The Lion King 1 1/2 (G, 2004)

THE LION KING 1 1/2 shows the events that occurred during The Lion King through the eyes of Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog. While these two were pretty much relegated to minor comic sidekick roles in the original movie, here they're the stars of the show.

The idea of seeing events from another perspective is an entertaining one for kids old enough to understand the concept--young grade schoolers are sure to get a kick out of the scene where King Mufasa presents his young son Simba to the animal kingdom (in the original movie this is a moving scene in which the animals bow down in reverence; here we learn they are really bowing down because the stench of Pumbaa's gas is so pungent). However, Timon and Pumbaa watch the events from a movie theater. The flow of the story is interrupted so they can make snarky comments or jokes, which is disruptive and likely to annoy adults. Even kids are likely to get frustrated when the action is literally stopped for a minute so that Pumbaa can take a bathroom break and the audience is left to look at Timon staring at a blank screen.

For a direct-to-video feature, the animation is impressive, although the new songs are forgettable (mostly we hear snippets of songs from the original movie). Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Ernie Sabella and the original voice cast are all back, and they manage to make their characters interesting. But parents may be disappointed by the surprising amount of potty humor here--it's too bad that the writers thought lowbrow humor was the only way to engage kids.

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Bradley Raymond
Cast: Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg
Genre: Family and Kids
Run time: 77 minutes
Theatrical release: February 10, 2004
DVD release: February 10, 2004
MPAA Rating: G
MPAA explanation: all audiences