[c] After Kiara has grown into a young cub, she becomes frustrated with her father's parenting, so Simba has his childhood friends Timon and Pumbaa accompany her out of concern for her safety.
Over Simba's protestations, Kiara wanders off alone into the barren Outlands — home to an enemy pride of Scar's exiled followers called the Outsiders — and encounters another cub, Kovu.
Zira, who is secretly training Kovu as an assassin, realizes she can use her son's friendship with Kiara to kill Simba and usurp the throne.
Following the battle, Simba welcomes the rest of the Outsiders, including Kovu, back into the Pride Lands, thus finally reuniting them with the Pridelanders.
In August 1996, Cheech Marin reported that he would reprise his role as Banzai the hyena from the first film,[8] but the character was ultimately cut from the sequel.
According to Variety, the plot element of Scar's son romancing Simba's daughter "had been a topic of heated discussion between top Disney [executives].
[16][17] On October 21, 1998, Simba's Pride premiered at the Wadsworth Theatre, with the filmmakers, voice cast, and multiple celebrities, some of whom attended with their children present in an African-themed party bash.
The DVD release featured the film in a letterboxed 1.66:1 aspect ratio, the trailer for the movie, and a music video of "Love Will Find a Way" performed by Heather Headley and Kenny Lattimore.
[20] In 1998, Disney believed that The Lion King II: Simba's Pride would be so popular that it shipped 13 million copies to stores for the October 27 release date.
[23] Overall, consumer spending on The Lion King II: Simba's Pride accumulated about $300 million — roughly the same figure of its predecessor's theatrical release at that time.
The Blu-ray edition has also been attached with a new Timon & Pumbaa short, in which the two friends gaze at the night sky as the star constellations resemble their favorite meal, insects.
[31] TV Guide gave the film 2+1⁄2 stars out of four, claiming that, despite being of slightly higher quality than Disney's previous direct-to-video animated sequels, "comes nowhere near the level of its big-screen predecessor", either musically or artistically.
The review later states: "Though most of the original characters and their voices are back, they all sound bored, apart from the zesty addition of Suzanne Pleshette as the scheming Zira.
"[32] Writing for Variety, Joe Leydon commented in his review: "In marked contrast to most of the studio's small screen sequels to bigscreen animated hits, the new pic isn't merely kids' stuff.
"[11] The parental website Screen It rated the movie 7 out of 10, claiming "...while it doesn't have the mighty roar of its predecessor, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride is clearly one of the better straight to video releases ever to come out of Hollywood.
"[34] Entertainment Weekly critic Stephen Witty, who graded the sequel a C+, wrote, "Despite its drawbacks, The Lion King II could make a decent rental for undemanding under-7 fans of the original, who won't be overburdened by the psychodrama.
It takes from The Fox and the Hound with shades of Romeo and Juliet and side steps the interesting Simba in favor of his bland daughter Kiara, and Timon and Pumba [sic].
The majority of the series takes place during the years in-between Kiara's first meeting with Kovu as a cub and her first hunt as a young adult.
[38] It focuses on Kiara's younger brother Kion who as second-born, becomes leader of The Lion Guard, a group who protect the Pride Lands and defend the Circle of Life.
Jason Marsden, Lacey Chabert and Andy Dick all reprised their roles from the film, while Suzanne Pleshette, who died in 2008,[39] was replaced by Nika Futterman.