Review: 'Rise of Scar' continues Disney Junior's animation dominance
Posted Tuesday, January 9, 2018 at 4:31 PM Central
by John Couture
Disney has been pretty busy lately. You may have heard that they bought LucasFilm a few years ago, gaining the rights to new Star Wars films. That seems to be working out for them. More recently, they brokered a deal to acquire most of Fox's assets which would presumably include the rights to the original Star Wars film and outstanding Marvel properties, namely X-Men and Deadpool. Oh sure, they will also get Fantastic Four, but that property is cursed and not even Disney and Marvel can resuscitate it.
The point is that Disney has had its hands full these past years and yet, they continue to produce high-quality animation content across all of their properties. Case in point, The Lion Guard: The Rise of Scar. As the father of two young children, I have witnessed first-hand how Disney Junior is able to get their hooks into kids early on and then grow with them across their channels as the kids grow and their tastes mature.
The one binding thing between all of their animation titles is the quality at which it is produced. Don't get me wrong, there is quality animation being put out on other channels like Nick and Cartoon Network, but sometimes, they can be hit or miss. This is not the case with Disney's animated projects.
The latest offering is The Lion Guard: The Rise of Scar which is a full-length adventure from season two of The Lion Guard. The Rise of Scar continues the evolution of The Lion King property that was long dormant but has recently risen to new heights thanks to this popular new series.
Speaking of rising from the ashes, that is the general gist of The Rise of Scar as events transpire that results in the return of Scar's spirit to present an enormous obstacle for Kion and the rest of The Lion Guard. This is yet another example of how Disney is able to tie in their master property with these offshoots. It's a simple wink and nudge to fans of the original film, but it also allows the franchise to evolve organically.
As I mentioned previously, my kids are huge fans of The Lion Guard, so they were extremely excited when I brought The Rise of Scar home for review. They watched it last year when it debuted on Disney Junior, but it was quickly overwritten on the DVR because let's face it, space on a DVR is too valuable not to have limits on kids content.
Now, they don't have to worry about not being able to watch the full-length feature. In fact, I think we've seen it at least five times this past weekend. What can I say? I live an exciting life. Maybe it's time to consider investing in TVs for my kids' bedrooms?
Along with the The Rise of Scar, they included four other episodes from season one that were not previously available on DVD. It's a bit of a hodge-podge, but my kids didn't seem to notice their randomness. That is one thing that is a bit bizarre. It seems that lately, Disney is opting to release multiple episodes on multiple DVDs instead of entire seasons for their Disney Junior titles.
I understand the practice in that having a single DVD is much easier for kids, but the double and triple dipping is really a bit much. Perhaps they will eventually release complete seasons on Blu-ray combo packs with special features. It's a minor complaint, but one that would solve my issue of having to devote ever decreasing shelf space to multiple DVDs instead of a single Blu-ray.
The Lion Guard: The Rise of Scar is now available on DVD and if your kids are as crazy about the series as mine are, then I would recommend picking it up.
