The Lion King 1½

The Lion King 1½ (titled as The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata in some regions) is a 2004 American animated adventure comedy film produced by the Australian branch of DisneyToon Studios and released direct to video on February 10, 2004. As the third installment released in the Lion King media franchise and the final installment in the trilogy, it focuses on the escapades of the meerkat/warthog duo Timon and Pumbaa before, during and after the events of The Lion King. A majority of the original voice cast from the first film returns to reprise their roles, including Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella as the voices of Timon and Pumbaa, respectively.

Plot
The story of ''The Lion King' is retold in Timon and Pumbaa's point of view.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Like The Emperor's New Groove, this film is very hilarious for a G rated Disney movie.
 * 2) Disney finally managed get its chance to give Timon & Pumbaa their very own feature length movie, and their movie one of the few pieces of media to have a comic relief character as the protagonist(s) and make it work.
 * 3) It tells the story how Timon & Pumbaa became the dynamic duo, and despite the plot being somewhat silly, it manages to be executed well.
 * 4) Speaking of Timon & Pumbaa's story, they amazingly tell themselves their story.
 * 5) The plot is way better than not only most other films with a comic relief as the main character(s), but also most other Disney direct-to-DVD sequels. And given how many terrible films of the latter variety were being released at the time, this movie felt like a breath of fresh air.
 * 6) Amazing animation.
 * 7) Wonderful soundtrack, especially its very catchy song, "That's All I Need".
 * 8) Like the Timon & Pumbaa TV show, it was a wonderful comedy for The Lion King universe.
 * 9) Countless funny moments are very perfect, like when Pumbaa changes to the QVC network.
 * 10) *Timon did the hilarious G-rated moment, when he did the "everything the light touches is our kingdom" quote.
 * 11) Timon, Pumbaa and Ma are beloved comedic protagonists.
 * 12) *Simba, Nala and Rafiki are also likable characters and very faithful to their original roles.
 * 13) The Hyenas are top-notch main villains.
 * 14) It was a great way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Lion King universe.
 * 15) The character designs are very reminiscent of those from the original film.
 * 16) According to the teaser trailer, Pumbaa tells Timon that the third film was an in-between-quel, which is a pretty clever way to call the film.
 * 17) Timon and Pumbaa perfectly retell the events of the first film, including the duo being chased by the wildebeests.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The film is just a clip show, with clips from the first Lion King movie being reused. There is no actual story either.
 * 2) The basic concept of retelling the events of The Lion King 1 from the perspective of Timon and Pumbaa feels quite ridiculous and it feels kind of like a premise for a fan fiction than of an actual film, despite being well executed.
 * 3) It has it's fair share of childish levels of humor, including toilet humor (despite the whole movie being given a G rating), especially when Pumbaa breaks wind during... Simba's presentation, one of the most iconic sequences from the original film.
 * 4) The revisionist positioning of Timon as Simba's step-dad seems rather forced (at least in the context of the franchise), mainly since Simba's relationship with Timon had no emotional echo in the original film.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 78% approval rating based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 6.41/10.

Frank Lovece of TV Guide gave the film ​3 1⁄2 stars out of 4 stating that "This retelling of The Lion King (1994) from the point of view of comic sidekicks Timon (voice of Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella) is one of the rare Disney direct-to-video sequels worthy of the original." He went on to say that 'the only aspect of the film that feels forced is the revisionist positioning of Timon as young Simba's step-dad, which has no emotional echo in the first film. The quality of the animation is surprisingly impressive; some static backgrounds are the primary concession to a small-screen budget and the fluid character movements and expressions are vastly superior to those of, say, The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa TV cartoon series.'" Joe Leydon of Variety gave the film a positive review writing "toddlers and preschoolers will be equally enchanted and amused by colorful toon shenanigans." Los Angeles Times article writer Susan King wrote that "Because Disney's made-for-video sequels to their classic animated films have been mediocre at best, expectations for this new sequel to the mouse house's 1994 blockbuster were slim. But thanks to a clever story line, snappy dialogue that kids and adults will enjoy, a couple of decent new songs and the return of the original voice actors, Lion King ​1 1⁄2 is an irreverent gas."

Many reviewers have suggested that the film was influenced by the Tom Stoppard play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which follows Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters from Shakespeare's play Hamlet, and details their experiences taking place during the same time as the events of Hamlet, similar to what the film does with its predecessor, which has been similarly compared to Hamlet. Screenwriter Tom Rogers confirmed that this was intentional in a 2019 interview, adding that the film's frame story was inspired by Mystery Science Theater 3000.