I know he isn't exactly the most popular character in the franchise but he's probably my fav non-lion side character in the franchise. This would be mostly in direct continuity with the first two movies, a little bit of the books and the lion guard as well.
The movie would star rowen atkinson as zazu. In the first movie he mentions having two troublesome family members similar to scar/taka/whteveryouwanttocall him.
The movie would be about him dealing with his two brothers, the his parents and eventually meeting mufasa and becoming the royal families majordomo
A synopsis.
The story would start off with a young zazu. He's constantly being tormented by his older brothers. His parents are even more cruel towards him.
One day his family is being hunted down by Hyenas. Zazu is able to save them but they blame the hyenas chasing them on him. Unable to deal with his family anymore zazu is about to fly off to a far away land when he sees a little lion cub crying by the watering hole.
It's little mufasa. It turns out he's not only tormented by his brother, scar/taka but his betrothed Sarabi thinks he's unworthy of the throne. He recently got a verbal chewing out from his father who also thinks he is unworthy. Zazu, relating to his situation helps him show his father that he is worthy, how to stand up to his brother and while that happens Sarabi realizes how cruel she was to him.
Also Sarafina and her future husband get a subplot where Mufasa earns their respect.
Things are going smoothly until zazu is a young adult. Mufasa and sarabi are now married as are sarafina and ni. Ahadi and Uru fall sick. Scar/taka tells them there's a special herb that can save them in the elephant graveyard. This is obviously a lie, and zazu/mufasa/sarabi/sarafina/ni are being surrounded by hyenas. Sarafina then tells Ni that she is pregnant, and she didn't have the courage to tell him beforehand. They survive the battle, thanks to quick thinking by zazu, except for ni. As he is bleeding to death Ni tells sarafina that their future cub is the most precious gift he will never get to recieve. This is a reference to Nala meaning 'gift' in swahili.
At the end ahadi and uru do not survive. Things are looking fairly bleak for the future of the pride. Zazu then brings word to Mufasa that Sarabi is pregnant too. This gives Mufasa the courage he needs to lead the pride.
Then there's a montage of black and white images in slow motion that are from the first two movies showing off the events of the first two in a coherent manner while a triumphant combination of 'molossus' from hans zimmers batman begins score and his 'king of pride rock' cue from the first movie.
The ending skips to right past tlk2, same song still playing but with a more rapid tempo, with an older but still energetic zazu sweeps down for the presentation of a new prince. We see zazu bowing down to Simba and the ending shot is of the young cub in nalas arms/paws The cub has a little itty bitty tuft of red fur on his head.
So yeah, it's not the most amazing idea ever but I like it. What do you think?