Disney Sequel Showdown- "The Lion King 1 1/2"

Disney Sequel Showdown: Round #3

The Lion King 1 1/2
Directed By Bradley Raymond
Starring Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Julie Kavner and Jerry Stiller

So this just came back into my head. It's late, I can't sleep, so let's talk about another Disney sequel!

Well I've already knocked two Disney direct-to-video sequels, follows up to Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I did say there were some decent ones in the canon. The Lion King 1 1/2, despite that ridiculous title, is probably one of, if not the best of the Disney direct-to-video sequels.

Where The Lion King is an adaptation of Hamlet,  The Lion King 1 1/2 is sort of an adaptation of Rosencrantz & Guilderstein Are Dead. The film takes us through the original again, but from Timon and Pumbaa's point-of-view. But before the "Circle of Life" begins, we get to see what life was like for Timon (Lane) back in his meerkat colony, complete with his mother (Kavner) and Uncle Max (Stiller).

After botching up a stint on sentry duty involving some familiar hyenas, Timon leaves home to find his place in the world. Along the way, he meets his future best friend Pumbaa (Sabella), who joins him on his quest to find their own patch of paradise. From there, the events of the first film run its course, but again it's their side of the story. We see what they were doing during some of the original's key scenes, including some that we didn't even know they were around for.

Perhaps Lion King 1 1/2's greatest strength is that it doesn't take itself seriously, right down to it's Mystery Science Theater 3000 set up of Timon and Pumbaa watching the film in a theater. It's a sequel to one of the greatest animated films of all time, but it's not going try to match it. It's going to be it's own thing. That was a coming-of-age story of a young prince, this is a buddy comedy/satire, that actually has a lot of laughs at the expense of the former.

All that aside, there is still an emotional Disney core, and that comes from the relationship of our two leads. It's always nice to see filmmakers successfully take sidekicks, and make them three-dimensional characters. Of course, you know they didn't do that on their own. Timon and Pumbaa have been around for years, were already loved by the public, and had two other films and a tv show before this. While this is a Timon & Pumbaa film, Timon is the star. It's his hero journey, and while Pumbaa does go through his own emotional arc, it spawns from Timon's.

The animation here is rather good despite this being a direct-to-video release (This was around the time these films started getting higher in quality, and were no longer being recycled episodes from a cancelled tv show stapled together. Looking at you, Belle's Magical World and Cinderella II).
The music is fine, featuring some catchy original songs, reprises of ones from The Lion King, and some from outside sources that are used for jokes and pop culture references.

I'm not surprised that nearly every cast member from the original film returned for this, with the exception of Rowan Atkinson as Zazu (Seriously what the hell was he doing that he couldn't be bothered?). I mean this was a sequel to what was at the time, Disney's most successful animated film (This was all B.F….Before Frozen.) Anyway, they're all great. Disney always knew how to put together a good voice cast for a film. New additions Julie Kavner and Jerry Stiller as Ma & Uncle Max provide a good amount of laughs, even though you can clearly tell that Kavner is the voice of Marge Simpson, and that Jerry Stiller is…well Jerry Stiller.

So to recap, if one should ever find themselves in a situation where you had to watch a Disney sequel, this is without a doubt your best option. I myself do actually get the urge to rewatch it from time to time, because it's just a fun, harmless film. The Lion King 1 1/2 is not one of those sequels that's better than the originals. Lord no. For what it is though, it's a fine film, and that's really nothing to fuss about. Hakuna Matata.