I remember watching all the extras on the 2 disc special edition. They said something about the way Scar was jealous of Mufasa being related to real Lions in the way that they can get some form of jealousy over stronger members of their pride. I'm no expert on Lions but that sounds plausible enough for me to believe.
I never take realism into consideration in Films / Games, as IMO the escapism from reality is why I enjoy them. Unless it's definitely supposed to be realistic (Gran Turismo for example).
[quote]All others, such as the zebras, wildebeest, etc., seem to be regular animals lacking speech and intelligent though[/quote] Although not so much in Lion King 2's exile scene.
[quote]how did they decide what was the best level of realism?[/quote]
It's called having a director and using your brain. Let's take an unrelated example: The Spiderman Films.. Whether you seen them or not it's about as realistic as me winning the lottery in the next hour, not very at all lol. But the sucess of the Films is largely thanks to the Director and his decision to give the main character social issues aswell as unrealistic powers / villains. Like girlfriend troubles, his family struggling financialy and more. It makes the story more appealing to a wider audience as now those who want fantasy fighting will be pleased and those who want a good story can also enjoy it.
The same applies to the TLK Films and the messages they send.
That is why Disney are (or more so were) consistently succesful, you have talking Lions for the kids, then you have a pretty deep story for adults and some incredible animation for just about anyone else

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