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Movies that feel like The Lion King 1½ (2004)

If you loved The Lion King 1½, the closest films we have are Madagascar (2005), Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008). All three share The Lion King 1½'s epic and whimsical feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 6 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, HBO Max and Disney Plus and others, checked against today's data.

Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog are best pals and the unsung heroes of the African savanna. This prequel to the smash Disney animated adventure takes you back -- way back -- before Simba's adventure began. You'll find out all about Timon and Pumbaa and tag along as they search for the perfect home and attempt to raise a rambunctious lion cub.

🍅 76% Rotten Tomatoes6.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Bradley Raymondepicwhimsicalwittyplayfulwarmcozy
Stream it:Disney+
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When is The Lion King 1½ streaming? →

If The Lion King 1½ hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: The Lion King (1994) · The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998)

Madagascar poster
Madagascar
2005 · dir. Eric Darnell
🍅 55%6.9adventure · animation · comedy

Two things both keep coming back to: africa and lion

Four animal friends get a taste of the wild life when they break out of captivity at the Central Park Zoo and wash ashore on the island of Madagascar.

Feels alike?
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted poster
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
2012 · dir. Eric Darnell
🍅 78%6.8animation · family · comedy

The same preoccupation in both: lion

Animal pals Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria are still trying to make it back to New York's Central Park Zoo. They are forced to take a detour to Europe to find the penguins and chimps who broke the bank at a Monte Carlo casino. When French animal-control officer Capitaine Chantel DuBois picks up their scent, Alex and company are forced to hide out in a traveling circus.

Feels alike?
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa poster
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
2008 · dir. Tom McGrath
🍅 64%6.7adventure · animation · comedy

One thread runs through both: africa

Alex, Marty, and other zoo animals find a way to escape from Madagascar when the penguins reassemble a wrecked airplane. The precariously repaired craft stays airborne just long enough to make it to the African continent. There the New Yorkers encounter members of their own species for the first time. Africa proves to be a wild place, but Alex and company wonder if it is better than their Central Park home.

Feels alike?
Penguins of Madagascar poster
Penguins of Madagascar
2014 · dir. Simon J. Smith
🍅 74%6.6family · animation · adventure

Both keep coming back to the same thing: spin off

Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.

Feels alike?
The Road to El Dorado poster
The Road to El Dorado
2000 · dir. Bibo Bergeron
🍅 49%6.9family · adventure · animation

Common ground: musical

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

Stowing away after a failed con, a pair of swindlers end up on El Dorado, the fabled "city of gold", where they quickly get in over their heads when they are mistaken as gods by the inhabitants.

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Asterix Conquers America poster
Asterix Conquers America
1994 · dir. Gerhard Hahn
5.9family · animation · adventure

Both land scale and whimsy at once

When marauding Romans capture - and catapult - their pal Getafix into lands unknown, the shrewd and cunning Asterix and his able sidekick Obelix spring into action! But their journey leads them to a strange and dangerous new world, where they must face a tribe of Indians, a stampeding herd of buffalo and a medicine man with designs on their magic potion!

Feels alike?
The Angry Birds Movie poster
The Angry Birds Movie
2016 · dir. Clay Kaytis
🍅 44%6.3animation · adventure · comedy

Both are built on the same subject: pig

An island populated entirely by happy, flightless birds or almost entirely. In this paradise, Red, a bird with a temper problem, speedy Chuck, and the volatile Bomb have always been outsiders. But when the island is visited by mysterious green piggies, it’s up to these unlikely outcasts to figure out what the pigs are up to.

Feels alike?
Minions & Monsters poster
Minions & Monsters
2026 · dir. Pierre Coffin
6.4adventure · animation · comedy

Common ground: spin off

The difference: Leans harder into fantasy than The Lion King 1½ does

This is the rambunctious, ridiculous and totally true story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood, became movie stars, lost everything, unleashed monsters onto the world and then banded together to try and save the planet from the mayhem they had just created.

Feels alike?
Toy Story 5 poster
Toy Story 5
2026 · dir. Andrew Stanton
🍅 93%7.4animation · family · comedy

The same preoccupation in both: pig

The difference: Made in the 2020s, in a different era of the craft

When Bonnie receives a Lilypad tablet as a gift and becomes obsessed, Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang's jobs become exponentially harder when they have to go head to head with the all-new threat to playtime.

Feels alike?
Cars 2 poster
Cars 2
2011 · dir. John Lasseter
🍅 40%6.2animation · family · adventure

Both are built on the same subject: best friend

Star race car Lightning McQueen and his pal Mater head overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix race. But the road to the championship becomes rocky as Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.

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Moana 2 poster
Moana 2
2024 · dir. David G. Derrick Jr.
🍅 61%6.3adventure · animation · comedy

The same preoccupation in both: musical

After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana journeys alongside Maui and a new crew to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she's ever faced.

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Open Season poster
Open Season
2006 · dir. Roger Allers
🍅 48%6.1animation · family · adventure

The same mix in both: wit, then play

Boog, a domesticated 900lb. Grizzly bear finds himself stranded in the woods 3 days before Open Season. Forced to rely on Elliot, a fast-talking mule deer, the two form an unlikely friendship and must quickly rally other forest animals if they are to form a rag-tag army against the hunters.

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In the mood for more epic?

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The best-reviewed films that share The Lion King 1½’s defining feeling.