The Lion King
The Lion King mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Simba creeps up to the water's edge expecting to see Mufasa, a ledge's reflection on his right side disappears between shots, only to get replaced by tall grass. (01:05:45)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: When Timon is asleep on Pumbaa's belly, Nala approaches. From one shot to the next, Timon's arms are crossed differently. (01:08:35)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: During Timon's hula dance diversion in front of the starving hyenas, Pumbaa sits on a pile of leaves with an apple at his side. As soon as their act is over, Timon and Pumbaa run away - but notice how the apple and leaves have suddenly vanished. (01:12:10)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Rafiki takes his stick and makes short work of several hyenas, he alternates from using one hand to hold the stick, then two, between shots. (01:16:55)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: When Zazu is screaming to be let out from the ribcage prison, his wings are holding onto different ribs between shots. (01:17:10)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: When Shenzi and Banzai have Timon and Zazu cornered, Banzai's left paw jumps from the cave floor to the top of the ribcage prison between frames. (01:17:15)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: During Simba and Scar's showdown near the end, Simba gets smacked to the ground at one point. Upon landing, his right paw comes to rest beside his ear. One shot later, however, Simba's paw can't be seen near the ear where it's supposed to be. (01:19:35)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: After we see a slow motion shot of Scar jumping through the wall of fire towards Simba, watch how Simba's teeth go from clenched to unclenched between shots as he hurls Scar over the cliff's edge. (01:19:40)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: The whites of Simba's eyes change frequently through the movie, from yellow to white. They're yellow up until the scene where Pumbaa, Timon, and Simba are stargazing; after that they change back and forth frequently. During the Mufasa-in-the-sky scene, when Simba asks, "How can I go back? I'm not who I used to be," they change from yellow to white and back within three frames.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Her eyes were green the whole time. It's just lighting making it look like they changed color.

The correction assumes these lions are filmed, but they are drawn. So if the eyes are blue, they coloured it blue and if it's green they coloured it green, on purpose.

lionhead

They are colored to emulate different lighting conditions. Note that the fur is also different colors in the different shots.

A darker shade of the same color isn't the same as a whole other color.

lionhead

Continuity mistake: When Simba and Nala fall through the dead elephant, there are some small rocks near them. But after the hyenas say, "Here kitty kitty kitty," Simba makes a small roar and the rocks are gone.

Continuity mistake: When Rafiki is showing Simba where his father is, Simba is following Rafiki through the trees and they arrive at a river/lake. Rafiki says 'shh' and pulls the grass apart. In the shot facing him and Simba, Rafiki is only holding the grass on the left back, but the grass on the right is bent back the exact same way, without anyone holding it back.

Continuity mistake: When Simba walks away from the jungle and Timon says "He looks blue," Simba is at a fair distance from the shadow of the tree. But a few shots later, Pumbaa comes to Simba and asks, "Kid, what's eating ya?" but Simba is now closer to the shadow of the tree.

Continuity mistake: When Timon and Pumbaa are inspecting unconscious Simba, Simba's paw is lying over his eye. In the next shot, right before Timon lifts the paw up, it has moved to below his eye.

Continuity mistake: When Simba and Nala are in the elephant graveyard, Simba goes to see if "it's brains are still in there" and he's past the base of the trunk. But when Zazu pops up in front of him, he hasn't passed the base of the tusk yet.

Continuity mistake: When Rafiki dips his fingers in the orange paint to put a mane on Simba's picture, the paint is not on his thumb. He raises his hand up close to the picture, then, a split second later in the next shot, the paint is on his thumb with which he starts to paint the mane. He did not have time to dip his hand in again.

The Lion King mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After Pumbaa kisses Simba's feet, Timon says, "Don't he's not the king," he puts his hands on the middle of Pumbaa's snout. But in the very next shot, Timon's hands are now at the top of Pumbaa's snout.

The Lion King mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where young Simba and Nala are singing, "I Just Can't Wait To Be King," and right before making faces at Zazu, Nala steps into the water with both front feet, but in the next shot, all her feet are firmly on dry ground.

Continuity mistake: When Scar is circling Ed the hyena during or just before singing "Be Prepared," from the front Ed's tongue is hanging out. But from the side/back view, where the tongue should still be visible, it's gone.

Krista

Continuity mistake: In the recent DVD release of the film that includes the new animated segment "The Morning Report", Simba is not drawn with whiskers. His nose also changes colour from the previous shot where he is walking and talking with Mufasa.

Continuity mistake: The whites of Simba's eyes change frequently through the movie, from yellow to white. They're yellow up until the scene where Pumbaa, Timon, and Simba are stargazing; after that they change back and forth frequently. During the Mufasa-in-the-sky scene, when Simba asks, "How can I go back? I'm not who I used to be," they change from yellow to white and back within three frames.

More mistakes in The Lion King

Timon: What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?

More quotes from The Lion King
More trivia for The Lion King

Question: We're only told about two males in the pride, Mufasa and Scar. Who was Nala's father? It can't be Mufasa because then she and Simba would either be siblings or half-siblings and they wouldn't have got together. And it can't be Scar because she called him by his name, not Dad, and she and Simba would still have been cousins.

Answer: Lions are not like humans, even though Disney tends to make them that way. It's rare for more than one or two full grown lions to be in a pride. Other males are in "bachelor prides" until they win a pride of their own. It's likely that Scar or Mufasa sired Nala.

Brenda Elzin

Answer: It is possible that Nala is older than Simba and her mother was pregnant when a male, Mufasa, took over and she avoided getting killed. She could be the daughter of the previous male that Mufasa conquered as he opened the Pride Lands for him and his brother. Then, Simba was born a little while after Nala.

More questions & answers from The Lion King

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