The Lion Guard: The Rise of Scar

And so everyone, we've arrived at the newest episode of the Lion Guard and the one I was most excited about in a long time, the Rise of Scar. I was so incredibly pumped for this episode because it sounded like it could be a really cool idea and story. A 50 minute long special of the Lion Guard devoted to Scar returning. And it didn't "entirely" disappoint. Yeah, I say entirely because it's not perfect and there are some things in this that are a bit of a let down, but I still liked it and it may be one of my favourite episodes ever. And also, I'm going to talk about the episode with full spoilers. So if you haven't seen it yet, go watch it then come read this. And so, what's the story? So the Guard are obviously going around the Pride Lands helping animals, but now it's coming towards the dry season and there's little water left. And so Kion and the others want to help. Also, Rafiki is getting a new apprentice to replace him named Makini who's super impatient and loud. But she eventually gets better and even get a staff just like Rafiki. However, Ushari the snake sees Kion talking to Mufasa, even though he can't actually see Mufasa, and gets an idea. He talks to the hyenas like Janja and the others and they get the idea that if the Pride Landers are able to talk to the great kings of the past, then maybe they'll be able talk to the evil lions. And by that, I, of course, mean Scar. So they overhear that the only way to do that is to have Kion use the roar near their volcano and by using Makini's staff. So, they kidnap Kiara and the Guard go to save her not knowing what's going on. They manage to save her, but then Janja makes Kion so angry that he causes the volcano to erupt. Nothing happens but then Janja throws the staff in the lava an then Scar's face appears in the smoke of the lava. And, that's it. That's the story. And that's sorta my biggest problem with the episode, but it does also kinda does raise a lot of possibilities for future episodes. What I think my biggest problem is that the entire episode is building up to seeing Scar again and seeing him return, but in reality, we only see him for thirty seconds at the end. That's kind of a let down, but that does sorta leave things open for future episodes as I just said. With Kion being able to talk to Mufasa for advice, I guess this mean that for future episodes, they're going to have Scar tell the hyenas advice now too. That does seem like a good idea and the entire rest of the episode is great too. I'm guessing these new characters will be recurring episodes for the rest of the show. Like, I think Makini will be hanging around for a while. Which I think sounds like a cool idea too because I think she was pretty good, especially after she gets her staff. And this episode does something great that I think has been missing from the show for a while and that's a great song. This episode has about three songs in it and there's one in particular called Path of Honour with Kion and Simba that I think is the best song they've had in a while. Listen.

I think it's a nice tune and both of the actors do great job with singing it. The cast is still fantastic and so is the animation. Especially the effects and new cast they got. The effects they used for the smoke to make Scar's face is really cool looking and David Oyelowo is fantastic as the new voice of Scar. I don't think he's as good as Jeremy Irons, but he's still great and we'll have to wait and see what he does next with the character because we did only get, like, one line out him in this.

There were also some pretty funny scenes where Makini kept trying to sing a song but something kept interrupting her and we get to hear it, which is pretty funny. And I like the things that Rafiki is teaching Makini. That whole scene inside his tree was pretty funny. And I liked the fact that they answered something I've sorta been wondering for a while and that's if Kion can see Mufasa, then does that others around him can see him too? And I finally got it. No they can't, but they can still obviously hear Kion himself. And, even though I don't think this is perfect because it did seem like the marketing and people involved in it were trying to sell it as this movie that was going to be the Guard vs. Scar. That' what the trailers looked like, I still had a lot of fun with the episode and I can't wait to see what they do with this from here on. So yeah, if you're able to see the episode somehow, go watch it. You won't get a lot of Scar, but he's still cool when he's there. Thank you all for reading, please comment down below and look forward to more Lion Guard entries in the future.