Simba's Pride: Popular, or Fandom Flop?

[Reika]

On the outside, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride seems like it did just about everything right; it was released a mere few years after the first, the majority of the original voice cast returned (save for Rowan Atkinson and Jeremy Irons), it was made direct-to-video so as to not heighten expectations (so that we wouldn't be disappointed if it didn't meet the standards of the first film), and one of the conductors from the first movie did the musical score.
But on the inside, Disney seems to have made many mistakes; the animation was sub par, most everyone's personalities were distorted to suit the plot, the music isn't as catchy, and the main character is seen as a major Mary Sue.

Looking at it that way, it's easy to see why it may generate haters. But how many haters are there?

I've wanted to know for a while now how hated this movie is. I like being able to see both sides of the fandom, but I'm having difficulty doing so. I know there's a hatedom, but how big is it? And what are their reasons for hating it?

And yes, I know I'm rather late to game on this, what with it being released over 10 years ago, but I don't think that makes my question any less valid.
I pray asking a question like this so late doesn't make me look stupid.

[atouchofgrace]

I can see why this film is both hated and loved. In my honest opinion, I'm not either a hater or a lover, I just don't really care about this film. I love the songs (except "My Lullaby" and "Upendi"), it has some cute moments, Kiara is adorable (when she's little, in my opinion) and Kovu is a good character. But other than that, I've always felt this could have been much, much better. I understand it had a low budget and is a DTV sequel but still. The plot could've been better, in my opinion. The animation was poor when compared to the first one (the character design and colors were off. I mean, Simba is not orange. Was orange a cheaper colour?), the score was pretty much unforgettable, and (and this is my major problem with SP) the original characters personality were changed to fit the plot.
But I don't really hate it, but I don't love it, it's just an average film to me. I scratch my head everytime someone say "SP is better than TLK" or "They are equally good films" but, it's ok, whatever floats your boat.

Still, I think SP has a huge fanbase.

[SuperBabySimba]

I have met tons of fans/likers/lovers and only a few haters. So from where I stand I can only think the fanbase is larger. But I've hardly met but a minority of the fanbase so how would I know.

And I don't know but personally I think some people take the flaws of the film a bit too seriously. If you think of it, no piace of art can be completely trash, and the film could be a whole lot worse in so many ways. (:

[Kianga]

From what I've seen it's split down the middle between how many people like Simba's Pride and how many think it's absolutely awful. I'm one of those who love it.^^

[xLilacVixenx]

There has been some debate over this topic. I am pretty neutral to the matter; if they like Simba's Pride, that's okay with me. If they hate Simba's Pride, that's fine with me also. It's their own opinion and I have no objection to it. However, when people say how Simba's Pride's the best movie is a fact, I get annoyed. This movie is definately not my favorite, they could have changed a few things. The songs are catchy, however, and the animation is decent. If you watch the special features for the movie you'll see how they struggled to make the movie as similar as possible to the first.

My vote is that it's pretty popular, seeing quite a few Kiara fans, Kovu fans, Simba fans, and Kovu fans on this forum. It's all a matter of your personal opinion. A lot of people make fan-fictions of their version of the second movie, such as a Kopa story. Those don't really comply to what I'm saying. It's pretty popular, but not quite as popular a fanbase as the first movie.

[Amy43]

I love SP, but I voted for haters because a lot of people don't like sequels, or as much as the first movies.

[atouchofgrace]

Humm I actually torn now. A lot of people don't like sequels as much as first movies but this one is rather popular. I mean, the new characters are very popular, especially Kovu and Vitani.

[Amy43]

[quote="atouchofgrace"]Humm I actually torn now. A lot of people don't like sequels as much as first movies but this one is rather popular. I mean, the new characters are very popular, especially Kovu and Vitani.[/quote]
I totally agree. I've noticed that a lot of younger people like sequels better, and adults like the first movies better. Of course, that's not always true.

[ShetanziBaby]

Personally I enjoyed Simba's Pride. Even thought the animation and a lot of things in the movie could have been better, I think it was not that bad. Still I would have liked to see a better character development with Nuka, Vitani and Zira. There are scenes from the movie that were left out that perhaps would have made it a bit better.

[Pixie]

I like SP. Not as much as TLK, but it's close. Something about it just isn't as good as the first film. (Mostly the rediculous colouring. I mean, WTF.) I like Kiara and Kovu, Zira, Nuka and Vitani as characters. They tried really hard not to make Zira an exact copy of Scar and I think they did it (basically by throwing abut more crazy into the mixture ) and Kiara is different yet similar to Simba. I think the similarities between the films was just right. Not too much that they lose the essence of TLK, and not too little that it's pretty much the exact same plot/characters. It was enough to compare, yet the juxtoposition between the two is noticable.