Disney's animated Lion King will always hold a special place in people's hearts.
But the 2019 version takes the opportunity to correct some of the crazy plot holes, goofs,
and mistakes fans have spotted over the years in the original.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm explaining how The Lion King
remake fixes many of those issues from the 90s classic.
Some spoilers ahead, so take care if you haven't seen it yet.
Don't forget my Lion King giveaway is still running, so be sure to subscribe and leave
a comment about the movie for your chance to win.
The animated Lion King's opening scene and 'Circle of Life' song are iconic moments that
the remake mostly reproduces shot-for-shot, however, it also fixes a few crucial errors
from the 1994 movie.
Just before Simba's presentation, Rafiki anoints him, breaking open a fruit to release a red
liquid which he paints on the young cub's forehead, before dusting his face to dry the
mark.
The fruit that Rafiki brings with him appears to come from the ancient baobab tree that
he lives in, and the problem with the original scene is that a baobab fruit doesn't contain
a red liquid and is actually dry inside with white pulp and large seeds.
In the new movie, the filmmakers have fixed this by having Rafiki use some red roots which
release a red dust when he breaks them.
It's also this red powder that makes little Simba sneeze rather than Rafiki dousing the
poor little cub in a handful of dust as he did in the animation.
The 2019 movie also changes the hand that Rafiki uses to anoint Simba from his left
hand to his right.
This is consistent with the fact that Rafiki is right-handed when he's fighting the hyenas
with his stick later in both movies.
Rafiki himself was misrepresented in the original movie as, although he's modelled after a mandrill,
in the film and the screenplay he's referred to as a baboon.
Some of the Disney animators even thought of him as a "mutated" monkey and gave him
physical features such as a long tail which is incorrect for a mandrill.
"It means you are a baboon, and I'm not."
"I think you're a little confused."
"Wrong!"
That baboon reference has been eliminated from the new movie and Rafiki's design has
also been corrected, by replacing the long tail he had in the animation with a short
stub that's biologically accurate for his species.
Another mistake corrected in the new Lion King is the colour of Simba's eyes.
In reality, new-born lion cubs start life with blue-grey eyes.
Then after two or three months, a cub's eyes turn an orangey-brown colour.
The remake reflects this as you can see young Simba has dark-bluish eyes at the time of
his presentation.
And once he's grown up a little, they're a darker yellowy-orange colour.
In the animation, as a new-born cub Simba simply has dark eyes and when he's older his
eyes are a browny colour.
And to make us connect with the characters and their feelings even more, the original
animators gave the lions eyes that were very like humans, so they have a pupil, an iris
and a white of their eyes which is sometimes coloured yellow.
Even though real-life lions don't have whites in their eyes.
Scar's bright green eyes have also been changed for a better sense of realism in the reboot.
The original movie was also guilty of featuring numerous wild animals that aren't native to
the film's African setting.
For example, when Simba sings "I Just Can't Wait To Be King", various animals construct
a crazy tower and on the very top are a group of giant anteaters.
Giant anteaters are only native to Central and South America and so wouldn't be seen
in the wild in Africa.
So, this time around, the filmmakers have made sure there's no giant anteaters in the
movie.
Other non-African animals that were also scrubbed from the latest film include the tail-hanging
monkeys that also make an appearance during "I Just Can't Wait to be King".
And the gopher that pops up during Zazu's "morning report" also hit the cutting room
floor in the remake for the same reason.
"Zazu."
"Yes?!"
"Sir, news from the underground."
One mistake which has been left in the new version is the inclusion of leaf-cutter ants.
These appear in the opening sequence in both movies even though they're only native to
the Americas.
I think they kept these misplaced ants in the film for two reasons.
First of all, the filmmakers wanted to keep the Circle of Life sequence more or less shot-for-shot.
And secondly, the ants play a special part later in Rafiki discovering that Simba is
still alive.
The animated movie often emphasises how dim-witted the hyenas are:
"Zazu, you told me they're nothing but slobbering, mangy, stupid poachers."
"lx-nay on the upid-stay."
"Who are you callin' upid-stay?"
But this doesn't reflect the fact that in real-life hyenas are intelligent, skilled,
and dangerous predators.
Which is why Shenzi, who's voiced by Black Panther's Florence Kasumba, is a lot more
menacing in the new version.
"You're no match for us Sarabi!
You will die with your king Nala!"
And although the hyenas are still antagonists in the remake, the Nazi goose-stepping scene
has been cut to fit the new film's more realistic and grounded approach.
Hard-core Lion King fans may have noticed a small change in the new movie when Simba
and Nala are reunited.
"Where have you been?!"
In the original film, as they rub their heads together you can also hear them purring, much
like a pet cat does.
However, in the remake Simba and Nala's purring has been removed, likely because animal experts
believe lions either don't purr at all or the noises they make are technically different
to the purr of a domestic cat.
Following Simba and Nala's reunion is "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" which the original
filmmakers described as "perhaps the most steamy love scene in any Disney film."
During the song, Nala gives Simba what the filmmakers have called a "Come Hither" look.
In the new film that moment is replaced with Nala giving Simba an affectionate lick, which
fits with the remake's much more realistic depiction of animal behaviour.
In the 1994 movie, Rafiki discovers that Simba is still alive after the lion flops down on
some plants and the earth and leaves which scatter are magically carried by the wind
all the way to the wise monkey's tree where he reads the leaves in an empty tortoise shell.
The new movie has a quite ingenious and perhaps more feasible method for Rafiki to discover
the truth about Simba.
This time a tuft of Simba's fur falls off and goes on a complex journey, floating on
the wind, then a river before being eaten with some leaves by a giraffe and ending up
in a ball of dung that a beetle rolls along.
That ball falls down a hill and breaks apart releasing the tuft of hair, which a leaf-cutter
ant then collects and marches up the Tree of Life where Rafiki spots it and recognises
it as Simba's fur.
It's a nice little updated sequence which also fits with the film's "circle of life"
theme.
In the first film, there's a curious goof in the scene where Simba and Nala visit the
elephant graveyard.
"I wonder if its brains are still in there."
"There's only one way to know.
Come on, let's go check it out."
The young lion cubs are ambushed by the hyenas who emerge from the skull of a dead elephant.
However, fans have commented that when you look more closely at the proportions of the
skull, it's grotesquely large and far too big when compared to real-life elephant skulls.
Which is why the 2019 movie skips over the hyenas coming out of the skulls, and instead
they meet Simba and Nala inside a cave.
Another problem fixed from the animated Circle of Life sequence is Rafiki's seemingly impossible
ascent to Pride Rock from the front.
If you look at the shape of Pride Rock and how it juts out, it would be extremely difficult
for Rafiki to climb up beneath it and very silly too given he could access the rock via
a much easier route instead.
The new movie fixes with this by showing Rafiki walking on to the top via a much more gently-sloping
rock face.
As you can see, the new Lion King tends to tone down some of the animation's more exaggerated,
cartoony moments to better fit the photo-realism of the new CG version.
"What is it?"
"That is not a lion, it's a furry bird!"
"Looks like a lion."
"Th.. is not a lion.
Let me get a closer look."
So, the remake changes this moment where Timon lifts Simba's paw up all the way above his
head in an incredible feat of strength for a tiny little meerkat.
Instead, the new movie, has Timon identifying Simba as a lion by looking at his teeth.
"It's a lion!
Run for your life Pumbaa!"
"Hey Timon, wait, wait, wait, Timon!
Wait, it's a little lion!"
"It gets bigger!"
Another scene made more realistic this time around is when Nala chases Pumbaa.
In the original movie, the warthog rather foolishly tries to escape her by squeezing
through a gap under a tree root that's too small for him.
"How bleak is that?"
Which is why it doesn't happen like that in the new story, and instead Pumbaa is cornered
by Nala when he slips and falls trying to run up a moss-covered rock.
Another small but important change, which die-hard Lion King fans may have noticed,
is that after Scar is defeated and Simba walks out on to Pride Rock, in the remake Zazu says
"your majesty".
It's a nice fix to the 1994 ending where Zazu says these words to Simba but the actual audio
ended up cut from the final film.
If you watch the animated scene closely, you'll see Zazu mouth the words as Simba walks past,
but the dialogue can't be heard.
That mistake was introduced because the filmmakers thought a moment of silence would add more
gravitas to the scene.
However, they didn't redo the animation to stop Zazu's mouth moving.
Speaking of adding things to the film, the new movie also adds some new meta moments
and Disney easter eggs in the Timon and Pumbaa scenes, and I talk all about that in my Lion
King comparison video.
Tap the screen to watch that or click the link in the video description.
Now, did you spot any new plot holes or mistakes in The Lion King remake?
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Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!