The Lion King

Chosen answer: Rafiki is a bit of a msytic or a shaman; a quasi-magical character. He was able to smell Simba on the wind that we followed from one to the other.

Phixius

Answer: Rafiki just knows because he's wise.

Question: Two part question. 1)Is Hakuna Matata a real phrase from another language, or is it one of Timon's and Pumba's originals? 2)Pumba says at one point of the movie, "They call me Mr. Pig!" Is this a reference to anything?

Answer: (1) It's a real phrase from the Swahili language and, as stated in the film, translates roughly to "no worries" (literally "there are no worries"). (2) The line is a reference to Sidney Poitier's detective character Virgil Tibbs from In The Heat Of The Night and his famous reply of "They call me Mister Tibbs" when asked what they call him back home. The film's sequel, focusing on Poitier's character, actually used the line as the title.

Tailkinker

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.

Question: Before Scar 'betrays' the hyenas by saying that they were the real enemy, (Shenzi, Banzai and Ed are shown to have overheard), what were they doing up there in the first place before they overheard Scar?

Joey221995

Answer: They were probably going to help Scar defeat Simba by jumping on him since he couldn't see them but after overhearing what Scar said decided to kill him. It's really speculation but, that's just one of many different possibilities.

Question: Is there a naked couple when Mufasa dies and Simba creates a cloud of dust?

Answer: No, but there is speculation about the cloud of dust/pollen that Simba kicks up when he flops down on the edge of a cliff (mid-movie, after Simba is grown). Some say they see letters that spell S-E-X, but Disney says it was S-F-X, in tribute to the special effects team.

Macalou

Adding to this, It is only on the original VHS tapes. They edited it for DVD release.

Question: After Mufasa's death, how does Simba get it into his head that it's his fault? If anything, it would've seemed to be Scar's, because he was the one that told Simba to wait on the rock. Can someone please explain this to me?

Answer: Simba sees the stones on the ground skitter - a sign of the impending stampede - immediately after his roar echoes around the gorge. This was very good timing on Scar's part. Simba believed that his roar had startled the wildebeest into stampeding. (Of course, Scar was the one who goaded him into practising roaring in a gorge in the first place, but it's easy to forget these things in the traumatic aftermath of your father's death). Moreover, Simba was a child. Scar was an adult he trusted, and actually told Simba it was his fault.

I think it was more to the fact that his dad died whilst trying to rescue him. If he didn't need rescuing, his dad would still be alive. Thats why he thought it was his fault.

lionhead

Question: When Simba and his friends return to Pride Rock (when it is dreary and like a wasteland), I only saw female lions. I thought it could be that Scar got rid of all of the males to avoid competition. Does anyone know why, or if there actually were males in the scene?

Answer: There is only one male lion per pride. Other males form their own "bachelor" prides but the alpha lion lays claim to an entire pride of females.

MovieFan612

Question: A few character and song names are based on the Swahili language. Does Timon or Pumba mean anything in Swahili?

Answer: Pumbaa means "to be foolish, weak-minded or negligent". Timon has no apparent meaning in Swahili, but is historically a Greek name, meaning "respectful", a slightly ironic choice given his usual sarcastic attitude.

Tailkinker

Question: When Pumba and Timon are singing the Hakuna Matata song, does anyone know what Pumba was gonna say when he is singing about his story, and then Timon puts his hand over his mouth and says "not in front of the kids"?

Answer: The line is "and I got downhearted, everytime that I..." when Timon interrupts him. He was obviously going to say "farted".

Grumpy Scot

Question: How does the "Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" song go after the line "Ones as big as your head!"?

Answer: The lyrics go: --- I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts / There they are, all standing in a row / Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head / Give 'em a twist, a flick of the wrist / That's what the showman said. --- There's much more to it, but that's how that section goes. For more, look here.

Garlonuss

Question: I remember hearing that The Lion King was the first Disney movie with no human characters, is there any truth to this?

Answer: It's actually the third, the first two being Robin Hood and Bambi (no human is ever seen, only heard in Bambi).

Nick N.

Question: In a trivia, they say Timon is pulling a bug out of a log and a bug is wearing a mickey mouse hat. I looked but couldn't find it. Could someone give me the scene and what kind of bug to look for?

Answer: Right after Timon pulls the bug out of the log he offers Simba a leaf. Look on the bottom (left, I think) of the leaf for the bug.

Question: Something I've wondered for a long time, and it might have been hinted at or addressed in one of these movies at some point but I've not actually seen them in a few years. After Simba runs away as a cub, and then is found a long time later as an adult by Nala, how much time had passed? How long was he living on his own with Timon and Pumbaa?

Quantom X

Answer: Applying real-world logic... when he leaves, he's likely a bit less than six months old based on his size and development. And when he returns, his development seems to line-up with about a 3-4 year-old lion. So he was probably gone somewhere in the range of 3 years. Maybe 4 if you really stretched it.

TedStixon

Question: Was it the fall alone that killed Mufasa? Or was he trampled to death?

Answer: It's not explained what exactly killed him, but probably a combination of both of those.

raywest

Question: What kind of fruit was it with the juice inside which Rafiki cracks open at the beginning, and near the middle of the movie when he discovers that Simba is alive?

Joey221995

Answer: It's suppose to be the fruit of the Baobab tree. Although there's no seeds in it when he cracks it open.

Bishop73

Question: Why didn't Scar just kill Simba himself right after Mufasa died?

Answer: That would have been a little too suspicious, if both Simba and Mufasa died in the same stampede and Scar, who's made no secret of his desire to rule, declared himself king. It helped him solidify his claim to have Simba go into exile, seemingly renouncing his own right to Mufasa's throne, clearing the way for Scar, as Mufasa's brother, to take it for himself. Making Simba the scapegoat for Mufasa's death didn't hurt, either.

Answer: It would look too suspicious.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Scar didn't tell them Simba killed his father and went into exile. He blamed the stampede for both deaths. Hence, when Simba returns Scar brings up Simba's role in Mufasa's death.

Question: After Simba ran away and Scar took over the pride, why didn't the lionesses just leave? At one point, Scar says that they are supposed to "do the hunting", so they have opportunities to go out and not return.

Answer: Lions live in packs and are not loners (except for males in the real wild), a single lioness would definitely starve. Scar was the next in line to lead the pack, so they stayed.

lionhead

Question: I've heard that Hans Zimmer's score for this film is heavily inspired by Mozart, to the point where some call it a "rewrite". Which one of Mozart's pieces is he alleged to have drawn inspiration from?

Answer: Some bits of his score bear a small resemblance to a choral piece called "Ave Verum Corpus", but to suggest that it's a full-scale rip-off is a serious exaggeration.

Tailkinker

Question: I know that Mufasa was originally supposed to sing one song. Why was this song removed from the final version of the movie?

Answer: According to one website I read, it was cut because it was felt the song didn't fit James Earle Jones' singing voice. I'll also add that the song itself (which is available online) feels really redundant... it doesn't have much purpose beyond showing Simba that being a king isn't just fun and games, which is a lesson he learns anyway during the film. So I feel like it also may have been cut due to it feeling redundant in the narrative. (Although that's just my personal theory).

TedStixon

Question: I recently picked this film up on Blu-Ray, and I noticed a few small changes in the animation compared to the old VHS tape I had from the 90's. (Most noticeable being that a few bits in "I Just Can't Wait to be King" seemed entirely re-animated) When were these changes made? And has Disney made other similar changes in the Blu-Ray releases for their other films?

TedStixon

Answer: Where as he doesn't give exacts on when, but Nostalgia Critic actually pointed out some of these things in his recent review of the film. Https://youtu.be/KnyHqxxsD8g He talks about it around the 5 minute mark. But he really only mentions that there are differences between the VHS and Blu-Ray editions of the film. My best guess is these changes were made for remastering it to look better on Blu-Ray.

Quantom X

The Lion King mistake picture Video

Deliberate mistake: At the elephant graveyard, little Simba claws Shenzi in the face. When Mufasa saves Simba from the hyenas, the cuts are gone, a few seconds later. [This was done intentionally, I'm sure, for two reasons. The first being, Disney doesn't let fresh scars linger on the screen too long. Secondly, during that same scene when Mufasa rescues Simba & Nala, he claws Banzai in the rear. To stress the point later in the movie, that severe scar is shown too, but only briefly, it too disappears because of reason 1. Still a "mistake", but there's why.] (00:21:50)

More mistakes in The Lion King

Pumbaa: Hey, Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?
Timon: Pumbaa, I don't wonder; I know.
Pumbaa: Oh. What are they?
Timon: They're fireflies. Fireflies that, uh... Got stuck up on that big bluish-black thing.
Pumbaa: Oh, gee. I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.
Timon: Pumbaa, with you, everything's gas.

More quotes from The Lion King

Trivia: In Swahili, 'Simba' means lion, 'Rafiki' means friend, and 'Shenzi' means uncivilized. There are many Swahili references throughout the film, and we can assume it takes place in Tanzania or Kenya, since Mt. Kilimanjaro is shown in several scenes.

More trivia for The Lion King

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