My Lion King Forum

What do you think, who is the protagonist of TLK 3?
My opinion is that it is Timon. Firstly, the film begins with the story of Timon's life in the colony of meerkats and his relationships with Ma.
Secondly, the life story of Pumbaa in the movie is not described.
What do you think about this?

Yes, the protagonist is Timon. The movie is about his origin story, his life during the first movie's events, and his redemption. It's extremely noticeable that Timon and Pumbaa remain together onscreen after they meet each other up until Pumbaa decides to leave to help Simba, but the movie still sticks with Timon and resolves his inner conflict.

Technically speaking, the "protagonist" is actually Timon and Pumbaa. The reason why Timon's early life is described but not Pumbaa's is because it was felt that "Hakuna Matata" in the original movie did that. However 1 1/2 did go into much more detail about Timon's life than Pumbaa's, and there was a lot more attention focused on the meerkat than the warthog. Not to mention that 1 1/2 starts with Timon being exiled out of his colony and ends with him being re-accepted into it, while nothing of the sorts happens to Pumbaa.

So in the end, it does simplify to having Timon being the main protagonist of the movie.

Let me add this to this topic to further confirm that this is Timon's own film from Lion King.org's TLK 1 1/2 page of news item that were posted prior to its release:

[quote]News from the Underground:

TLK1.5 Visions and Insights

I just received an e-mail from "AnonyMouse", who-- let's just say, is in what I'd consider to be a very respectable position to comment on the state of the new Lion King movie.
1. The film is called "The Lion King 1 1/2: Hakuna Matata". Yeah, it's corny, we all agree.

2. Yes, we see how Timon and Pumbaa meet. We also see the circumstances under which Timon leaves the meerkat colony. And yes, it takes place DURING the first film, explaining and affecting events that took place in the first (believe me, you'll never watch the original TLK the same way again!)

3. The song "Wharthog Rhapsody" has been extensively rewritten and renamed "Meerkat Rhapsody", as it tells Timon's story rather than Pumbaa's. The tune is still more or less the same.

4. What's with that rumor about clearing up a plot hole from TLK2? There's nothing remotely like that in this film. Also, the rumor about a fourth film is bogus. We would have heard about it - we know what our next upcoming films are months ahead of time. We've got Lilo & Stitch, Tarzan, Bambi and a few other things lined up, but there's been no mention of any other TLK stuff.

5. This is most definitely Timon's film - Pumbaa plays an important part, but the film is really as much about Timon's journey as the original TLK was about Simba's journey.

6. And it is very, very funny. No bias here: the lecia reel cracks us up every time. I didn't particularly care for TLK2, but this... THIS is the sequel I would have chosen to make. And I consider myself a true TLK fan.

7. At this stage it will be direct-to-video. The animation is as good as that in the ORIGINAL TLK (seriously) but DTV releases make Disney more money.
Sounds like very encouraging news, if this all pans out.

[/quote]
As you can see after reading everything in the quoted area, it has all panned out just like it shows from the film and the DVD media such as the featurette called "Timon: Behind the Legend", which backs this up even more.

I don't think many people also realize that Pumbaa actually has little dialogue in some parts of the film and does Not persistently appear in the entire film (like Timon does), as well.

Granted, Pumbaa is there in the opening scene (movie theater), but the story itself does have a strong focus on Timon

^For the basis of this film, the silhouette scenes don't count because that idea is just a gag reel to appeal to mostly younger audiences, which is made quite obvious by them in it.

The backbone of this film is all of the scenes that are Not part of the movie theater setting, which both start and end with Timon himself being the exact center of attention from his meerkat colony, to his last appearance in the jungle oasis at the reprise of Digga Tunnah.

Try looking at it in this classification of central character focus with the film trilogy to make this simple:

Well, neither is the protagonist. They're both sidekicks, however, Timon is protagonist-like because he's the only one who grows as a character.
If you know about the story Moby Dick, then you should know that the Captain in the book is the villain, the whale is the hero/victim, and Ishmael is the "Obstacle" or "sidekick" along for the ride. Even though the book is written from the sidekicks point of view, that doesn't make him a protagonist.
So, Simba would be the main protagonist. Timon is a sidekick, but because you get to see him grow as a character that gives him protagonist's rolls in the story. Pumbaa is a sidekick and an obstacle-of-sorts. The villain/s are the hyena's. And everyone else is a sidekick.

This may be kind of simplistic, but from what I've learned about writing, I should be right. I might not be, but I'm sure I am.

Yeah, it's all about Timon here when it comes down to it. A little unfair on Pumbaa as you might expect their own film to be a bit more equal as they are more equal as characters in the other films: 'Timon and Pumbaa', the names often written together and they are often seen together -- a duo. That's where their focus was, though, and that's that.

[quote="Ravvij"]Well, neither is the protagonist. They're both sidekicks, however, Timon is protagonist-like because he's the only one who grows as a character.
If you know about the story Moby Dick, then you should know that the Captain in the book is the villain, the whale is the hero/victim, and Ishmael is the "Obstacle" or "sidekick" along for the ride. Even though the book is written from the sidekicks point of view, that doesn't make him a protagonist.
So, Simba would be the main protagonist. Timon is a sidekick, but because you get to see him grow as a character that gives him protagonist's rolls in the story. Pumbaa is a sidekick and an obstacle-of-sorts. The villain/s are the hyena's. And everyone else is a sidekick.

This may be kind of simplistic, but from what I've learned about writing, I should be right. I might not be, but I'm sure I am.[/quote]


I think I don't agree. In other movies Simba is protagonist. But in TLK 1 1/2 story of Timon's relationships with colony and his mother are so good described, that it means that he is protagonist. I don't say it because he is my favourite character, but because of facts. In TLK 1 1/2 we can se how develops story of Timon's idea to change life of colony and at end of the movie we can see how successful it is. So it is idea of Timon what move the story of TLK 3.

But in this movie Simba is not protagonist. Unfortunately to some people.

So, whose thoughts and ideas is described and who move the plot, that is protagonist.

Timon, I guess