Timon & Pumbaa

The Timon and Pumbaa television series is generally ragged on as another way to make a quick buck for Disney.

Well, it is. Every TV show is designed to make money and become famous or use the fame of others.

However, Timon and Pumbaa are nonetheless charming in their hyperbolated character flaws, such as Timon's chronic greed and selfishness, and Pumbaa's idiot savant genius hidden behind his naiveté and ignorance.

Some of the episodes are lacking in animation, cleverness, and satisfying resolutions. But most are great fun to watch, and have some very humorous (some made me laugh out loud) gags in them, from simple physical comedy to plays on words through Timon and Pumbaa's bantering and the episode titles, and sometimes it is just the sheer silliness of their predicaments and dialog (just check out some of the quotes). Their adventures take them all over the place (and that's meant literally and figuratively).

Other minor characters like Zazu, Rafiki, and the hyenas feature in their own episodes, but generally these aren't as good, except for perhaps the Zazu episode where he loses his job for being off by one animal in a survey. Like this and others, some of the episodes have some sort of moral lesson at the end, but in general the show is at its best when Timon and Pumbaa are being themselves with good writers at the helm.

The ambidextrous and many aliased Criminal Quint is funnier than some give him credit to be, and what show is it without a recurring villain? All shows have such.

In all, I'd rate this cartoon as "decent." Nothing to get worked up about, but definitely worth watching when you catch it. If you're lucky you'll get one of the good ones.

At 17, I still absolutely love the Lion King. It was the first film I ever saw in the cinema, and even now I marvel at the amazing animation, music, humour and voice acting. In this show, the zany characters Timon and Pumbaa, who along with Sebastian and Flounder, The Three Good Fairies and Jaq and Gus are my favourite Disney sidekicks are the main attraction. The show itself is uneven, but it is still very entertaining.

Animation: There are times when it isn't great, sometimes a little shoddy and static and some of the characters who features are occasionally wonkily animated, but when the animation is good it is good. When it is good, the backgrounds are colourful, the colours audacious and the characters move convincingly.

Music: The irresistible and hilarious Hukuna Matata, which I consider one of my favourite songs from the Lion King, serves as the theme tune for this show. And you know what, it still works. I always find myself singing along, and for me that is a glorious feeling. And the incidental music is above decent as well.

Story lines/quotes: I do agree that some of the story lines are predictable, repetitive and silly, but there are some funny and cute moments. And there are some funny quotes in my opinion, with Timon and Pumbaa's witty bantering quite inspired.

Voices/characters: I know there are some people who find Timon and Pumbaa annoying, personally I really like them. They both have flaws, Timon being selfish and Pumbaa being naive, but they are both very funny and charming. Rafiki and the hyenas sometimes make guest appearances, the episodes with the hyenas are good(not great mind you), but Rafiki's are just okay. The voice acting is great, Ernie Sabella is wonderful as Pumbaa, and while Kevin Schon lacks the impeccable comic timing of Nathan Lane, he does an above average job, as does Quentin Flynn. Veteran voice actor Jim Cummings is brilliant as always with voice of Ed the hyena.

Overall, Timon and Pumbaa is uneven, but it is entertaining. And as a matter of fact it is something I recommend for kids. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Timon and Pumba the iCONIC pig and rodent from the legendary movie called The Lion King.

After making their debut in Lion King after they helped save the pride Timon and Pumba continue their adventure in the jungle.

It was a fun cartoon. It was innocent, funny and the characters were just as they were in the movie. Usually movie to TV shows suck bad. This show however was good enough.

What can be learned? The Hakuna Matata song.

Verdict: No Worries...

Because of the trend that was being formed for all the Disney Afternoon cartoons back in the day, I was hoping for a "Lion King" cartoon to come out. And it did!!!!! The cartoon was called "Timon and Pumbaa," created in 1995 and shown on The Disney Afternoon for a couple years then.

Like with "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin," more adventures have sprung up for the main characters - those being Timon the Meerkat and Pumbaa the Warthog (a.k.a. MR. PIG)! I liked all the new characters and the new enemies (they were soooo funny!!!!!), and there were some episodes that had only the Hyenas or Rafiki, and those were good, too! Note: I mentioned about Mr. Pig because of what Pumbaa sometimes said when he was called a name:

"What did you call me????? What did you call me?????? WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?????

THEY CALL ME.....

MR. PIg!

Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!"

Man, this show was the classic!!!!!

10 stars

Wow Toon Disney you are just amazing a long time ago you made the first spin off to the lion king so memorable and cool intro your show is better than the shnookums and meat funny cartoon show.