The Lion King 1½ (also known as The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata in some countries) is a direct-to-video animated film released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment. The film is a part prequel/part midquel (or "in-between-quel" according to the film's teaser trailer) to the 1994 film The Lion King. The movie focuses on the meerkat/warthog duo Timon and Pumbaa before they met the lion Simba, and how Simba lived with them.

This feature was released directly to home video on February 10, 2004.

Most memorable are Mystery Science Theater 3000-like moments where the characters comment on the original film's proceedings.

As the original 1994 film was based partially on the Shakespeare play Hamlet, and its direct-to-video sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was partially based on Romeo & Juliet, this movie is highly suspected to be inspired by Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, a play that created a humorous back story for two minor characters in Hamlet.

Timon and Pumbaa start to watch the original Lion King movie, but Timon keeps insisting to fast forward to when they come in, because they weren't seen in the beginning of the story or anywhere until halfway through. Pumbaa suggests telling the audience their story, which begins before Simba's journey begins. Through this, we meet Timon's mother and Uncle Max, discover why he left his meerkat colony, where he learned Hakuna Matata, how he meets Pumbaa, and the perils they encountered while searching for their dream home. Written by Kari Gilmore

Imagine a cross between Lion King, The (1994) and Back to the Future Part II (1989). This is a separate story thread, that of Timon and Pumbaa, intertwined with the original story. Thus, along with seeing new events (e.g. Timon's departure from the meerkat colony, Timon and Pumbaa's first meeting, the origin of "Hakuna Matata"), we get to see a new perspective on (and some previously unseen causes for) some of the events in the original film. Oh, and the whole thing is told in a "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (1988) framework, with Timon and Pumbaa narrating and interacting with the "onscreen" movie. Written by EJSawyer