Timon And Pumbaa Movie

[Lola Bergo]

Timonand Pumbaa are an animated meerkat and warthog duo introduced in Disney's 1994 animated feature film The Lion King and its franchise. Timon was played through his many appearances by Nathan Lane (in all three films and early episodes of the show), Max Casella (the original actor in Broadway musical), Kevin Schon (in certain episodes of the show), Quinton Flynn (in certain episodes of the show), Bruce Lanoil in the Wild About Safety shorts and Kingdom Hearts II, while Pumbaa is voiced by Ernie Sabella (in all of his traditionally animated speaking appearances), and was portrayed by Tom Alan Robbins in the original cast of the Broadway musical. In the CGI remake, the characters are portrayed by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen, respectively.[2] Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella first came to audition for the roles of the hyenas, but when the producers saw how well they worked together, they decided to cast them as Timon and Pumbaa.

As with many characters in The Lion King, Pumbaa's name derives from the East African language Swahili. In Swahili, pumbaa (v.) means "to be foolish, silly, weakminded, careless, negligent."[3] Timon is one of the few characters whose name has no meaning in Swahili; Timon is a historical Greek name, taken to mean "he who respects." Timon's name may derive from Shakespeare's tragedy Timon of Athens, another Shakespeare reference in a film which derives its plot from Hamlet. The tragedy is based in the history of the real Timon of Athens, a famous misanthrope during the era of the Peloponnesian War, who refused life in Athens to live isolated. Another explanation is that he is named after the Greek philosopher Timon, a disciple of Pyrrho, the founder of the school of skepticism.

During production of The Lion King, Timon and Pumbaa were portrayed as children who grew up with Simba in the Pride Lands and fled with him to the jungle. Timon and Pumbaa's roles were later changed to make them "strangers and fellow outcasts" so that Simba would have someone to take him under their wing.[4]

Timon and Pumbaa originally sang a song titled "Warthog Rhapsody", but it was ultimately replaced by "Hakuna Matata" as the filmmakers wanted to move the plot along and have Simba being shown turning his back on responsibilities.[4] The "Hakuna Matata" musical sequence originally had a verse explaining Timon's backstory. In this version, Timon was an oddball amongst other meerkats from his former colony as he refused to work, which ultimately led to his exile. That scene was deleted as the filmmakers felt that it was not working, thus changing the scene to focus on Pumbaa's background instead.[5]

Tony Bancroft and Michael Surrey were given the assignment to animate Timon and Pumbaa, having previously animated Aladdin and Iago from Aladdin (1992) and Cogsworth and Lumire from Beauty and the Beast (1991). Surrey commented that since a warthog would eat a meerkat in real life, they have taken quite a few liberties in making them friends. As he watched Nathan Lane at the recording session, he was able to embody his distinct eyebrows and facial expressions into the character of Timon. Bancroft added that he would typically start the animation in most scenes because Pumbaa is "almost like a moving stage for Timon", noting that Timon is usually on Pumbaa's head or his nose or climbing all over him. Before he did any actual drawing, he talked the scene over to Surrey to make sure that what he was doing would work with what Surrey had in mind for Timon.[9]

Timon and Pumbaa sing the musical number "Hakuna Matata" (written by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice) as they teach Simba about moving forward from their troubled pasts and forgetting their worries. It was rumored that Rice got the idea for the lyrics for the song from watching the comedy series Bottom and at one point wanted the show's stars Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson to play Timon and Pumbaa. However, Rice has stated that he meant to craft the number as a philosophical conversation.[10]

Timon and Pumbaa also sing the beginning and end parts of the musical number "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", written by Elton John and Tim Rice. It was planned that the song was to be sung only by Timon and Pumbaa, but when the story reel was screened for John, he disliked the comical nature of the concept as he declared that the song was meant to follow "Disney's tradition of great love songs", and that it could "express the lions' feelings for each other far better than dialogue could". As a result, Rice wrote another draft of the song in which Timon and Pumbaa opened, while Simba, Nala, and the choir sang in the middle. This version of the song ended up being the finalized version, although John remained partial to the original lyrics.[11][4]

Timon and Pumbaa are played by Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella. Timon was animated and created by Michael Surrey. They made their first appearances in the 1994 film when they chased away the vultures that swarmed around young Simba, who had collapsed from heat exhaustion. Timon and Pumbaa then took the comatose lion cub back to a small pool, where they splashed water on him to wake him up. After Simba is awakened by the two, they introduce themselves and welcome Simba to stay with them and follow their hakuna matata philosophy. At first, Simba is unsure about Timon and Pumbaa's lifestyle, but it is explained to him in the song "Hakuna Matata".

Many years later, while out on a musical walk with Timon, Pumbaa is distracted by a bug, which he follows into the jungle. The bug leads him right to a hungry lioness prowling around, who then tries to hunt down Pumbaa. She chases the warthog until Simba springs into action, and the two lions engage in conflict. When the lioness pins Simba, he recognizes her as Nala, his childhood playmate. They are happy to be together, but Timon is jealous after they leave for a night of romance. He and Pumbaa start singing the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" and are joined by Simba and Nala on their night out. Still, the two help Simba fight Scar and gain his rightful place as the king of the Pride Lands, most notably when they create a hula distraction to lure away Scar's hyenas. Pumbaa single-handedly defeats Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. They also stand on top of Pride Rock along with Simba and Nala when Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub to the animals of the Pride Lands.

Timon and Pumbaa starred in their own spin-off television series. The duo continues to live by their problem-free philosophy Hakuna Matata, having many adventures in their jungle home, as well as across the globe, such as the United States, Spain, and France. In this series, Timon and Pumbaa are given full names: Timon's is revealed to be "Timon Leslie Berkowitz" and Pumbaa's is revealed to be "Pumbaa Smith".

Being bug eaters, Timon and Pumbaa are often shown hunting for grubs of various species. There are, however, certain grubs that Timon and Pumbaa are willing to relent eating and decide to befriend, mostly those that have sentience and even the ability to speak, such as Speedy the snail. There are also certain species of bugs that they would not eat due to their notorious natures, such as stinkbugs. Timon and Pumbaa are also occasionally seen spreading their Hakuna Matata lifestyle to others, although they learn that such lifestyle does not work for everyone, such as humans and bees, as shown in the episodes "Swiss Missed" and "To Be Bee or Not to Be Bee" respectively. The series also highlights and expands on Timon and Pumbaa's friendship, showing their liking and occasional conflict with each other and them celebrating their own holiday called "Bestest Best Friend Day", which was established by Pumbaa to show how much he values their friendship.

It is revealed in the series that before Timon met Pumbaa, he had a best friend named Fred, who is a meerkat who loves to laugh and play around as well as pulling practical jokes. The episode "Isle of Manhood" also reveals Timon taking a manhood test in order to become a full-fledged meerkat. Timon also tends to get involved in "get-rich-quick" schemes throughout the series.

As usual, Pumbaa proves to be the brains of the duo, but Timon thinks that he is. It is shown in the series that Pumbaa is very popular among the jungle and usually gains the chance to live the glamorous life, but gives it up for Timon. Pumbaa's notorious odor also annoys Timon on some occasions, as shown in the episode "Scent of the South" where he berates Pumbaa for smelling bad, leading Pumbaa to seek help from a skunk expert to remove his odor. In the episode "Russia Hour", Pumbaa is shown to have an uncle named Boaris, who is very famous in Russia due to his ballet dancing skills. Pumbaa is also shown to have a deceased uncle named Ernie in "Sense & Senegambia". In another episode "New Guinea Pig", it is shown that Pumbaa's tusks can get in his way of doing some activities or passing through some things. As a result, Pumbaa starts to get tired of them and considers trading them to the three natives. The warthog later realizes how useful his tusks are and learns from Timon that they are an important part of what makes him who he is. It is also revealed that years before the episode "Madagascar About You", an arranged marriage has been set up for Pumbaa before he was even born.

The episode "Once Upon a Timon" reveals (one of the two versions of) Timon's origin and how he first met Pumbaa, where it is shown that Timon was a member of a colony of meerkats who each had a specific duty. The episode "Home is Where the Hog is" reveals that Pumbaa was a member of a sounder of warthogs who banished him due to his foul smell, and as a result, Pumbaa spent his life as a loner until he met and befriended Timon.

It is unclear whether Timon and Pumbaa have taken up residence at Pride Rock, or just make frequent visits. They serve as aides to Simba and are often called upon to protect his adventurous daughter Kiara, replacing Zazu's role as babysitters. Despite being bumbling, Simba trusts them to look after Kiara and does not blame them when Kiara escapes as Kiara is known to do so.

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