Animation Celebration Saturday - The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

Disney, 1998

Voices of Neve Campbell, James Marsden, Matthew Broderick, and Suzanne Pleshette

Directed by Darrell Rooney

Music and Lyrics by various

In honor of the Lion King prequel Mufasa that's currently in theaters, we're jumping back to another attempt to extend the Lion King franchise. Honestly, this follow-up makes more sense than some of the other random direct-to-home-media sequels Disney put out in the 90's and early 2000's. The Lion King is their own material, not a fairy tale that was never meant to be continued, and the original film does end with the birth of a new Lion King. 

In fact, considering that film's overwhelming success, it might have been more surprising if they didn't release a sequel to it. Is it worthy of the first film, or should it be banished to the Outlands? Let's begin where the first film left off with the birth of Simba (Broderick) and Nala's (Moira Kelly) daughter Kiara (Michelle Horn) and find out...

The Story: Kiara is tired of her father constantly hovering over her and not letting her leave his sight, so she wanders to the Outlands to escape him and her bodyguards Timon (Nathan Lane) and Puumba (Ernie Sabella). She befriends a smaller cub named Kovu (Ryan O'Donahue) who saves her from a crocodile-filled river. Simba comes to rescue her, only to discover that Kovu's mother is Zira (Pleshette), a follower of Scar. Zira's training Kovu to kill Simba and allow her to regain the throne.

Years later, the adult Kovu (Marsden) once again rescues Kiara (Campbell), this time from a wildfire set by his sister Vitani (Meredith Scott Lynn) and his brother Nuka (Andy Dick). Simba does let Kovu join the Pridelanders, even though he doesn't trust the younger lion. Rafiki (Robert Gulliame), who has been instructed by the spirit of Mufasa (James Earl Jones) to bring Kiara and Kovu together, does his best to introduce them to "upendi" (Swahili for "Love") while Kovu trains Kiara as a hunter.

Their love is challenged when Zira and the Outlanders attack Simba. Simba thinks Kovu initiated it and banishes him. Horrified, Kiara goes off in search of Kovu, while Timon and Pumba follow her. It's the two lovers who finally bring everyone together to show that, no matter whom they follow, they're all still lions deep down and aren't all that different from one another.

The Animation: This isn't bad, per se, but it's far from great. Even The Lion Guard Disney Jr. TV show from 15 years after this had more detail and better movement. Like all of the Disney direct-to-home-media sequels from this period, it looks like a Disney Channel cartoon. It's colorful and the animals still remain very expressive (especially Timon and Pumba), but the backgrounds aren't nearly as detailed.

The Song and Dance: Given its made-for-TV pedigree, this is probably better than it has any right to be. Pleshette is definitely having the most fun as the angry and scheming Zira. Dick is also good as her equally nasty older son who laments that he should have been "the Chosen One" who followed in Scar's paw prints. Broderick is even more interesting here as a Simba grappling with raising a feisty daughter and how to deal with the specter of his past than he was in the first film. The majestic opening number "He Lives In You" is far and above the best song in the score. It was taken from the cassette Rhythm of the Pride Lands and has far more African flavor than anything else in the film. 

The Numbers: And we open with "He Lives In You" as we see Kiara's birth and its aftermath. Simba teaches his daughter how "We are One" after her harrowing adventure in the Outlands. "My Lullaby" is anything but soothing as Zira reminds her children of their place and what she's trained them for. Rafiki teaches Kira, Kovu, and all of the Pridelands about "Upendi" in the film's big chorus number. The other chorus routine is "One of Us" as Kovu is accepted into the Pridelands. Kira and Kovu hope "Love Will Find a Way" and reunite them for good.

What I Don't Like: This is cliched as heck, and nothing you haven't seen before. Timon and Pumba basically have nothing to do besides a few moments chasing Kiara. They don't even get a comic song this time. The delightfully nasty Zira and troubled Simba are shoved aside in favor of the bland Kiara and Kovu. "He Lives In You" and to a lesser degree "We are One" are the only songs of even mild interest. "Love Will Find A Way" is an imitation "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" that's just as dull as the characters singing it.

The Big Finale: Mainly of interest to huge fans of anyone in the cast or the original animated Lion King or Lion Guard. 

Home Media: Easily found on all formats, including streaming on Disney Plus.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Disney Plus

Ice-Capades (1941)

Republic Pictures, 1941

Starring James Ellison, Dorothy Lewis, Phil Silvers, and Jerry Colonna

Directed by Joseph Santley

Music and Lyrics by various

With many parts of the US expecting snow or cold weather this weekend and early next week, I thought this B-movie rarity from Republic Pictures would be perfect for the first review of 2025. The Ice Capades began in 1940 as a touring skating show for a string of arenas in the northeast. The shows were such tremendous sell-out successes that Hollywood took notice. 

Many of the real Ice Capades skaters at the time, including European skating champs Belita and Vera Hruba, appeared in what was a relatively lavish production for low-budget Republic. How did they manage to concoct a story about a photographer and one of the skaters for what was essentially a revue on ice? Let's begin in a snow-bound New York as Colonna (Colonna) awakens his hungover newsreel cameraman partner Bob Clemens (Ellison) and find out...

The Story: Bob is supposed to be shooting champion Swiss ice queen Karen Vadja (Renie Riano), but he misses his plane and his chance to catch her in action. He assumes one skater is no different from another and films a woman (Lewis) at a rink in New York, claiming she's Vadja. Turns out the lady is Marie Bergin, a fine skater who also happens to be an illegal immigrant on the run from detectives.

 Promoter Larry Herman (Silvers) is enchanted with the woman and wants to make her a star...at least until they figure out that Vadja looks nothing like this lovely creature. Bob first has to find her...then he and Herman have to convince her to come out of hiding and star in the new show that Larry developed for her and other major skaters, Ice-Capades, even if Bob has to marry her to do it. 

The Song and Dance: Not the greatest movie in the universe, but there's some nice bits. Ellison is fairly cute as the devoted bachelor whose indifference to women and to skating ends up causing most of the commotion. Silvers has a few good bits that foreshadow his later con-artist characters in movies and TV, too. Jerry Colonna and Barbara Jo Allen have several routines that show why their Professor and Vera Vague characters were huge on the radio in the late 30's and 40's. Some of the skating numbers aren't bad and give us a good idea of what appearing in a big touring ice show like the Ice Capades was like in the early 40's. 

The Numbers: Our first number begins without music, as Colonna and Bob film Marie's routine on the pond across from Bob's apartment in New York. Music is added later when it's shown to a rapturous audience that includes Larry and his assistant Dave (Gus Schilling). Our first professional ice number is from comedians Jackson (Tim Ryan) and Reed (Harry Clark), who give us slapstick shenanigans on skates. Al Surrette is another dancing comedian, this one dressed as a loose-limbed scarecrow. Ice dance team the Benoits get a brief Latin-flavored couples routine next. British figure skater Megan Taylor gives a brief but dynamic solo routine next that shows why she won the World Championships in 1938 and 1939. 

Colonna gets to show off on a ukulele for Allen with his goofy one-man chorus number. During the rehearsal, we get Phil Taylor as a horseman flanked by fellow skating riders in what amounts to a solo routine before giving way to Lois Dworshak and her far jazzier Jitterbugs. Dworshak gets a blusier solo routine. While on a date in Central Park with Bob, Marie dreams of stardom in the Ice Capades, in a romantic solo flanked by young men in top hats and chorus girls in long gown. The Benoits return for a couples routine with the chorus before Marie returns. There's even a few Busby Berkeley overhead shots of skaters at one point.

"Forever and Ever" is the song supposedly written for Marie and performed by a Romani tenor at the restaurant where Bob takes her on a date. Belita opens the finale with a graceful and romantic solo that shows why she was snatched up to be rival B-studio Monogram's big skating queen shortly after the release of this film. The big finale "Legend of the Falls" features Taylor, Lewis, and Vera Hruba putting in lovely performances in rather ridiculous Native American costumes in Hollywood's idea of a folk dance on ice, including chorus girls "playing" tom toms and skaters turning up in cowboy costumes. 

Trivia: Movie debuts of Belita and Vera Hruba (later Vera Hruba Ralston after she married the head of Republic Pictures).

Ice Capades would remain one of the most popular ice skating shows in the world through the 1980's. By the end of the 80's, it began to lose ground to newer shows that focused on families (Disney On Ice) or major figure skating stars (Stars On Ice). After running through a series of owners (including former skating star Dorothy Hamill), it was disbanded in 1997. Attempts to revive it in 2000 and 2008 went nowhere.

What I Don't Like: This is pretty obviously a B-musical from 1941. Though more lavish than the Republic norm for the early 40's, the cardboard sets and claustrophobic direction clearly give away its origins. For all they praise her beauty and skating, Lewis has the appeal of a melting snow cone. She certainly doesn't look or sound like an illegal immigrant on the run from the authorities. There's a reason this would be her only appearance on film. 

The Big Finale: This hard to find movie is only of interest to fans of Colonna, his radio shows, or vintage figure skating. Everyone else will probably be bored between numbers. 

Home Media: It's so rare, the only place you can currently find it is on a copy at the Internet Archive that's likely taken from an 80's or 90's TV broadcast. 

Internet Archive