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I'm sure we all know Kiara, from The Lion King 2, and I'm sure most of us know Melody, from The Little Mermaid 2, but I think Kiara sooo reminds me of Melody! Here are some similarities;

Melody: Wanted to go in the ocean
Kiara: Wanted to go wherever she pleased

Melody:Runs off after the ocean after getting scolded
Kiara: Runs off after Kovu after being scolded

Melody: Has Sebastian as babysitter
Kiara: Has Timon and Pumbaa as babysitters.

Melody: Is part of a plan from Morgana
Kiara: Is part of a plan for Zira

And these are just a few. Anyone agree with me?

I guess they acted alike.
But to me, that's it.

I can see where you are coming from, but not it doesn't really remind me of Melody. Sorry mate.

- Vince

Oh okay! i just thought.

Well, I can see how you got the idea that Kiara and Melody are similar, but there are some differences that I've noticed after watching the films several times:

Kiara - Heir to Pride Rock and the Pridelands; the daughter of King Simba and Queen Nala, Kiara is a very headstrong lioness. She is much like her father when he was a cub - playful, precocious and filled with an adventurous spirit - but unlike her father, Kiara would rather not be a queen and rule the Pridelands.
When she grows up, Kiara seems to be more rebellious due to Simba's overprotective worries and broken promises, but understands her role as a lioness in a pride. She is not as graceful as her mother was at hunting, but she means well and she is trying her best for goodness sake. Although she was positive that she didn't want to be Queen when she was younger, Kiara now isn't afraid to speak her opinions on how things should be, even if it means defying her father for what is right for her pride and her love.

Melody - A princess that is both human and mermaid; the daughter of Prince Eric and Princess Ariel, Melody has been fascinated by the sea right outside her window, but because of the evil Morgana's threats, she is forbidden from being in it (although she has never been told why). She also feels like an outcast because of her strange ability to understand the language of anything fishy or from the depths, and she is constantly teased by other children from other kingdoms and castles, making her feel different. (strange how she doesn't put two and two together . . .)
Her adventurous and curious spirit makes her even more infatuated with swimming and finding anything that she can retrieve to remind her of what she loves, all while trying to keep her secret inside her heart. Once she had a clear ambition, this young preteen is willing to set her sights on it and dive straight towards what she wants. However, she is a brave girl, much like her headstrong mother, Ariel; luckily, she wasn't too protected by Ariel, probably thinking that the seawall would be enough to keep Melody away from the ocean.

So yeah, the only real similarities I can notice are:

- both Melody and Kiara are the offspring of a main couple from their original feature film
- they are the main focus of a sequel plotline (the sequel is mostly revolved around Kiara's/Melody's problems, not as much about the parent mentioned in the first part of the film's title)
- they are both adventurous and curious about their world, whether their main character parents (Daddy Simba and Mama Ariel) like it or not
- they are both Princesses by birth and next in line to rule their kingdom
- overprotective parents. NEED I SAY MORE???
- they both had buddy-character BABYSITTERS. (I had forgotten this - mentioned by thelionspride556!)

There's probably some other similarities, but I can't think of any more right now. Hope this clears things up!

- Juuchan17

Actually, I think she acts like most teenagers in animation movies. I mean, Aleu and she are so alike in their attitude toward their father, but she also acts a lot like Scamp in Lady and the Tramp II. So I guess most children and teenagers in sequels act like that.

It IS a stereotype - the headstrong, whiny teenager that seeks freedom from protective parental units and probably something else - and a very popular one in sequels lately. I suppose writers use this so that families can easily relate to the character and their teenage struggles.

But yeah, Kiara, Melody, Aleu, Scamp and any other "teenaged" sequel-only offspring characters are very similar, but they each have a couple of personality traits that make them stand apart from the rest.

Scamp - male; still a pup (maybe about six months old?); wants to be a "wild" dog and live a life without the rules of living in a house.

Aleu - female; yearling (or a little bit older . . .); wants to learn who she is and find where she belongs in the world.

Melody - female; 12 years old (her birthday was the ); wants to become a mermaid and find out the truth behind a lacket with her name on it.

Kiara - female; at least a few years old (we are never given her actual age, but in a few TLK2 books I've read, she's at least two or three years old during most of the film); wants her own independence from her father, as well as to be with Kovu.

(I really don't have a life. Can't you tell? XD)

- Juuchan17

Angel-female:A year or two younger than Scamp,had five families,longs for another,and finds one with Scamp.

But Angel is nothing like this stereotype !

I agree. (this is off-topic)

Angel wasn't a "main" character that was the child of main character parents. The only thing we knew about her was that she was a stray that only wanted what her new friend Scamp had left behind - a loving family that would make her feel safe and happy. Being a pup that had had five (I think that's right) families that had once loved her then abandoned her, Angel knows what rejection is . . . yet she never gives up on that dream, despite keeping it a secret from Buster the entire time.

She is a bit similar to the stereotype, but not as much as Scamp is. Angel is headstrong and brave, but she's older and wiser than the focal character of Scamp . . . perhaps that's the reason why they added her character in the first place: to give him the wisdom he needed and help snap him back into how important the life he wanted to leave behind was actually the life he belonged in.

Now, back on the subject . . .

I think Kiara was the first of this stereotype to debut in a sequel, so one could say that after the success of TLK2, perhaps the writers of TLM2 thought that basing Melody off of the stereotype as well would cause the film to succeed. (Sadly, it was quite a failure . . . although I enjoy it. The character of Melody, not the majority of the film . . . it's horrid.) We could say that Kiara and Melody were the catalysts of the "overprotective animated-sequel child" that we now see in films today.

- Juuchan17

Thank you all for the great explanations! I have never seen Balto, so i don't know much about it. I have seen Lady & the Tramp 2, but not in a while.

You should check out WQ at least, for the similarities of characters. I'm curious to hear your opinions on that in the Balto sections of the forum!

Getting back on topic . . .
Personally, I like Kiara's personality in this stereotype more than some of the others. She may not be the strongest hunter, but she's loyal and knows how to truly follow her heart when it comes to her people and the conflicts between the Pridelanders and the Outlanders. I suppose her real strength comes from the way she speaks . . . she reminds me of Pocahontas too, in a way. (Disney movie version, of course)

Melody, however, knows nothing of her mother's past or the fact that she is a bit of both human and mermaid. Her personality is merely a MIRROR of Ariel's, except four years younger - rebellious, adventurous and curious about what is forbidden to her - while Ariel herself becomes a slight mirror of her own father (not that she really wanted to; she felt that she had to protect Melody from whatever Morgana would do to her . . . Heck, I don't blame her but the truth should have come out much earlier.).

Thankfully, Simba didn't become a complete mirror of Mufasa, despite him wanting to follow his rules, his protocol, and try to be so much like him . . . THAT PLAN FAILED, and Kiara made sure he knew that it failed. Then again, he was raised only knowing his father as a mighty king, something that Simba knew he was destined to become. When he became King, I suppose he knew that he didn't want to become like his uncle, Scar was when he ruled, so what other example did he have left? Mufasa's.

Like Simba, Ariel lost her role model at a younger age - her mother, Athena (from "Ariel's Beginning"). However, times were different compared to now, so the methods of raising a child, a daughter nonetheless, changed. I've noticed that daughters in these films are usually protected and sheltered like dolls in glass cases, leaving the parents afraid that one little mistake or accident will take her away. (why else would they be so hard on them? Both Kiara and Melody dealt with this.)

. . . I think I rambled on this topic.

- Juuchan17

OH, your fine!

I think that Melody is more like Kiara in a way than Kiara being like Melody.. The Lion King II came out two years before The Little Mermaid II.

But I do think the two characters are alike.

Even though I've only seen the first Little Mermaid which was ages ago, I guess you could say they atre alike in some ways.