Lion King II DVD Review

[enteirah]

I got the first Special Edition Lion King DVD on the first day of its release, and I repeated it for the sequel released today. I think everyone already knew it wasn't going to be as featurepacked as the first one, but it's certainly worse than I'd hoped. Basically, it can be summed up as follows:-

Main film - this is really the only reason to get it. I still have to watch the whole thing with the surround sound on, but it looks nice enough.

Extras - Not worth the effort really. All done by the voices of Timon and Pumbaa again! I'm guessing those two must be the cheapest actors to hire, seeing as they had a series made about them too.

* Menus - very quickly put together, it features nothing more than a zoom in shot of Simba, and some computerised colour changing in the sky. Then again, many people hated the elaborate CGI Zazu from the first one's menu, so maybe that's a good thing.
* Games - okay-ish, albeit clearly only for youngsters.
* "Find Out Why" - a series of science-type animations with Timon and Pumbaa explaining things like lightning and sneezing, made back in 2000 for airing in America I presume. Doesn't seem too much in the spirit of the Lion King, although there are a few jokes to be found.
* Lots about Lions - Timon and Pumbaa talk over stock wildlife footage. I couldn't be bothered to watch all of this one =:P
* Making of - The small documentary looks to be interesting and will have to be watched.
* One by One short - a small animation about some children in Africa, set to one of the songs from the Lion King Collection CD. Really, this one is stretching the limit to claim it's even Lion King related.
* Love Will Find A Way video - Haven't a clue, as it refuses to play on mine. Anyone else having trouble playing this? It might just be this copy, in which case it's going back to WH Smiths. (Cheaper there than Woolworths BTW =;))

Overall it's worth getting it for watching the main film, but don't waste your time if you're looking for anything else. The only thing Disney have put major effort into including is the difficult-to-skip (in theory =;)) trailers at the beginning; 6 of them. Forget the 'Special Edition' tag, it's pretty much standard Disney DVD fare.

Comments

[befrafa.livejournal.com]

Hmm - so, should I stick with my original plan, then, and go for the German version when it comes out? =:-S *Thinks* Most of the extras do sound dreadful, apart from the "Making Of". Ah well, maybe I'll wait and see if they do a special edition over there in Germany.

[enteirah]

Well, I hope they do a better job with the German one, but if they haven't done too well with the English one (which should be their biggest language release), I don't hold out much hope for others. =:o

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Would you believe I haven't watched my Lion King special edition yet?

I'm pretty peeved about the lightning re-release of Simba's Pride. When I asked at the Disney Store a month ago, they told me it wouldn't be out till next year. Then I learned from Take A Break magazine, of all places, that the release date was June 28th. I hotfooted it to the Bromley branch of the store and enquired about preordering, but was told it wasn't possible. No preorder=no exclusive incentive. Rushed release=no accompanying merchandise in stores. And I so wanted a little beanie Kovu or Kiara to match the Simba who came with TLK1...

Re:

[enteirah]

Hmm... I got no comment notification from Livejournal for this. Odd! =:S

I know what you mean about this being rushed out a bit suddenly though. The American sites are still saying it isn't released over there until the end of August, so I hadn't expected it here until at least October. The first I knew of its sudden release today was when I saw an advert for it on TV last night. All I can think is that the release of the Special Edition for the first one and the third one didn't do as well as Disney had hoped over here, hence they're now just trying to get the second one out of the way as quickly as possible.

[befrafa.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I got no comment notification from Livejournal for this. Odd! =:S

Excuse me? Odd? This is LiveJournal! =:-P

[enteirah]

It seemed odd at the time, seeing as it was the only one on this page not to have appeared. Since then though, others have gone missing, so yes it looks like Livejournal is running as normal again. =:\

[befrafa.livejournal.com]

True to form...as always. =;-)

[hawthorn.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. I think I'll wait for the german version too.
I was hoping Disney would at least include some of those deleted scenes.

Oh well, these Lion King dvds are all being such a disappointment to me.
(I hated that Disney didnt use all the bonus material that appeared on the LD box-set. Now, THAT was some special edition...)

[enteirah]

Yeah, I've heard lots of people say the first DVD, for all it had some lovely stuff, was still a letdown compared to the LD one. Now, if only I had something that could play them! =;)

[tuftedpuffin.livejournal.com]

It doesn't come out here until the end of August or something, and I'm debating on buying it. TLKII came out on DVD a few years ago, and the special features on that are even less than the Special Edition, but still... the Special Edition really doesn't seem that "special".

Oh yeah, and the covers suck arse worldwide.

I already have the deleated scenes from the film anyhoo so ha (like where Zira kills herself, a longer death scene for Nuka, etc). Are those on this DVD at least?

[enteirah]

Nope, none of the deleted scenes are there. A shame, as some of them were quite interesting (I downloaded the Zira suicide scene from lionking.org myself). The extras are pretty much non-existent.

The only thing worth getting the DVD for is the main film with the surround sound track... but I certainly know I wouldn't have bought it if I already had the original LKII DVD.

Oh, and I've now discovered they've taken the lovely Youpendi off the endcredits for this, and replaced it with some new version of Love Will Find A Way. Just another thing to hate. =:\