kcmatter

When I heard the news, I squealed like a little girl and counted down the days until its release; the beloved characters of the hit movie "The Lion King," along with its sequel "The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride," have returned to the television screen in a brand new adventure: "The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar." As a major Lion King fan, having watched it a million times as a little two year old girl to the point that I wore the VHS tape out and my mother had to buy a new one, I was extremely excited by the news and very eager to watch it with my own daughter when it came out. And when it finally did, I was very pleased with what I saw.

Meet Kion- younger brother to the future queen, Kiara, and son of Simba and Nala. He is a confident, fun-loving cub who is much less of a rule-breaker than his father was; he enjoys hanging out with his best friend Bunga, a rather peculiar looking honey badger. Kion develops this magical ability called 'the roar of the elders'- which allows him to roar with such ferocity that he can send his enemies flying and clear the leaves from a grove of trees. It is after he uses his roar for the first time that he is told of the lion guard, a group of lions who defend the Pridelands and the Circle of Life with the leader being the one who develops the roar. The young lion doesn't realize his father meant for him to recruit only other lions, so Kion goes and brings in a group of his other animal friends from around the Pridelands to form the lion guard. He brings in Bunga as the bravest, Fuli the cheetah as the fastest, Ono the egret as the keenest of sight, and Beshte the hippo as the strongest. While his father doesn't approve at first, Kion and his friends manage to convince him otherwise through a demonstration of their skills while facing the movie and show's main villains: Janja the hyena and his clan. From there- the lion guard continues to defend their home and livelihood against Janja and many other new enemies in the Disney Junior television show that followed a few months later, while also making many new friends along the way.

While there have been many complaints for both the movie and television show by many of the hardcore fans of "The Lion King," I personally believe this show to actually be pretty decent in comparison to other shows within the same targeted demographic. The background art is superb and the animation for most of the animals are absolutely wonderful compared to other shows; I do however feel that the animation for certain well known characters- such as Simba, Nala, Rafiki, Zazu, Timon, and Pumba- is not nearly as well done as other characters and the lions themselves feel to be a little sloppily done at times in comparison to the well-drawn, non-lion animals. I especially like the amount of effort put into the animation of Janja and the hyenas, along with the hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, and many other non-lion animals in the show. I don't just watch the show with my daughter for the animation of course- the stories, music, and messages the show provides young children are pretty decent as well.

I've enjoyed the majority of the episodes that have aired to date. My personal favorite is actually the very first episode of the television series: "Never Judge a Hyena by Its Spots;" this episode takes Kion out into the outlands without the rest of the lion guard, where he meets a female hyena by the name of Jasiri. She helps him through the outlands and in the process the two characters become friends; of course- it takes a little time, danger, and a cute musical number to finally get to the point of friendship. The song for this episode also happens to be my favorite song so far, follow closely by the song sung by Beshte in "Follow That Hippo!" While I do like some of the songs, there are a few that I'm not a big fan of- such as the "Please Don't Make a Stink" song in "The Rise of Makuu" and "Bunga the Wise" as found in the episode with the same namesake. Regardless, most of the songs are a hit in our household- my daughter especially loves the funky, colorful animation during the songs sung by Janja and his clan.

One of the things that really peaks my interest in this show as a major lion king fan is the background stories and plot hole fillers the show is providing; in the movie, it is explained that Scar was once the leader of the lion guard who lost his roar when he used it for evil to destroy the other members of his lion guard when they refused to help him dethrone Mufasa. In the television show, Nala's father was briefly brought up in a short story from when he was a cub in the episode: "Painting and Predictions." All in all, despite a few shortcomings in the animation department and a couple hit-or-miss songs, I believe "The Lion Guard" to be a worthy precursor to the previous two movies. It makes me happy to see that my daughter will get to grow up with a whole new generation of "The Lion King" characters- just like I got to grow up with the original movie. What great timing on Disney's part to release this new movie and television show during a time that "The Lion King" generation is raising children of their own. Now to wait for the next episode to air so my daughter and I can cuddle up on the couch together and sing and dance to the newest song.