The Lion King 1½
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The Lion King 1½ (also known as The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata in some countries) is an animated film, a part prequel/part midquel (or "in-between-quel" according to the movie) to 1994's The Lion King, made by The Walt Disney Company. The movie focuses on the meerkat/warthog duo Timon and Pumbaa before they met the lion Simba, and how Simba lived with them.
This feature was released directly to home video on February 10, 2004. It was based on The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa episode "Once Upon a Timon."
Most memorable are Mystery Science Theater 3000-like moments where the characters comment on the original film's proceedings.
As the original 1994 film was based on the Shakespeare play Hamlet, this movie is highly suspected to be based on Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, a play that created a humorous back story for two minor characters in Hamlet.
It is generally criticized by fans of The Lion King as not being canon, as it deals sloppily with many subjects, and the time frame of the movie is not coherent. Many critics attack the crude humor found in the film, even though the original movie contained many of the same elements. It is, however, praised for appearing to have the highest quality animation found in any Disney animated feature direct-to-video release (Bambi II is another contender).#redirect
Plot
Timon and Pumbaa are watching The Lion King in a dark movie theater. Timon argues that he wants to skip over most of the movie to the parts featuring him and Pumbaa. Pumbaa explains to Timon that they had a part in the story from the very beginning, though Timon denies it. Later, Timon rewinds the movie to a time before the movie even began and before Simba was born.
Timon lived in a meerkat colony far away from Pride Rock. He was one of the worst diggers underground giving him titles from his other meerkats such as "Tunnel Klutz". While his mom has always been sympathetic and encouraging of Timon, his Uncle Max is more skeptical and embarrassed by his nephew. His father is not mentioned at all in the film, but did appear in a deleted scene; a sort of flashback. Timon's mom convinces Uncle Max to give Timon a job as sentry. The job results in disaster when Uncle Max narrowly escapes being eaten by the three hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. Timon loses the little respect of his colony he has and leaves, hoping to find his place in the world. On his journey Timon meets Rafiki who tells Timon that he seeks "Hakuna Matata", and tells him how to get there. Timon mistakes Rafiki's words of wisdom as an actual place located at Pride Rock. Along the way, Timon and Pumbaa meet for the first time.
The adventures of Timon and Pumbaa begin to coincide with the events of The Lion King at this point. When they walk through the herd of animals witnessing the presentation of the new-born Simba, Pumbaa becomes a victim of his demophobia-triggered flatluence problem, and the terrible smell causes a few animals to collapse. The animals at the front see this and believe that the fallen animals are bowing, and soon they all bow together too. Timon and Pumbaa continue their journey and find a new home near Pride Rock. One morning, they are disturbed by some noise from outside, which is actually Simba, Nala and the animals singing "I Just Can't Wait to be King". Timon gets mad and hits the leg of an elephant supporting the tower of animals. The elephant jumps in surprise and causes the tower to collapse, explaining why it collapsed in the original film. Timon and Pumbaa's home is ruined by this event and they set off to find another home. On the way, they travel to the elephant graveyard and witness Mufasa saving the cubs from the hyenas. That night, going further into the graveyard, they witness an army of hyenas marching to "Be Prepared", and the duo run away. Later, they end up in the gorge only to encounter a wildebeest stampede. In the midst of it all they fall down a waterfall and find themselves before a large, lucious empty jungle in which they make their new home. Later they find Simba and the film shows us some of their life in the jungle throughout the years.
As an adult, Simba re-encounters his childhood friend Nala, and Timon and Pumbaa try everything to stop Simba from falling in love with her. This has disastrous results, although explaining a few things not touched in the original film: Simba and Nala fell off the cliff because Timon and Pumbaa tripped them with a vine; and Timon and Pumbaa re-appear at the end of the Can You Feel The Love Tonight sequence at another place because they were running around trying to interfere with the lions during the song. Although they fail, they are happy when they notice Simba arguing with Nala and running off to the grasslands. They go back to sleep, mistaking Mufasa's ghost appearing in the clouds as bad weather. However, in the morning, they realize that Simba has returned back home to challenge Scar. Pumbaa follows after Nala, leaving Timon alone. Rafiki appears before Timon but before he can say anything, Timon realizes that his "Hakuna Matata" is all about his friends, not his home. Timon catches up with Pumbaa and together they head to Pride Rock.
There, Timon re-encounters his mother and Uncle Max for the first time since he left the colony. They battle the hyenas while Simba fights with Scar. Thanks to Timon's quick thinking, the hyenas roll down a tunnel just in time to meet Scar after he is thrown from Pride Rock by Simba. Simba becomes the king and Timon tells his mother that he found his place but something is still missing – his family. In the end Timon and Pumbaa return to their jungle paradise, bringing Timon's entire meerkat colony with them. The meerkats now have a safe, work-free place to call home and Timon is hailed a hero.
When the movie is over, Pumbaa says he wants to watch it again, but Timon refuses to. However, Timon's mom, Uncle Max, Simba and Rafiki suddenly arrive and request to watch the movie as well. They are then joined by numerous Disney characters who begin to crowd the theater. Timon gives up and begins to play the movie again. Right before the credits roll, Pumbaa says he's still not used to crowds...
Voice cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Nathan Lane | Timon |
| Ernie Sabella | Pumbaa |
| Julie Kavner | Ma |
| Jerry Stiller | Uncle Max |
| Matthew Broderick | Simba (adult and teen) |
| Robert Guillaume | Rafiki |
| Whoopi Goldberg | Shenzi |
| Cheech Marin | Banzai |
| Matt Weinberg | Simba (cub) |
| Moira Kelly | Nala |
| Jim Cummings | Ed |
| Edward Hibbert | Zazu |
Trivia
- Shenzi's full name is revealed: Shenzi Marie Predatora Veldetta Jackalina Hyena.
- Fred from the The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa television series makes a brief cameo appearance during the song "Diggah Tunnah".
- The musical Fiddler on the Roof is referenced in the song "Sunrise, Sunset".
- When Timon witnesses Mufasa rescuing Simba and Nala from the hyenas, he says, "I see carnivores". The line is actually a reference to a quote in the movie The Sixth Sense. The original quote was "I see dead people".
- The theme music to the spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly plays during Simba and Timon's snail-eating contest. This might imply that the music is played during a final shoot-out; in fact, it isn't. It's actually played during a final eat-out.
- Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket, Tinkerbell, Br'er Rabbit and many other characters from Disney animated television series and movies make silhouetted cameo appearances at the end of the film. Since characters from Song of the South make a brief appearance in this scene, some have interpreted the cameo as a possible indication that a near-future DVD release of the unavailable film may be in consideration.
- In the DVD's release, there have been 20 Hidden Mickeys hidden throughout the film. One would have to use a DVD remote to see them.
- Timon's song "That's All I Need", originally called "Meerkat Rhapsody", was based on "Warthog Rhapsody", a song created originally for The Lion King but later replaced by "Hakuna Matata". "Warthog Rhapsody" was featured in the Rhythm of the Pride Lands album.
- The Peter Gunn theme plays when Timon and Pumbaa try to break up Simba and Nala.
- Although The Lion King 1½ wasn't made as a Disney Sing Along Songs production, it even features the lyrics of Hakuna Matata on the screen during the production.
- In the Diggah Tunnah scene, the three blonde meerkats are making the Imua Limalama (a martial art[link]) salute.
- In the Lilo & Stitch Lion King parody trailer, Timon and Pumbaa are in the middle of the crowd of animals. Timon exclaims "Hey! That's not Simba!" This hints, like this movie, that they were at the presentation of Simba.
- This film gives a rather crude hint that Timon and Pumbaa could very well be as old as Mufasa, because this story starts before Simba was born.
- In the The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa television series, there was an episode explaining how Timon and Pumbaa met prior to The Lion King which was entirely different to the story told in The Lion King 1½.
External links
- [Official site]
- [Endless Round MUCK] - an unofficial online roleplaying game based on the Lion King films.
| Disney direct-to-video animated features |
|---|
| The Return of Jafar (1994) • (1995) • Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996) • (1997) • (1997) • (1997) • Belle's Magical World (1998) • (1998) • (1998) • (1999) • Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999) • An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000) • (2000) • (2000) • (2001) • (2001) • (2001) • (2002) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002) • Tarzan & Jane (2002) • Mickey's House of Villains (2002) • (2002) • (2003) • (2003) • Stitch! The Movie (2003) • (2003) • (2003) • The Lion King 1½ (2004) • (2004) • (2004) • Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004) • Mulan II (2005) • Tarzan II (2005) • (2005) • Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005) • Kronk's New Groove (2005) • Bambi II (2006) • Leroy & Stitch (2006) • Brother Bear 2 (2006) • The Fox and the Hound 2 (2006) • Tinker Bell and the Ring of Belief (2007) • Peter Pan III (2007) • Cinderella III (2007) |
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