The Lion King 1½

The Lion King 1½
Directed by	Bradley Raymond
Produced by	George A. Mendoza
Screenplay by	Tom Rogers
Story by	Roger Allers Irene Mecchi Bill Steinkiller Raymond Singer Evan Spiliotopoulos
Based on
Starring	Nathan Lane Ernie Sabella Julie Kavner Jerry Stiller Matthew Broderick Robert Guillaume Moira Kelly Whoopi Goldberg Cheech Marin Jim Cummings Edward Hibbert Matt Weinberg
Music by	Don Harper
Edited by	Joyce Arrastia
Production company	Walt Disney Pictures DisneyToon Studios Sparx Animation Studios
Distributed by	Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release date	Template:Film date
Running time	77 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Lion King 1½ (also known as The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata in some countries) is a 2004 American direct-to-video animated comedy movie. It is a prequel to The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. It is a sequel to The Lion King. All three movies were made by The Walt Disney Company. This movie is about the fictional characters Timon and Pumbaa before they met Simba. The movie was released on DVD and video on February 10, 2004.

The story

Timon and Pumbaa start to watch the original Lion King movie, but Timon keeps insisting to fast forward to when they come in, because they were not seen in the beginning of the story or anywhere until halfway through. Pumbaa suggests telling the audience their story, which begins before Simba's journey begins. Through this, we meet Timon's mother and Uncle Max, discover why he left his meerkat colony, where he learned Hakuna Matata, how he met Pumbaa, and the perils they encountered while searching for their dream home.

Cast

• Nathan Lane as Timon
• Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa
• Matthew Broderick as Simba (mature)
• Matt Weinberg as Simba (young)
• Cheech Marin as Banzai
• Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi
• Jim Cummings as Ed
• Robert Guillaume as Rafiki
• Moira Kelly as Nala
• Edward Hibbert as Zazu
• Julie Kavner as Ma (Timon's mom)
• Jerry Stiller as Uncle Max

Soundtrack

The movie's soundtrack, The Lion King 1½: Songs From Timon and Pumbaa's Hilarious Adventure, was released on CD by Disney Records on February 10, 2004. It includes two songs from the original movie, "That's All I Need" and "Hakuna Matata", reperformed by Nathan Lane who took over the role of voicing the character Timon. The rest of the soundtrack includes various R&B tracks, including remakes of the Kool and the Gang classic "Jungle Boogie" by artist French, and two instrumental pieces from film composer Don Harper.

1. "Grazing In The Grass" (Raven)
2. "Digga Tunnah Dance" (Lebo M and Vinx)
3. "That's All I Need" (Nathan Lane)
4. "Hakuna Matata" (Lane, Ernie Sabella, Jason Weaver, Joseph Williams )
5. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (Lebo M)
6. "Jungle Boogie" (French)
7. "Timon's Traveling Theme"
8. "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly"

Awards

• 2005 Annie Award for
  • "Best Home Entertainment Production" (Won)
  • "Music in an Animated Feature Production" (Nominated)
• 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards in the following categories:
  • Best Animated Character Performance (Nathan Lane - voice, Alexis Stadermann - animator) for "Timon" (Won)
  • Best Animated DVD Premiere Movie (Won)
  • Best Director (of a DVD Premiere Movie) - Bradley Raymond (Won)
  • Best Editing (of a DVD Premiere Movie) - Joyce Arrastia (Won)
  • Best Screenplay (for a DVD Premiere Movie) - Tom Rogers (Won)
• 2005 Saturn Award
  • "Best DVD Release" (Nominated)

Video game

A video game version of the movie was published in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance/ It had Timon and Pumbaa as the playable characters.

Other websites

• The Lion King 1½ at AllMovie
• The Lion King 1½ at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Lion King 1½ on IMDb
• The Lion King 1½ at Rotten Tomatoes