Review of Timon & Pumbaa

Timon & Pumbaa (1995–1999)
Gets Repetitive and Loony, but still worth watching.
16 January 2006
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.
8 out of 10 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed