Zazu's role in the sequels

[Animal of the Wild]

Zazu was a good, decent character who seemed worthy of getting another appearance. Yet he is practically forgotten in the second two movies. Do you think he could have had more of a role in them?

[OneFamilyScar]

I think the reason is because they switched voice actors in the movies. They also did for the TV show, but a lot of people switch voice actors between shows and movies. I think they didn't want people to notice there was a difference.

[TheLionPrince]

The problem is not the change in voice actors, but whose narrative perspective in which the sequels are told from. The Lion King II is mostly Kiara's story, and her love story doesn't require Zazu's presence. If the movie was more about Simba, then, he would have more screentime since his status of royal advisor feeds off of Simba's role. 1½ is Timon and Pumbaa's story (though mostly Timon's), and since it takes its events from the first movie, they only interact with Zazu during the climax.

[Ninaroja]

The series is called "The Lion King". Zazu is not a lion, and is only a minor character at best. Like the post above mine says, the sequels are told from the perspectives of characters who have little to do with Zazu, hence his lack of screen time.

[Animal of the Wild]

Yes, unfortunately he was a minor character. But he was a decent one.

[Ninaroja]

Seeing as Zazu has very little bearing on the story, that is hardly a catastrophic thing. From the perspective of someone who is a Zazu fan I can see why it's not so good but since he is a minor character if you look at the big picture it has very little impact.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Really? Another pointless topic?

[Ninaroja]

Changing your posts to read "this was stupid" is still filling the board with irrelevant and useless spam.

In any case, the simple answer to this question is that Zazu is hardly in the sequels because he just isn't. There was little to no development of him as a character in the first movie so there was no need for him to be of any importance in anything that followed.

[EdtheHyena]

The series is called "The Lion King". Zazu is not a lion, and is only a minor character at best. Like the post above mine says, the sequels are told from the perspectives of characters who have little to do with Zazu, hence his lack of screen time.

While the original movie is focused on lions, I would like to point out that it also spanned a TV series and a sequel that had to do with a meerkat and a warthog. So I think that's a pointless arguement.

Changing your posts to read "this was stupid" is still filling the board with irrelevant and useless spam.

In any case, the simple answer to this question is that Zazu is hardly in the sequels because he just isn't. There was little to no development of him as a character in the first movie so there was no need for him to be of any importance in anything that followed.

But I would like to also point out that that is exactly why SimbaTheLionKing was probably upset---because Zazu didn't get any developement in the first film, they could have given him some in whatever followed.

Whether it's Rafiki, the HakunaMutata duo, the hyenas or Zazu, you can always give more to what the first film offered. And they did do that, with the TV series and the third movie, the former in which, Simba, Zazu actually did have a few prominent appearences.