The Lion King 1 1.2
The Lion King 1 1.2
- Time: 88 phút
- Director: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
- Country: United States
- Categories: Anime Cartoon
- Release: 2004
- IMDB: 8.5/10
- Actor: James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Matthew Broderick
- Tags: Movies The Lion King 1½
About The Lion King 1½
The Lion King 1½ (also known as The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata internationally) is a 2004 American animated direct-to-video musical comedy film produced by the Australian branch of DisneyToon Studios and released direct to video on February 10, 2004.
The third and final installment released in the original Lion King trilogy, it is based on The Lion King’s Timon & Pumbaa and serves as an origin story for the meerkat/warthog duo Timon and Pumbaa while the film is also set within the events of The Lion King.
A majority of the original voice cast from the first film returns to reprise their roles, including Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella as the voices of Timon and Pumbaa, respectively. The plot of the movie is inspired by Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a tragicomedy that tells the story of Hamlet from the point of view of two minor characters.
Plot
In a dark theater (a parody of Mystery Science Theater 3000) Timon and Pumbaa were watching The Lion King until Timon uses a remote fast forwards to the scene where they appear, but Pumbaa uses another remote to rewind to the beginning.
This lead to the two to fight over the remotes until Timon gets the idea of telling the story of how both of them met and how they learned about Hakuna Matata. Pumbaa agrees with his idea and Timon rewinds the film to before the beginning where the story begins.
Timon is a social outcast in his meerkat colony on the outskirts of the Pride Lands, as he frequently messes things up by accident. Though he is unconditionally supported by his mother, Timon dreams of a better life than his colony’s bleak existence, continually hiding from predators, most notably the hyenas.
One day, he is assigned as a sentry in an attempt by his mother to get him accepted, but his daydreaming leads to the near death of his uncle, Max, at the hands of hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed.
Now ostracized, Timon decides to leave his colony to find a better place to live. He meets the mandrill Rafiki, who teaches him about “Hakuna Matata”, and advises him to “look beyond what you see”. Timon takes this advice literally and observes Pride Rock in the distance.
Believing Pride Rock to be his dream home, Timon ventures in that direction and encounters Pumbaa the warthog on his way. The two quickly form a bond, and Pumbaa accompanies Timon on his journey.
The pair arrive at Pride Rock during the presentation of Simba to the animals of the Pride Lands, mistaking it for a land rush. As they make their way through the crowd, Pumbaa explosively passes gas due to his agoraphobia, causing the nearby animals to faint and prompting animals further away to bow to Simba.
Following this, Timon and Pumbaa make multiple attempts to set up homes throughout the Pride Lands, but wind up being forced away every time upon witnessing several events from the original film.
Eventually, the pair are caught in the wildebeest stampede that killed Mufasa, and are thrown off a waterfall in their attempt to escape. Exhausted, Timon decides to give up and realizes that Pumbaa, who sympathizes with Timon over being a social outcast, is the only friend that he has ever had. The next morning, the two discover a luxurious green jungle. With their dream home found, they settle there, embracing “Hakuna Matata” as their life’s philosophy.
Some time later, Timon and Pumbaa encounter Simba in a nearby desert, nearly dead. They rescue him and decide to raise him under their philosophy, while eating bugs and relaxing. Years later, Simba’s childhood friend Nala appears and reunites with him. Believing Hakuna Matata to be in jeopardy, Timon and Pumbaa attempt to sabotage their dates, but fail every time.
Upon witnessing Simba and Nala’s argument, Simba disappears, and Timon believes they have succeeded. The next day, they and Nala learn from Rafiki that Simba has run off to challenge Scar and reclaim Pride Rock. Upset that Simba left them, Timon decides to stay behind, but Pumbaa, annoyed that Timon would callously abandon Simba when he needs him, follows Simba and Nala.
Timon indulges in the jungle’s luxuries by himself, but loneliness starts to overwhelm him. After feeling sad and guilty, Timon is met with Rafiki, who indirectly makes him realize that his true Hakuna Matata is with the ones he loves, not just the place he sought for, prompting Timon to follow the others.
Timon catches up and reconciles with Pumbaa before journeying onward to Pride Rock to join Simba and Nala. After helping them distract the hyenas with a hula dance, Timon and Pumbaa run into Ma and Uncle Max, who had come looking for Timon after Ma learnt from Rafiki his teaching of Hakuna Matata to Timon.
Timon proposes that they all help Simba by getting rid of the hyenas. While Simba battles Scar on the top of Pride Rock, Ma and Uncle Max construct a series of tunnels beneath the hyenas, while at the same time, Timon and Pumbaa use various tactics to distract them. When the tunnels are finished, Max knocks down the support beams, breaking the ground under the hyenas. However, the last few beams get jammed, prompting Timon to dive underground and break them himself.
The cave-in ensues, and the hyenas are ejected through the tunnels. Simba accepts his place as the rightful king of the Pride Lands, thanking Timon and Pumbaa for their help. Timon takes Pumbaa, Ma, Uncle Max, and the rest of the meerkat colony to live in the jungle to complete his Hakuna Matata, and he is praised as their hero, while gaining acceptance into his colony.
When the story finishes, Ma, Uncle Max, Simba, Rafiki, and eventually many other Disney characters join Timon and Pumbaa to rewatch the film in the theater, during which Pumbaa tells Timon that he still struggles with crowds.
Voice cast
Several members of the original cast, including Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, and Matthew Broderick, reprise their roles from The Lion King, while other actors reprise their roles from The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride such as Edward Hibbert as Zazu, who replaced Rowan Atkinson in the prior film.
James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons do not reprise their characters with Mufasa and Scar respectively being silent roles. Matt Weinberg replaces Jonathan Taylor Thomas as the voice of Simba as a cub. Carolyn Gardner, Chris Sanders, Bill Farmer, Tony Anselmo, and Blayne Weaver provide the uncredited voices of several notable Disney characters in the film’s final scene.
Nathan Lane as Timon, a meerkat who is Pumbaa’s best friend. Though somewhat selfish, arrogant, and withdrawn, Timon shows courageous loyalty towards his friends.
Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa, a warthog who is Timon’s best friend. Though slow-witted, he is very empathetic and willing to trust and befriend anyone. He is also claustrophobic and passes gas in crowds.
Julie Kavner as Ma, Timon’s caring mother. She is overly protective and attached to her son, often trying to get him accepted amongst the colony, but never succeeding.
Jerry Stiller as Max, Timon’s paranoid, eccentric but kind-hearted uncle. He initially doubts Timon’s ability, but warms up to him at the film’s climax.
Matthew Broderick as Simba, Timon and Pumbaa’s second best friend, Mufasa and Sarabi’s son, Scar’s nephew, Nala’s husband and the current King of the Pride Lands.
Matt Weinberg voices Simba as a cub.
Moira Kelly as Nala, Simba’s childhood friend and eventual wife.
Robert Guillaume as Rafiki, a monkey who teaches Timon Hakuna Matata, as well as giving him faith in himself to do what he dreams of doing.
Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings as Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, a trio of spotted hyenas who act as the local predators of Timon’s meerkat colony before their allegiance with Scar.
Jim also voiced Doc, the leader of the Seven Dwarfs who came with Snow White to rewatch Timon and Pumbaa’s film.
Edward Hibbert as Zazu, a red-billed hornbill and the majordomo to Mufasa and later Simba.
Kevin Schon as Iron Joe, a paranoid meerkat who is carried away by several other meerkats.
Schon also voiced Happy, one of the Seven Dwarfs who came to rewatch the film with Snow white.
Carolyn Gardner (uncredited) as Snow White, a princess who comes to rewatch the movie with the Seven Dwarfs.
Jeff Bennett (uncredited) as Bashful, one of the Seven Dwarfs who rewatches the film with Snow White.
Corey Burton (uncredited) as Grumpy, one the Seven Dwarfs who comes to rewatch the film with other Disney Characters.
Bob Joles (uncredited) as Sneezy, one of the Seven Dwarfs who comes with Snow White to rewatch Timon and Pumbaa’s film.
Chris Sanders (uncredited) as Stitch, an alien who comes to rewatch the film with other Disney Characters and laughs at Donald when he jumps on him.
Bill Farmer (uncredited) as Goofy, a friend of Mickey Mouse who comes to rewatch the film with Timon and Pumbaa and gets jumped on the head by Stitch.
Farmer also voices Sleepy, one of the Seven Dwarfs who comes to rewatch the movie with Snow White.
Tony Anselmo (uncredited) as Donald Duck, a duck who is Mickey’s short-tempered but good-natured best friend.
Blayne Weaver (uncredited) as Peter Pan, a flying boy from Neverland who comes to rewatch Timon and Pumbaa’s movie with Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys.