Ma... Is she the leader of the meerkat group?

[SimbasGuard]

The Show is on my list

[Timon the great]

SimbasGuard - I really like that you call Timon, 'The Meerkat Prince'. : ))

It actually makes a lot of sense given all the scenes we see of him with his colony, as I see this is what the film's key writer Tom Rogers definitely wanted to show to us despite essentially parodying Simba's bring up in the original to this. In Timon's case of being the savior or prince of his colony, I think when it comes to him showing them that there's a better way to live as LK meerkats, he just didn't know how to express it in a way they'd understand him. That, and also that we're shown material of his earlier life amongst his colony in the 'Timon: Behind the Legend' DVD featurette where he was also bullied by them. So it's also understandable why it's hard for Timon to deal with living "the elbow to elbow life" as he says in the film.

The original (and always seemingly ignorant) impression people typically get of Timon and his idea of living a life of "No rules, no responsibilities" and "When the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world.", in the first film is merely salesman like side character conception because he never got the "We will adore and praise you Timon" or protagonist treatment at all until this film came about.

So now, we have a "brand new" Timon that even though still prefers the simple or lazy life, the sense of responsibility or care he has for Ma and his colony, and even his friends is definitely still there because his behavior throughout this entire film is much more considerate overall than it is in the previous movies. I'd even go to the point of saying that the level of compassion Timon has on this film for others and especially for his colony who treated him badly for the most part shows that he's a very likable hero in the end who never fails to make people laugh or smile. Even when the scene (though unexpected for most because of his impression in the original film) is lovingly deep like with his Ma, or dire like it is when he argues against Pumbaa on helping Simba.

Overall on this, there was potential for Timon to be an exceptionally and at the same time, very comically great film protagonist. It's just unfortunate that this wasn't firmly tapped into for his film here. If it was, then I'd be clapping and shouting at the same time, every time I watch the entire film from start to finish : )

[SimbasGuard]

Well I was originally just OK with this film, because it is not The Lion King movie I wanted, but given Your (and MeerkatOnTheMoon's) enthusiasm and more positive take on this movie I will have a whole new appreciation for it the next time I watch it.

[MeerkatOnTheMoon]

Glad you have a newfound appreciation for 1 1/2, SimbasGuard