Fun fact - Ford Riley, who is credited with writing seven episodes of The Lion Guard so far, apparently worked on The Land Before Time TV series.
IMDB credits him as a "Developer" for 20 of the show's episodes, along with being a story editor and writer.
I only found out about The Lion Guard recently, but what I've seen of it looks fun and entertaining. As a fan of 2D animation, the show's strong visuals are a real treat -- an example of what modern 2D Disnney animation can look like in an era when it's been overshadowed by the likes of Tangled and Frozen. Don't get me wrong -- I like those movies fine enough. But there's undeniable nostalgia in seeing old-school Disney visuals shine again with a modern sheen.
For a Disney Junior show, The Lion Guard at least tries to include a sense of action and danger in its plots. Take
this fight with the Hyenas, for example. It certainly seems to take itself more seriously than Jake and the Never Land Pirates or Sofia the First. Those shows are blatantly aimed at a much younger audience than their theatrical source material. Compared to them, The Lion Guard feels much closer in tone and aesthetic to the actual Lion King.
There are delightful characters like Jasiri who expand the world of The Lion King and plenty of fun songs, even if some are a bit too inoffensive. Forgive the blasphemy, but I actually like Sisi ni Sawa a good deal more than Hakuna Matata. The show probably introduces continuity issues between it and The Lion King 2, but I'd be lying if I said I cared a whole awful lot about that.
As for the earlier Lion King vs Kimba discussion, I think it's more than possible that Disney borrowed from the legendary Osamu Tezuka's work, and that is in no way a bad thing. The inspiration lifted from Tezuka's manga is fairly innocent -- the
lion-shaped clouds and the
Pride Rock iconography being examples. Disney added more than enough to make its story stand on its own, without ripping off Kimba. Heck, the movie's plot borrows more from Hamlet, something hardly anyone blames it for compared to the overwrought Kimba controversy.