The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (later retitled The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride) is a 1998 Animated Made for Video Film released by Walt Disney Home Video on October 27, 1998. The film is the sequel to the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King. It was later re-released as a special edition DVD (which altered the original title's "II" into "2") on August 31, 2004. It was also re-released again on Blu-ray alongside The Lion King and The Lion King 1½. The Blu-ray edition will be placed into the Disney Vault on April 30, 2013.

The film centers around Simba and Nala's daughter, Kiara, who falls in love with Kovu, a male lion who was raised in a pride of Scar's followers and Simba's enemies, the Outsiders. Desperate to be together, they must overcome the two obstacles that are keeping them apart: Kovu's mother, Zira, and Simba's prejudices against the Outsiders. It also centers around Simba's relationship with Kiara, who has a desire for being independent and self-sufficient, against her father's strict orders. While the original film's plot seems to have been inspired on the Shakespearean play Hamlet, this sequel's plot is similar to another Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet.

Discussion began about the possibility of a sequel to The Lion King before the first film even hit theaters. Most of the original cast reprised their roles from the first film, with the notable exceptions of Rowan Atkinson, who was replaced by Edward Hibbert as the voice of Zazu in this film and its follow-up/predecessor The Lion King 1½ and Jeremy Irons, who was replaced by Scar's singing voice actor from the first film Jim Cummings as the voice of Scar in this film. Also, Madge Sinclair, who was the voice of Simba's mother Sarabi, died before this film was released, therefore her character was written out.