Ok, so I finally got to watch it today!

Firstly I must say that overall I enjoyed it. It was wonderful having some more TLK universe to explore, new characters etc, and the background are simply to die for!

In parts it was extremely cringe worthy. Kiara's friend Zuri should be done away with, her character is far too overdone, if it wasn't for her and Fuli's poor cheetah design, I would have liked it far better.

In terms of new characters, while we don't experience much of him I quite liked Ono, he seems like a well rounded character with a well suited voice. Kion is also a great character, his facial expressions were well animated I thought in keeping with TLK style. Other animation was not so great, mainly the walk cycles of the lions, where their legs are barely bending, they just kind of shuffle along with the paws moving. It bugged me.

The songs were alright, Zuka Zama was a little bit much and repetitive for me, although I can see how it would be great for kids (and annoying for parents!). I really loved Tonight We Strike, although I wasn't immediately sold on the animation sequence with it, it has grown on me. In saying that, what bothers the hell out of me is that the whole song is about them striking at night, while the lions are asleep. And then they just go and strike in the middle of the day. How stupid can you get :P

Now, in terms of the story and how it fits in with Simba's Pride etc. Pat and I had a big discussion about this, because as I pointed out to him, although Kiara is a cub, she's an older cub than what she was in SP which means it does fit in between when her and Kovu first met and later on when they're teenagers. If you place TLG after Zira's idea for Kovu to become king, which is when he presumably goes into intense training, it's likely the Outlanders keep to themselves from that point on which is why TLG can be slotted in. Kiara's personality change is still a bit drastic, but it technically does fit in that time frame without too much pushing.

I know that a lot of people have issues with the voices. And while I certainly understand that, I don't expect different voice actors to sound identical to their predecessors and I think it works out reasonably well.

Apart from those multiple things, there's a few other nit picky things I wasn't a fan of, stylings and silly moments etc. But I know I have to watch it for what it is, which is a pilot for a kids tv show, so all in all, I quite enjoyed it (apart from that whole scene with Zuri, that was just dumb ). And at the end of the day, it's just awesome to have an expanded TLK universe.

Oh and another thing that Pat just reminded me of is their overuse of the catch phrases. Such as Kion's Hevi Kabisa which he says multiple times which really downplays the impact of it.

Another also... Janja is a cool villain, except I hated that moment with the caterpillar, where he couldn't even pounce it. He's supposed to be menacing but they just make him look like a fool. It takes away his credibility.