Lion Guard: Return of the Roar
George: I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started watching my review copy of the Lion Guard, a follow-up, of sorts, to the amazing Lion King film. I don’t have cable, so I missed a lot of the hype from the Disney Channel. And Disney Junior. Which should have told me a lot.
Jeff: I love The Lion King. I love the sequel. I love The Lion King 1 and 1/2! Disney had a pretty solid track record, at least in my mind, when it came to the property, so I couldn’t wait to check it out when I heard about it. But then…I saw it.
George: The Lion King sequels were a very bright spot in a very dark time for Disney direct-to-video sequels. But this was even a little too much, er too little, for me. It’s basically the introductory episode for the show of the Disney Junior channel. And that’s it. No extras and no special features, besides the video of one of the songs. We’re definitely the wrong audience for the film, but it was so formulaic that I found myself very easily second-guessing every plot point.
George: We do have the return of some familiar characters, like Simba, Pumbaa, Timone, Rafiki and Mufasa. Just not always with the voices we remember. And there are two songs that sort of come close to what we heard in the Lion King. But I still feel kind of bad for giving the disc such a bad review, but it is a Disney Junior production and geared for the pre-school crowd. But will they like it?