History TheLionKing1994 / TropesNToZ

* RunningGag: Simba's complete inability to beat Nala in a fight. She beats him twice in a row as cubs, even when he was the first to pounce, and later as adults he gets pinned throw the same trick. It's even given a ContinuityNod in the sequel. [[spoiler:The only time Simba ever ''was'' able to beat Nala was by complete accident, landing on top of her after tumbling down a hill together and finally pinning her.]]

** After Simba confidently laughs in the face of danger, he gets this reaction after he hears danger (i.e. Shenzi, Banzai and Ed) laugh back.

* PinballProtagonist: Simba spends the first two thirds of the film as this. It’s only once he finally decides to return to take the throne that he actually does stuff of his own accord that helps the plot.

* SadBattleMusic: The stampede scene. It sounds like an epic battle during the stampede itself, but tapers off into a melancholy dirge after it ends and Simba finds Mufasa’s body.

* SignificantNameShift: While little Simba was always excited to hang out with “Dad” and "Uncle Scar" , grown-up Simba only calls Mufasa “Father” and is furious at how Scar corrupted the Pride Lands and no longer calls him "Uncle".

** Shenzi and Banzai gulp in fear when Simba returns ([[PerpetualSmiler Ed continues to grin stupidly]]), as Scar now has a vengeful grown cub to deal with, and isn’t too happy about them not doing their job properly.

** After Simba confidently laughs in the face of danger, he gets this reaction after he hears danger (i.e. the hyenas) laugh back.

* SadBattleMusic: The stampede scene. It sounds like an epic battle, but tapers off into a melancholy dirge.

** Part of the hyena's failure to kill Simba and Nala is that they're too busy taunting them with their dinner plans to actually kill them.

* SignificantNameShift: While little Simba was always excited to hang out with "Uncle Scar", grown-up Simba is furious at how Scar corrupted the Pride Lands and no longer calls him "Uncle".

* SparedByTheAdaptation: If the film is taken as an adaptation of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', then the equivalents of Hamlet himself (Simba), Gertrude (Sarabi), Polonius (Zazu), and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Timon and Pumbaa) all live, whereas the play has them all die in the end. Zigzagged with Nala, as she’s a CompositeCharacter based on Ophelia and Horatio: Ophelia died, while Horatio was the only main character to survive.

** Maybe not an intentional example, but this bit when the hyenas notice Scar.

* StinkSnub: In one scene, the hyenas are spitefully listing things they don't like about the lions. Shenzi calls them "stinky."

* SparedByTheAdaptation: If the film is taken as an adaptation of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', then the equivalents of Hamlet himself (Simba), Gertrude (Sarabi), Polonius (Zazu), and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Timon and Pumbaa) all live, whereas the play has them all die in the end.

** Pumbaa does [[BerserkButton NOT]] like being called a "pig", and when the hyenas do so towards the end, he says "They call me MISTER PIG!" before kicking their butts.

** Then at the end, Scar has to defend himself from the hyenas, whom he tried to {{scapegoat}} while bargaining for his life against Simba. [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath They were too hungry to listen to him]].

%%* TruckDriversGearChange: Several times.

* StunnedSilence: After Nala flips and pins Simba for the first time, Simba is [[DidntSeeThatComing so shocked by this]] that he looks up at Nala with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, unable to say anything. After Nala chuckles at him and playfully teases him for his loss though, he quickly overcomes his shock and rudely tells her to get off him while pushing her off.

** The Hyenas abandoning their pursuit of Simba after he flees the Pride Lands and letting Scar think Simba was dead when he actually wasn't, so Scar ended up leaving him alone, setting off the chain of events that will ultimately end both Scar's rule and the Hyenas running amok in the Pride Lands. In the Hyenas' defense, a lone wandering cub like Simba ''should'' have died in the wastelands under normal circumstances (be it by dehydration, starvation, or local predators). It was just dumb luck for them that Timon and Pumba went 'Bowling for Buzzards' when and where they did and ultimately rescued Simba.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Simba may be the protagonist, but he has spent the vast majority of his life lazing around in the jungle and eating insects, with none of the experience or training in hunting large game that he would have received back home. Nala, on the other hand, grew up under Scar's reign and had to struggle and hunt to survive. When the two meet again after years apart, they don't recognize each other at first, and when Simba fights her to protect Timon and Pumbaa, he is only briefly able to hold her down, due to catching her off guard. Instead of the hero overcoming a new foe and prevailing, Simba is outmatched against a more skilled opponent who got the better of him even when they were kids, and only manages to survive the fight by recognizing the move Nala uses to beat him with and remembering her for using it.
** Earlier in the movie, Simba disobeys his father's direct orders, lies to his mother, and nearly gets himself, his friend, and Zazu killed in an extremely dangerous place. Now, most movies starring a child protagonist would have the parents just be releived that the child is okay and smother them with hugs and kisses. This movie? Mufasa is ''pissed'', yelling at Simba that he could have been killed and purposly disobeyed him.

** The hyenas cower in fear when Simba returns, since they now have a vengeful fully grown cub and their angry boss confronting them about not doing the job properly the first time.

'''Timon:''' Pumbaa! Not in front of the kids!

** Additionally, the climactic ThunderousConfrontation between Simba and Scar also includes a bolt of lightning striking a tree and starting [[BattleAmongstTheFlames a brush fire]], very much like during the climactic fight with Shere Khan in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967''.
** During the song "Be Prepared", two hyenas wave skeletons of creatures, creating shadow images of them "dancing" that imitate the dancing skeletons from "[[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} Night on Bald Mountain]]", right down to the curving, "noodly" movements.

** Shenzi leads Banzai and Ed, as well as some of the other hyenas in the climax. In RealLife, female hyenas sit higher on the pecking order than males do.

** The hyenas react this way when Simba returns, since they now have a vengeful fully grown cub and their angry boss confronting them about not doing the job properly the first time.

* RestrainedRevenge: Downplayed and played for laughs; during "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" Simba pulls Nala into the lake, which she is [[CatsHateWater visibly shocked by]]. After getting out, she grins at Simba and playfully shoves him back in as revenge before running off. This is then followed by Simba chasing her into the forest, leading to them playfully wrestling like when they were cubs and [[spoiler:Simba ''finally'' managing to beat Nala by pinning her, putting an end to her winning streak against him]]. The two just chuckle at this series of events before realizing they have fallen in love with each other.

* ParentsSuckAtMatchmaking: Zazu tells Simba and Nala that their parents will thrilled when they'll learn the two are getting along so well, since they are to be bethroted. Simba is disgusted and Nala comments it would be weird they get married because they are just friends. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when Nala reunites with Simba after his exile and the two find out they actually love each other.

* PoorCommunicationKills: When Mufasa's spirit confronts Simba during his HeroicBSOD, he simply tells him that he has "forgotten who he is" and must retake his place in the Circle of Life as the true king. While this does convince Simba to go back and confront Scar, it doesn't relieve Simba of the grief he feels from falsely believing he caused his father's death in the first place, and Scar uses this against him by forcing him to "confess" in front of the rest of the pride, turning epeveryone else against Simba. This could have been avoided if Mufasa hadn't of been so vague with his guidance and told Simba that Scar was the one who actually killed him, not Simba.

** Simba when he first sees the stampede heading straight for him. One of the rare examples of this not being played for laughs ''at all'', but instead for a dark kind of awesomeness. (Despite this, it provides the page image.)