Having got this far into My Summer of Sequels, I almost feel like "The Lion King One-and-a-Half" (henceforth, "TLK 1.5") was made by prescient people as a breather episode for any poor souls who decided, out of morbid curiosity, to watch a bunch of Disney DTV sequels in a row.
The idea is simple: tell the story of "The Lion King" from Timon and Pumba's point of view. (If the original "Lion King" is Hamlet but with a happier ending, and "The Lion King 2" is, based off my vague childhood memories, Romeo and Juliet but with a happier ending, this is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead but actually funny.) It helps the proceedings a great deal that Timon and Pumbaa are among the best Disney sidekick characters. And indeed, it helps that Meerkats are one of the world's most loveable... Charismatic Normal-Size-Fauna, I guess?
Look, I'm not going to get too serious with this one. The whole premise of "TLK 1.5" is that the very idea of Disney DTV sequels is really, really silly. Silly and strange and kind of sad. And, above all, worth mocking to hell and back. The characters themselves make fun of the concept at every opportunity. I hate having to invoke the loathed "This is the X for people who hate X" phrase, but this is indeed the Disney DTV sequel for people who hate Disney DTV sequels. It is the first one I can recommend without feeling awful afterwards.
It helps that the original voices are back for the most part, the animation is quite good, and that the "new" songs... aren't. They're either variants of the songs from the original or remixes of songs written for the original that they could not use for some reason or other. It really helps that those Hans Zimmer themes still get me every time. Though ultimately, "TLK 1.5" made me suck it up and buy The Lion King" on Blu-Ray...
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Sketch of the Day!
Older Study of Random Hoofed Mammals!
