisfied they, if not all, were mentioned to have survived.

Not at all. I'm much more interested in the lion characters. Even though the hyenas didn't annoy me entirely, I don't think they were necessary for the second movie. After Scar's death, they probably left the Pridelands and settled somewhere else.

Yeah, I wish they were in it too. They were only mentioned once when nuka and vitani were getting the fire.

I've gotta say, I am much more interested with the main characters of the story, the Lions, than I am with the Hyenas.

But, we are all entitled to our opinions.