Original Airdate:  January 15, 2016

Last week saw the official premiere of the television series The Lion Guard, which was preceded by a made for TV movie, that was sort of a pilot to the…well you get the point.  We checked out the first of the two episodes that heralded in the series earlier in the week and now it’s time to get to know a grouchy croc called Makuu in what we’ll just call the third episode for the sake of clarity.

Just stop talking.

If you saw my article on our previous episode, you’ll know I liked the main story, but criticized the side plot for being, well, a bit pointless.  I’m sad to say that this week is about the same.  Let’s start with the good though.  Here we see a group of crocodiles who are sick and tired of this circle of life nonsense.  A young croc with no respect for the way of things decides to fight for control of the crocs, thus making it so they can do whatever they want.

Time to ruin everything guys. EVERYTHING!

The first thing I love is that I’ve said that I want to see more of the Pride Lands and  have different villains than hyenas every single episode.  This episode delivers on that idea.  Makuu is a pretty strong crocodile and proves a good threat but I also enjoyed that really he just wanted to have more for his people.  He’s not all together bad, just a bit naive.  I also enjoyed the fact that Kion is starting to realize he can’t necessarily solve all his problems with brute force.  In this instance, he has to learn to use his strength and his roar in a smarter way that both dispels the conflict without making it worse.  “If I just use the roar to get what I want, I’ll be no better than Scar.”  I love this.

Photo bombed.

Our side story though is all about how smelly Bunga is and how Ono is trying to make him smell better.  I suppose for kids there will be some good laughs, but for adults it all seems a bit silly.  After all, there’s an entire song about not stinking, complete with fart noises.  The humor just feels very VERY juvenile and if we know anything from more recent Disney, as well as Pixar, kids can laugh at smarter humor.  Also, is it just me, or is Ono’s voice really grating on anyone else’s nerves.

Umm, it’s not what it looks like?

That being said, I still have high hopes for this show.  In the few episodes we have so far, we’ve had some great songs and some pretty solid A Story lines.  I like that the series really takes this concept of being in Africa to a new level.  There are lots of songs that use African rhythms and words, similar to Hakuna Matata and I’m always excited to hear the next song to show up.

Let’s get ready to RUMMMMBLLLLEEE!!!

Starting this Saturday, I’ll be able to stay up to date a bit better as there will only be one episode a week.  Let me know what you think of the show so far.  I’m also curious for anyone who has kids to know how they are liking it.  After all, it’s for them so that’s more important than whether or not I find fart jokes funny.

Obligatory roar photo.

READ ALL VAULT DISNEY POSTS HERE

*                       *                        *

NOTE:  Obviously all the photos are courtesy of Disney Entertainment and I would never in a million years claim them as my own.  That being said, all are actually taken with my phone during our viewing in order to capture the moment in a slightly different way than originally intended.