Moka, I have to disagree with one of your positive points in the original post. I thought TLK 1.5 did a lousy job of staying in character, not that TLK2 wasn't guilty of it as well, but it at least made a bit of sense. In TLK, Timon was a wise-cracking New York stand-up comedy type, who at the same time was very loyal. Pumbaa was a little socially outcast, but he was also very compassionate. These things add depth to the characters. In TLK2 they were kinda flat. Timon lost all of his sensitivity and timing (a MUST for comedians), and Pumbaa lost some his hidden brains (you know, the ones that Timon takes credit for). Then, come 1.5, Timon had absolutely NO sense of loyalty to Simba and Pumbaa was a ditz, to be blunt. Not only that, but now the characters are as flat as pancakes AND the focus of the movie. Very... Boring. Incredibly... Tacky.
And your comment about the voice actors: I do like the fact that they DID get the original voice actors for this, but there were new characters as well. Ma and Uncle Max. Those voice actors, though famous, were NOT suited for those characters, in my opinion. Ma's voice was too grating and annoying, and Max was a little wimpy to have ever been a sentry.
There's more I could say about TLK1.5, but none of it is positive, and I don't have the time for a 1000 word rant.
