When Pixar founder John Lasseter took over as head of Disney Animation Studios, he immediately put a halt to the endless slew of direct-to-video sequels for their animation classics. For thirteen years, over thirty films had been released. Nearly all are dire. They never venture far from the plot and morals of their original, either repeating the same story with the original characters offspring or needlessly and clumsily expanding on events of the first. If youre lucky thered be one good song, but that really is the best you can hope for. Often cited as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to The Lion Kings Hamlet, The Lion King 3 (or The Lion King 1½, depending on what territory you're in) stands out against the rest of its. Unlike The Lion King 2 (Romeo and Juliet with Simbas daughter), the film dispenses with the royal struggles at Pride Rock and follows Timone and Pumba through the events of the original film, with an irreverent tone and knowingness to the jokes. As Pumba got his back story explained in ten seconds as part of the Hakuna Matata song in the original, its Timones story that gets pushed to the foreground. The attempt at using meerkats jitteriness for comedic purposes feels misguided, particularly when compared to the success of a certain comparison websites. Fortunately things pick up once everyones favourite warthog becomes involved. We get a series of skits that give an amusing slant on events in the original, a new cover of the title song and a touching montage of Simba growing up. Oh, and the animation is beautiful. The plot doesnt make perfect sense the time line doesnt match up and why does Rafikki tell Timone to follow Hakuna Matata, only to later tell Simba to do the opposite in the original but that isnt the point. This is a fun aside for anyone who enjoyed the Disney classic.