Movies - The Lion King 1½

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	Movies - The Lion King 1½

The Lion King 1½ (also known as The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata in some countries) is an animated film, the "sidestory" (or midquel or "in-between-quel" according to the movie) to The Lion King
made by The Walt Disney Company. The movie focuses on the characters Timon and Pumbaa before they met 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.

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. He explains to Pumbaa they had a part in the story from the very beginning. He rewinds the movie to a time before the movie even began and before Simba was born.

Timon lived in a meerkat colony far away. 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. 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 respect of his colony 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 began 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 accidentally farts and the terrible smell makes a few animals collapse. The animals at the front see this and thinks 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 the 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 therefore explains why the tower collapsed in the original film. Timon and Pumbaa's home is ruined by this event and they go off to find another home. On the way, they travel to the elephant graveyard and witness Mufasa saving the cubs from the hyenas. Going further into the graveyard, they witness an army of hyenas marching to "Be Prepared" and 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 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 all that time. Although they fail, they are happy when they notice Simba arguing with Nala and running off to the fields. They go back to sleep, but not before seeing Mufasa's ghost appear in the clouds. However, in the morning, they realize that Simba has returned back home to challenge Scar. Pumbaa goes with 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.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Lion King 1½ ]

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