What a great movie
Passing by the Disney Store last night, we had to pop in and came out with the mouse’s new release: The Lion King 1 1/2
What a great piece of work!
Watching this movie, basically a retelling of the Lion King, this time from meercat Timon’s and warthog Pumba’s point of view, I was struck by how this film was really made for the parents of the original’s intended audience. Those parents who, like me, have seen TLK about a million times. A LOT of the humor is well above the level of understanding for the kids, is very funny and aimed directly at us. It’s a movie-within-a-movie, with Timon and Pumba watching, “Mystery Science 3000″ style, shadows with remote control in the meercat’s hand.
With the exception of James Earl Jones (Mufasa), the original voices are all there, including Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Whoopie Goldberg, Cheech Marin, et. al… New additions to the cast include Julie Kavner and Jerry Stiller, who play Timon’s mother and cranky uncle, respectively.
TLK 1.5 is really inspired, offering alternate perspectives on familiar LK events as well as a few little fill-in-the-blanks. For instance, remember when Simba leaves the Hakuna Matata paradise to return and challenge his uncle Scar? We see a little of the exasperated convincing Nala had to do to get Timon interested in helping the self-exiled King return to Pride Rock. Nathan Lane delivers a great line “…blah, blah, blah. Why is she toying with us? Ah, this crazy chick’s gonna eat us!” Priceless.
There are some great musical interludes as well, including a funny “Fiddler on the Roof” bit and even a reference to “Apocolypse Now.”
It’s a real blast.
