Hating on T&P

My least favorite characters from the original Lion King are Timon and Pumbaa. I know, I know, I’m a heartless soulless monster who doesn’t like anything fun. I don’t really have anything against the pair – I just don’t like them as much as any of the other characters. I like lions and hyenas, and I prefer both the personality and the designs of Zazu and Rafiki over T&P.

I suppose one of my problems with the comedic duo is the fact that they are so referential. In order to be funny to a modern audience they play up the allusions in a way that dates the movie and reduces it from being a more powerful, timeless tale to “dressing in drag and doing the hula”. I know that TLK is necessarily a product of its time, and that all of the characters have moments where they slip into the moment (“It’s a Small World”; “cub sandwich”). But T&P are definitely more to blame than the rest, IMO. Their TV show, naturally terrible as a movie-derivative tends to be, is waaaay too much like this for me.

I also am not a fan of the character designs for the pair. Warthogs are inherently unappealing creatures, so I guess the animators did they best they could with Pumbaa, but Timon to me is not a good adaptation of a meerkat. Far too personified for my taste, especially with those extremely human, clawless hands and his tendency to walk upright everywhere. The “Disney look” doesn’t really suit a meerkat either, with the massive nose and ears.

And since the pair are the comedic duo – both male of course – there is a big slow guy (seemingly dimwitted but really quite insightful) and a small skinny guy (seems to be running the show, snappy and quick) which is kind of a tired combination. Look at some Disney variations on this theme in Horace/Jasper (101 Dalmatians), Pain/Panic (Hercules), Trusty/Jock (Lady and the Tramp), Gus/Jaq (Cinderella), and Sulley/Mike (Monsters, Inc.). One thing I like about the more recent Pixar work is the experimentation of new kinds of comic relief (go, Dory!) that doesn’t rely as much upon old standards. But I digress from my initial rambling.

In summary, T&P are too referential, have bleh designs, and are a tired comic relief trope. These are my own opinions, and you are free to disagree with me. But in my TLK hierarchy, this pair is on the bottom rung.