The Lion King 1½
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| The Lion King 1½ | |
|---|---|
 The Lion King 1½ DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Bradley Raymond |
| Written by | Tom Rogers Roger Allers |
| Produced by | George A. Mendoza |
| Starring | Nathan Lane Ernie Sabella Matthew Broderick Julie Kavner Jerry Stiller |
| Edited by | Joyce Arrastia |
| Music by | Johnny Clegg Don Harper Lebo M Ennio Morricone |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista DisneyToon Studios |
Release dates | February 10, 2004 |
Running time | 77 min |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
The Lion King 1½ (also known as The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata in some countries) is an American direct-to-video animated film released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment. The film is a parallel to the 1994 film The Lion King. The movie focuses on the meerkat/warthog duo Timon and Pumbaa before and during the events of the original film.
This feature was released directly to home video on February 10, 2004. The DVD went to the Disney Vault on January 2005.
Most memorable are Mystery Science Theater 3000-like moments where the characters comment on the original film's proceedings.
Plot
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". He was also the target of comments like "Who else could break a hole?" While his mother 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 mother 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 mom that 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 to "look beyond what you see". 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. Unfortunately, Timon was scared of predators which made Timon and Pumbaa scream loudly when they bump into each other. Timon becomes acquainted with Pumbaa, hoping he will repel predators and head off toward Pride Rock together.
The adventures of Timon and Pumbaa begin to coincide with the events of The Lion King at this point. They arrive at Pride Rock, but to their dismay a herd of animals were already there, causing Timon to believe that Rafiki told everyone about Pride Rock. When Timon and Pumbaa walk through the herd of animals witnessing the presentation of the new-born Simba. Pumbaa has a flatulence problem, and he accidentally farts which causes a few animals to collapse from the terrible smell. The animals in front see this and believe that the fallen animals are bowing, and soon they all bow together too (this is seen as being an accident, which explains while during Kiara presentation the animals did not bow).
Timon and Pumbaa continue their journey and find a new home at a watering hole which looks like a miniature version of Pride Rock (the same one that Zazu would later take Simba and Nala to). 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, believing that their new home is at a "theater district", 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, Pumbaa repeatedly attempts to talk about a large, luscious empty jungle that he once saw, but Timon ignores him. They travel to the elephant graveyard and witness Mufasa and Zazu 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 by Irish stepdancing due to a comment they've made about Riverdance. Later, they end up in the gorge only to encounter a wildebeest stampede, which is the same one from the original film where Simba loses his father. In the midst of it all they fall down a waterfall. On dry land, Pumbaa explains his story, saying he had nowhere to call home, and Timon is so touched that he officially declares each other friends. The wake up the next morning and find themselves before the very same jungle that Pumbaa saw 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 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. Timon develops a plan and he and Pumbaa distract the hyenas while his mother and Uncle Max dig a tunnel. Thanks to Timon's quick thinking, the hyenas fall down the tunnel.
After the defeat of Scar, 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.
In a frame story which starts at the very beginning of the movie, Timon and Pumbaa are watching the opening act of the original movie in a dark theater when Timon suddenly uses a remote control to fast forward to where they appear in the movie. Pumbaa argues that the movie shouldn't go out of order and attempts to rewind the movie back to the beginning. Timon and Pumbaa start fighting over control of the movie until they agree that the movie should tell their side of the story. Throughout the rest of the movie, it is occasionally interrupted to have Timon and Pumbaa comment on whatever is happening. At one point, Pumbaa interrupts the movie to go get some snacks, leaving Timon to wait quite a long time for Pumbaa to return. In another sequence, Timon and Pumbaa attempt to turn the Hakuna Matata song into a karaoke sequence that is briefly interrupted when Pumbaa tries to eat the bouncing bug. When the movie is over, Pumbaa says he wants to watch it again, but Timon refuses to. However, Timon's mother walks up and discovers that Timon and Pumbaa had been watching the movie without her. She rewinds the movie and calls Uncle Max over to watch it with them. Simba and Rafiki then arrive and request to watch the movie as well. All of a sudden, Mickey Mouse shows up, and they are then joined by numerous other Disney characters. Timon gives up and begins to play the movie again, resuming play at the Walt Disney logo. Right before the credits roll, Pumbaa states that he still '(doesn't) do so well in crowds.'
Characters
- Timon, voiced by Nathan Lane, is a meerkat who doesn't fit in with his colony.
- Pumbaa, voiced by Ernie Sabella, is a lonely warthog who befriends Timon.
- Simba, voiced by Matt Weinberg as a cub and Matthew Broderick as an adult, is the rightful lion king of the Pride Lands who becomes best friends with Timon and Pumbaa.
- Ma, voiced by Julie Kavner, is Timon's caring mother.
- Uncle Max, voiced by Jerry Stiller, is a close relative of Timon and Ma's.
- Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings respectively, are a trio of hyenas who attack Timon's colony early in the film. They are later thwarted by Timon during the battle of Pride Rock.
- Rafiki, voiced by Robert Guillaume, is a wise shaman mandrill who tells Timon about the Hakuna Matata ("no worries") philosophy.
- Nala, voiced by Moira Kelly, is Simba's childhood friend. She and Simba soon fall in love, to Timon and Pumbaa's (mostly Timon's) disgust.
- Zazu, voiced by Edward Hibbert, is a hornbill who acts as the king's majordomo.
Mufasa, Scar, and Sarabi also appear briefly in the film, but did not speak.
Other disney characters
- Mickey Mouse, is a mouse who showed up at the movie towards the end.
- Snow White, voiced by Carolyn Gardner, is a princess who showed up at the movie towards the end.
- Grumpy, voiced by Corey Burton, is a dwarf who showed up at the movie towards the end.
- Sneezy, voiced by Bob Joles, is a dwarf who showed up at the movie towards the end.
- Happy, voiced by Kevin Schon, is a dwarf who showed up at the movie towards the end.
Awards
The Lion King 1½ won the following awards:
- 2005 Annie Award for "Best Home Entertainment Production"
- 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards in the following categories:
- Best Animated Character Performance (Nathan Lane - voice, Alexis Stadermann - animator) for "Timon"
- Best Animated DVD Premiere Movie
- Best Director (of a DVD Premiere Movie) - Bradley Raymond
- Best Editing (of a DVD Premiere Movie) - Joyce Arrastia
- Best Screenplay (for a DVD Premiere Movie) - Tom Rogers
Additionally, the film was nominated for a "Best DVD Release" Saturn Award, a "Music in an Animated Feature Production" Annie Award and six additional DVD Exclusive Awards.
Reception
- The film got a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes deeming it "Fresh", and is one of the few Disney direct-to-video movies that was critically acclaimed.
Video game
A videogame version of the movie was released for the Game Boy Advance system. It was published by THQ under license from Disney Interactive, and developed by Vicarious Visions.
References to other media
- At the Start, when the movie is paused in the Elephant Graveyard Steam bit, a Hidden Mickey is on screen
- There are various other Hidden Mickeys in the film, such as in a puddle where Timon, Pumbaa, Ma and Uncle Max are standing at the end of the film at Pride Rock, and one made of three stones visible when Timon and Pumbaa fall over the waterfall.
- When Pumbaa pauses the movie to get snacks, Timon is heard humming, then singing "It's A Small World After All"
- Upon seeing Simba, their adopted son, growing up, Timon and Pumbaa begin singing "Sunrise, Sunset" from the musical "Fiddler on the Roof".
- During the film Simba grows up to be a fully grown lion but when Ma and Uncle Max are looking for Timon it only took them a little bit to find him.
- Where as Lion King is essentially a children's version of Shakespeare's epic "Hamlet", Timon and Pumbaa's adventures through the timeline of Lion King mimic those of Hamlet's friends in the Tom Stoppard play "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead."
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