The Lion King 1 1/2

Unlike, apparently, most moviegoers in the 1990s, I found the original “Lion King” to be far too saccharine for my tastes. A fairly bland character makes a bad decision, briefly gets mixed up with some interesting outcasts, the clock whirls forward through all that stuff, and then he goes back to fix his mistake. While I’m no fan of “Hamlet,” I felt “The Lion King” really robbed the story of much of the drama it could, and should, have had. And, frankly, I was irritated that Timon and Pumbaa got so little screen time.

“The Lion King 1 1/2” to the rescue. Not only do we get to see Simba’s time with the duo in more detail, we get to see all of “The Lion King” through Timon’s much more cynical eyes, and the story improves for the retelling. The creators of this sequel clearly like the original movie, which is interwoven or sometimes literally used in the background of new shots, but they’re also well aware of its cornier elements, and Timon is as well.

The conceit of having Timon and Pumbaa watch their own version of events on a giant television screen (seen in silhouette, “Mystery Science Theater 3000” style) is great, and allows for them to comment on the action, make fun of overly dramatic elements (“What’s up with that running, if you can call that running?” Timon asks of Pumbaa’s dramatic slow motion race through desert sand) and act as audience surrogates when they buzz through the boring stuff. It’s simple, but effective, and embodies the sly, sarcastic sense of the filmmakers. Set pieces from the original film are turned on their ear (“Everything the light touches … belongs to someone else.”) or gleefully skewered (“Oh, great timing, omniscient monkey!”).

The story of this sequel is a fairly classic Disney story, of the misfit character who doesn’t fit in with the social norms of his environment, and sets out on an adventure that both makes him a hero and redefines his relationship to his community. In this case, it’s Timon, who isn’t the nervous wreck the other meerkats all are, nor, unfortunately, nearly as competent at any of the skills they think are important (i.e. tunneling and watching out for marauding hyenas). In the course of his journey to find a place where he won’t have to hide underground, he encounters the flatulent Pumbaa, who is recast as part embarassing uncle, part smelly family dog, with well-observed bits brought out by both the animators and performer.

While children, especially little boys, will enjoy the gross-out humor (of which there is relatively little), for the most part, “The Lion King 1 1/2” is an adult film, and perhaps the first post-modern Disney movie, commenting on another Disney movie with the leading characters explicitly observing and analyzing the original events. Of course, for those looking for lots of more of what the original movie offered, they’ll be disappointed — the story is slight, the song-and-dance number is lightweight and very silly and the lions are, frankly, something of an afterthought — but for those of us who thought the original needed a little more bitter with the sweet, this new film is a delight.

Strongly recommended for Disney fans who prefer their cartoons a little less sugary sweet, and a little more tart and sour instead.