by DGFone » September 30th, 2012, 6:01 am
Here's yet another crazy idea that I came up with:
Crocodiles are ambush predators. Once you know where they are, you have a much easier time avoiding getting eaten by them than before. So apart from the very beginning, once Kiara and Kovu realized that they were in danger, it was only a matter of escape, and they were able to climb a tree, something that crocodiles can't do, and escape on their own.
Hyenas, on the other hand, are endurance hunters. Much like us humans, they will go and chase after their prey until it tires out too much to resists and then the hyenas have an easy meal. Therefore, the entire time Simba and Nala were trying to escape from the hyena trio, they were in the hyena's domain in more ways than one. This is why Simba and Nala were not able to escape on their own, unlike Kiara and Kovu.
So the elephant graveyard scene is much more intense because the hyenas do not have to lie in ambush for their pray to get close. They will chase after their meal until the meal is helpless - Simba and Nala trapped with nowhere to run.
Kiara and Kovu were able to escape on their own. The best chance the crocodiles had was before the cubs knew that the log they were on was not made of wood - the beginning of the scene. The hyenas on the other hand, had the best chance of getting Simba and Nala after the chase once they trapped the cubs - the end of the scene.
