The direct-to-home-video release from 2004 starts with the pair watching The Lion King, but deciding to tell the audience that they wanted to show more of the story. So with a little rewinding, we start with Timon's life before Hakuna Matata. While the rest of the meerkats are content with living their lives in tunnels waiting for the next hyena attack, Timon dreams of more. When his inattention leads to more trouble than the clan feels he is worth, Timon decides to look for a new place to live.
He quickly finds the warthog Pumbaa who has also been shunned by those he knows. Of course, as any Lion King fan will know, his offense is more of olfactory in nature. This is when the duo's story catches up with the beginning of The Lion King and we see the real reason behind the animals' respectful bow. We also see what caused the pile of animals to fall during Simba's "I Just Can't Wait to be King," musical number.
Timon and Pumbaa actually end up being somewhere in almost every scene of the original film, but eventually the story slows down when young Simba (Matt Weinberg) makes their pair a trio. Here we see more of the life the three characters had as Simba grew up before Nala (Moria Kelly) finds the now adult lion prince, with Matthew Broderick reprising the rule.
In general, The Lion King 1 1/2 has an amazingly high production value considering the fact that it never saw the silver screen. Not only does the animation have the same quality as the original, but most of the cast returns, including actors like Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings as the trio of hyena. This is simply something not seen in most direct-to-home-video Disney films.
Not only does the Special Edition come with DVD, Blu-ray and digital copies of the film, but it also includes all of the original special features found on the previous DVD release and a new featurette. This collection includes an examination of the different types of animals found in Africa, hosted by Timon and Pumbaa of course, a collection of deleted scenes, a music video of Raven Symone singing "Grazing in the Grass," a making of featurette and another featurette called "Timon: Behind the Legend" that is hosted by Peter Graves where he goes into the life of Timon looking for the spark that lead to his (supposed) greatness.
I've been a fan of The Lion King 1 1/2 since it first came out. I love the way it plays with the original events of the film and shows more of two great Disney characters. If you are as much of a Lion King fan as I am, then you won't be disappointed in The Lion King 1 1/2.
