My Review of The Lion King 1 1/2 · 2:05am Mar 31st, 2021
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
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Greetings, everyone! Time for another Lion King review which is none other than the spinoff film itself: The Lion King 1 1/2. In all honesty, this is one of my personal guilty pleasure movies of my childhood. I guess you can say that I have a love/hate relationship with the whole film mostly because of what it does right and also how it messed up certain things that should have never interfered with. You wonder what I mean by that? Well, I’m glad you asked! It’s that simple really. While it did manage to give Timon the spotlight as the protagonist to make him at least a two-dimensional character as opposed to what he was from the first film, it still went out of its way to insert both him and Pumbaa into certain critical events of the original that they should have never been in.
For example, Timon and Pumbaa were actually there during Simba’s ceremony when he was a cub? Okay, I can take that. Oh wait... you’re just going to insert a flatulence joke in one of the most iconic movie openers in animated history?? So the part where all the animals bowed before Simba was because of the massive fart by Pumbaa? Ooookaaaay.... I don’t see how that would make any sense or be even funny. Honestly, it’s a badly paced gag in an inappropriate time especially if it takes place in the beginning of the first movie. Can you guys imagine if that actually happened in the original movie during the opening credits?
Another example, they were actually present when Mufasa fought the hyenas to protect Simba and Nala? Another one, they were there when Scar sang “Be prepared”? They were really there during the stampede? Speaking of which, I am THANKFUL they did not do anything that resulted in the wildebeest stampede because that would been a dark, horrible twist if they were indirectly responsible for Mufasa’s death.
So yeah, it looks like a fun concept and a decent fanfiction but it makes very little sense. Why would the writers place two of the most famous comedy relief characters into these crucial events? What purpose would they serve there? But then again, I was actually amused how they actually met for the first time and how they became friends.
However, I felt like there wasn’t enough time spent on developing the character of Pumbaa because... he’s the deuteragonist of the movie. What about his backstory? Where are the other warthogs? Was he ever alone? Was he ever like this while growing up? What was his life like? If they could have spent the time answering these questions, Pumbaa would have probably been a lot more close to Timon if he went through the same struggles like the latter did and how he too was hated by his own relatives. The movie could have focused on that side of Pumbaa.
But NOPE!! Forget all that and just make room for Pumbaa to make fart jokes and toilet humor because everyone loves that, right?!
On a side note, it was really nice seeing Timon’s side of the family: his Uncle Max and his mother. Max was a little too unlikable for me until the end, but I’ll get more used to him eventually. As for his mom... well... I’m sure most of our mothers are somewhat like that in real life, eh? XD
But here’s another issue with the story: several things that happened in the movie conflicts with the continuity of the first movie. One primary example would be the defeat of the hyenas by Timon. Remember when Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed overheard Scar’s betrayal and mauled him to death for that? Here, they just focus their attention on trying to kill our heroes without even going up to Scar first. How could they have gone up to him if they went down to Timon and Pumbaa at the same time? That’s a huge continuity error.
Plus, how would Scar die if the hyenas are already down in that rocky pit Timon created? He would just roam free in exile!
So yeah, this film has a LOT of issues that would perfectly explain why it has gotten a lot of hate over the years. But while it has its own serious problems, there are other things that I genuinely enjoyed out of this:
The entire movie is... literally that. A movie. This whole thing was played at a movie theater with Timon and Pumbaa as the audience. That was... genius. That means that the entire thing was played from their own perspective, meaning that all these issues I talked about don’t mean anything at the end of the day. Because it’s THEIR film from their point of view even if it’s not entirely accurate. This is clearly giving the fourth wall a whole new experience and meaning.
As the icing on the cake, all the Disney characters from their own universes joined Timon and Pumbaa in watching the movie at the end. I LOVE THAT!! As a humongous fan of crossovers, that is what saved the whole movie for me. And people say that Kingdom Hearts did this Disney crossover thing first. Nope! Of course, you have Disney’s House of Mouse to thank for that. ;)
Overall, this was a mixed bag for me. I treat it as a non-canon film in the franchise... I mean, come on, it has to be non-canon. But for me, it is an above average, non-canon, piece of fun film I can go back and enjoy to a moderate degree. After all, the voice actors and actresses did their best, and most of them reprised their roles as their respective characters which is great. The animation is great and more eye-catching for me.
A 6/10 from me! What do you guys think? Lastly, Timon and Pumbaa may be reading this review from their own theater or home and are taking notes of what I said. Haha, I bet they’re enjoying themselves while eating grubs.
Peace!
I honestly thought it was a waste of film.
Two of my favorite characters in The Lion King recapping the entire story from their perspective? What more could a fan want?
That was something I often questioned myself looking back on the film. The only theory that's often been coming in my head was that the three hyenas that look like Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed were mostly likely twins, while the real deal were up ahead and exactly where they were in the first movie.
Other than that, I actually consider this movie officially canon rather than non-canon, as I thought it was a great way of giving Timon and Pumbaa a little more depth as characters. The only thing needed to clear up the continuity errors is a future Lion King installment that could address what the film brought. That same with how Zira and the Outlanders came in the mix, really.