The most financially successful film in the Disney Animated Canon and the first Disney film without any human characters, The Lion King tells the story of Simba, a lion who is heir of the African Pride Lands. After his father, Mufasa, dies, his uncle Scar tells him it's all Simba's fault, ordering him to run away.Simba subsequently runs away from the Pride Lands, and is found and rescued by Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and warthog duo who raise him under the philosophy of "Hakuna Matata" — "no worries". Many years later, Simba meets an old friend from the past, and realizes that he must return to reclaim his dying kingdom.A plot described by some as Hamlet and Macbeth with Talking Animals. The sequels seem to follow the Shakespeare trend, as The Lion King II: Simba's Pride is Romeo and Juliet and MacbethWith Talking Animals In Africa and The Lion King 1½ resembles Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a much more recent play and Perspective Flip of Hamlet. Timon and Pumbaa also star in a spin-off animated series, imaginatively named Timon & Pumbaa, which was vastly different in tone and setting from the original movies, doesn't fit into canon, and has a tendency towards almost complete anthropomorphisation.The video game adaptation for the Genesis and SNES (and others) was very well received, though notoriously hard beyond the first level.A Screen-to-Stage Adaptation arrived on Broadway in 1998 and it was an instant smash hit that received much acclaim for its imaginative staging, musical numbers and general awesomeness, by director Julie Taymor.Now has a re-release in Disney Digital 3D, which has become the first re-release of a movie since the 1997 re-release of Return of the Jedi to hit number one at the box office.
All Star Cast: Arguably the film that started the trend of hiring a slew of name actors for an animated film rather than less well known voiceover specialists.
Alternate Animal Affection: It's hard to draw realistic lions kissing, so crossing necks will have to do.
Alternate Ending: The original ending to the movie would've had Scar actually throw Simba off Pride Rock at the end of the fight (after Simba tries to save his life). Scar then dies laughing hysterically as the fires surrounding Pride Rock engulf it, burning him to death. Simba survived the fall (ironically meaning Scar throwing him off Pride Rock saved his life) and then meets up with Nala after the fires are put out. This was changed as the filmmakers felt this wouldn't have really brought Scar to justice for his actions.
Amusing Injuries: Zazu being tackled by Simba. Zazu being launched high into the air by a geyser. Banzai falling into a thorn pit. All three are notable for the other characters finding them funny as well as the audience: "Cactus butt!"
Arranged Marriage: Simba and Nala; a rare happy one, although they're not too thrilled by the idea when they first find out.
Young Simba: But I can't marry her. She's my friend! Young Nala: Yeah, it'd be so weird.
Artistic License - Astronomy: There certainly seemed to be an inordinate number of shooting stars in the sky when Simba began making his triumphant return to the Pride Lands. (Of course, a few minutes earlier he had had a spiritual visitation from his late father, so who knows what to take literally?)
Rafiki is a Mandrill with a tail of a Baboon and living in savannah instead of in the forest; Pumbaa is a reddish brown warthog that looks more like a big-headed pig than a warthog and which eats bugs instead of Real Life grass; Timon is an always-bipedal meerkat with human-like teeth and that says "Ugh, Carnivores!" even though he belongs to the order Carnivora as well; the Spotted Hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) that bear some resemblance with Striped Hyenas (Hyaena hyaena), with grey hair, large shaggy black manes, black ears and low-hanging head. And what the hell are Giant Anteaters present in the "Just Can't Wait To Be King" scene, considered that Pangolins and Aardvarks were available for that (and they are just as amusing to draw?) And what about the Leafcutting Ants? Are all those examples of Rule Of Cool, They Just Didn't Care or (hard to believe) Did Not Do the Research?
Another example occurs during "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?". As Simba, trying to woo Nala, attempts to impress her with his agility, he does so by running off-screen and charging, full force, until he leaps at a convienietly-placed vine and gracefully swings off of it. Adult lions wouldn't be able to hold on to something as fragile as a vine before it snapped in half.
Zazu:(trapped) Let me out, let me out! Timon:(chased) Let me in, let me in!
Audible Sharpness: Near the beginning of "Circle of Life", an elephant's hoof can be heard with a distinctively deafening thud.
Award Bait Song: "Can You Feel The Love Tonight". ("Hakuna Matata" and "Circle of Life" also earned nominations, but that one is the only that fits the "Award Bait" formula.)
Backstab Backfire: Scar would've won his last fight if he hadn't chosen to tell Simba who was really responsible for Mufasa's death. And he still might have survived it if he hadn't tried to blame everything on the hyenas (who were practically his only supporters at that point) before he ended up needing their help.
Batman Gambit: A particular talent of Scar's. He plays everyone like a fiddle because he knows them so well.
Beauty Equals Goodness: Who appears as the most beautiful between Mufasa and Scar (and between Simba/Nala and Shenzi/Banzai/Ed)? Averted with Pumbaa, who is ugly and stinky, but is extremely tender andcaring.
"Hakuna Matata" is a touristy phrase — versus Hamna Shida — translating roughly as "there are no worries" in Swahili.
The first line of Rafiki's chant is "Asante sana squash banana." In context, it doesn't mean anything, but "asante sana" is Swahili for "thank you very much." In addition, the second line does mean "You're a baboon and I am not".
The Zulu chants provided by Lebo M. certainly count as well.
Most of the characters' names are Swahili words: Simba ("Lion"), Mufasa ("King"; in Manazoto rather than Swahili), Pumbaa ("Simpleton"), Nala ("Gift"), Rafiki ("Friend"), Shenzi ("Savage") and Banzai ("Skulk").
Bloodless Carnage: Mufasa's body seems to be in pretty good condition for someone who had just been thrown off a cliff and trampled to death by a stampede of wildebeest.
Scar and Simba duke it out with claws extended but neither has any sign of injury after.
Banzai: What were we supposed to do? Kill Mufasa? Scar: Precisely.
Bond Villain Stupidity: Scar could have avoided all this trouble if he had just killed Simba himself rather than sending him running off and delegating the killing to the incompetent hyenas, although that would have included the danger of him being seen or found out. More obviously, Scar telling Simba that he killed Mufasa, which gave Simba both the determination and the support of the pride that he needed to win.
Book Ends: The film begins with Mufasa's cub Simba presented to the kingdom. It ends with Simba's cub similarly presented, both accompanied by the same song, "The Circle of Life".
"Well, as far as brains go, I got the lion's share, but when it comes to brute strength, I'm afraid I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool."
Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the middle of Hakuna Matata, Timon and Pumbaa do this (though they might have actually been looking at Simba).
Pumbaa: And I got down-hearted... Timon: How did you feel? Pumbaa: Every time that I- Timon:(claps hands over Pumbaa's mouth) HEY, PUMBAA! (looks right at the fourth wall)Not in front of the kids! Pumbaa:(also looks) Oh! Sorry. * Briar Patching: Scar tempting Simba to visit the elephant graveyard.
Brick Joke: Arguable, and possibly unintended. Early on, Scar said that he would be a monkey's uncle when Simba becomes king. Later, when Nala is looking for Simba after he's left for Pride Rock to become king we have this conversation.
Nala: Have you guys seen Simba? Timon: I thought he was with you. Nala: He was but now I can't find him. Where is he? Rafiki: [chuckles] You won't find him here. The King has returned. Nala: I don't believe it. He's gone back. Timon: What? [looks up and sees Rafiki has disappeared] Timon: Hey, what's going on here? Who's the monkey? Nala: Simba's gone back to challenge Scar. Timon: Who? Nala: Scar. Pumbaa: Who's got a scar? Nala: No, no, no. It's his uncle. Timon: The monkey's his uncle?
Bros Before Hoes: Timon and Pumbaa are firm believers, which is why they're more than a little upset when Nala comes along to break up the trio.
Butt Monkey: On one side of the power struggle is Zazu; the bad guys want to eat him (Scar even almost swallows him at one point and incurs no repercussions beyond being told to spit him out), and even his allegedly benevolent employers take much delight in abusing him. And on the other are the three hyenas, especially Banzai, who literally gets claw-marks and thorns in his butt.
Carnivore Confusion: Solved by having Simba eating bugs, a Truth in Television since real lions are happy to eat them if necessary. Averted when Nala stalks and nearly kills Pumbaa, but then backs off when she has her reunion with Simba. With no recourse at all, the movie "solves" these troubling issues by Lampshading and then ignoring them.
Cheated Angle: Pride Rock is always seen from the left, except for one shot at the very beginning of the film.
Circling Monologue: Scar circles Simba during the end while blaming him for Mufasa's death. Almost works. On the other hand, the Hyenas' one around Simba and Nala doesn't work at all.
The second example might have been more effective if the hyenas weren't distracted by their own Hurricane of Puns.
Timon: Gee. He looks blue. Pumbaa: I'd say brownish-gold. Timon: No, no, no. I mean he's depressed. Pumbaa: Oh.
Timon and Pumbaa's worry-free lifestyle is based on the motto "Hakuna Matata". They may have missed the fine print that said the phrase only tells you not to worry in a given situation- you still need to face your problems.
Conspicuous CG: Mostly averted, but for the wildebeest during the death of Mufasa...
Continuity Snarl: Primarily from the obscure book series The Six New Adventures Of The Lion King, which came out after the first movie, but before Simba's Pride. The series added the character of Simba and Nala's son, a cub named Kopa, some other cub characters to Mufasa's original pride, the story of how Scar got his scar, as well as named Mufasa's parents and grandfather, and Scar before he got his scar. Since Kopa has since been Retconed into Kiara in Simba's Pride, the extent to which Six New Adventures is considered canon is hotly debated amongst some fans, and has resulted in much Wild Mass Guessing and cries of FanonDiscontinuity. Also, the animated series gave an entirely different (and fairly moving) version of Timon and Pumbaa meeting than 1½.
Crying Wolf: Subverted. Simba says to Scar "Why should I believe you? Everything you ever told me was a lie." Technically, however, it's really more along the lines of VERY skillful equivocation.
Curse Cut Short: "Why do I always have to save your- AAAHHHH!"
Cut Song: Several. A Dark Reprise of "Be Prepared", "Warthog Rhapsody" (an alternate Timon and Pumbaa song), "Thanks To Me" (the original version of "Be Prepared"), "The Lion in the Moon" (a lullaby sung by Sarabi), and "To Be King" (sung by Mufasa and cut because people thought James Earl Jones as a singing lion would be unintentionally funny). "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was supposed to be in the movie in its entirety, but Timon and Pumbaa end up singing only a couple of lines of it during the final version.
Darker and Edgier: Compared to other Disney films of the period. It is, in fact, a very tense, pathos-filled drama rather than the usual fairy tale romantic comedy.
Desert Skull: As Simba returns to the Pridelands, he finds it riddled with wildebeest skeletons to show how Scar's rule has ruined the land. At the end, as Simba returns to power, there's a brief shot of a skull being washed away by the rain, to symbolize the end of the old regime.
Deranged Animation: A vast majority of "I Just Can't Wait To Be King"'s backgrounds employ this.
Did Not Do the Research: Some anteaters are shown in the "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" sequence, but anteaters are not found in Africa; they live in South America.
Same goes for the leaf-cutting ants seen at the beginning.
The Dog Bites Back: Near the end, Scar attempts to pin everything on the hyenas not knowing that they're there listening to him say it. This works out for him about as well as you'd expect.
Scar: My friends. Shenzi: Friends? I thought he said we were the enemy.
Co Dragons: Though Shenzi as the leader makes sense considering her species, Scar seems to refer to the three as equal rank for the most part. Banzi at one point even goads Shenzi to go after Simba, even if she scoffs at it.
Dramatic Spotlight: On Simba, then Timon and Pumbaa, during the song "Hakuna Matata".
Also Natural Spotlight on Pride Rock when cub Simba is shown to the masses. The sun's timing is impeccable.
Evil Sounds Deep: Averted with Scar, who normally has a deep, soothing, sickly sweet resonance that disguises the Evil Uncle and eventual Caligula persona lying just beneath the surface. But, when he wishes to instil fear to those of weaker strength and status, or when he's just really pissed off, his voice tends to take on a deeper, more sinister quality that betrays his actual intentions. Listen to how he finishes "Ooh, I quiver with fear!" for a clear-cut example.
Evil Will Fail: Even if Simba hadn't shown up and pulled a Rightful King Returns, Scar's rule over the lion pride would have collapsed anyway since he'd driven the pridelands to the point of ecological ruin.
Family Unfriendly Death: Scar's death, although technically off-screen. Mufasa's death is scary but not quite traumatic...until we get to see little Simba crying over his dead body. At length.
Family Unfriendly Violence: Scar and Simba's brief no-holds-barred beatdown, and Mufasa's death as implied (but not shown).
Follow the Leader: Many concepts, compositions and characters are notoriously similar to that of Osamu Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion. Whenever a member of The Lion King production team speaks on the matter, the claim is usually that they hadn't heard of Kimba. In the case of some individuals working on the film this may even be true, but to assert that no one one the film's huge production team had ever heard of Kimba is iffy at best. This is not helped by the fact that some early production reels depicted Simba as a white lion, and there are several claims of people on staff mistakenly calling the film a remake of Kimba, or calling Simba by that name.
Foreshadowing: At the climax of "I Just Can't Wait to be King" when the tower of animals collapses, it can be interpreted as foreshadowing how Simba's whole self-image is about to come crashing down thanks to Scar's frame-up.
For The Cel Of It: The wildebeest from the stampede sequence are CGI, but cel-shaded to look like traditional animation.
Frameup and False Confession: After Scar kills Mufasa, he gets Simba to believe he's responsible, leading to Simba's running away. Simba believes this until the Just Between You and Me moment in the final act, even to the point of confessing himself to his mother and the rest of the pride.
From a Certain Point of View: Almost nothing Scar says to Simba before or after the stampede is untrue, which has the dual effect of covering his ass and appealing to his twisted sense of humor.
"Simba, it's to die for." "If it weren't for you, he'd still be alive." "If it weren't for you, Mufasa would still be alive! Do you deny it?"
G-Rated Sex: At the end of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight". Surprisingly heavily implied, actually, and confirmed by Disney itself. From the DVD audio commentary narrated by directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff and producer Don Hahn:
"This is probably the most steamy love scene in a Disney film ever!" "Wooooooooooooooo!"
Held Gaze: Simba and Nala gaze deeply into each other's eyes at the end of their Falling in Love Montage of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" before nuzzling each other in a manner that resembles a kiss.
Heterosexual Life Partners: Timon and Pumbaa... though both voice actors insist that they're the first openly gay couple shown in a cartoon.
Animal Ladder: Zazu at the end of "I Just Can't Wait to be King".
Hurricane of Puns: Zazu's morning report. The cut song has even more of them.
"Well, the buzz from the bees is that leopards are in a bit of a spot. The baboons are going ape... I told the elephants to forget it, but they can't... Cheetahs never prosper".
Also, when the hyenas first meet Simba, they consider eating him, Nala, and Zazu.
Banzai: We could have whatever's... lion around! Shenzi: Wait wait wait. I got one. Make mine a cub sandwich. (Ed tries to get their attention) WHAT, ED?! Banzai: Hey, did we order this dinner to go? Shenzi: No. Why? Banzai: 'Cause there it goes! (Points to Simba, Nala, and Zazu running like crazy).
The Hyena: Three of them. Ed is the one that fits the trope the most.
Incest Is Relative: Debated by fans — Scar and Mufasa are the only males in the pride, so who's Nala's father? Made more uncomfortable when Scar goes nuts in the Broadway production and tries to make Nala his queen. Made even worse than that when you know this was a scene cut from the film because it was too dark for kids.
The Last Bird Crosses The Finish Line: Zazu, even after being told by Mufasa to turn around, and obeying the order willingly, continues to ramble on before realizing that he's the target of Simba's pouncing lesson:
Zazu: Sire, what are you doing? Mufasa: Pouncing. Zazu: Ahh, yes... pouncing. (Turns back, Beat)(Realizes what he just said)POUNCING?!
Left Hanging: Although an interlude in 'Hakuna Matata' explains why Pumbaa became an outcast, Timon's story was cut from the song for time. This is picked up in The Lion King 1½.
Like Brother and Sister: Shenzi and Banzai. One moment they ACT like brother and sister, but then they DON'T act like brother and sister. Are they Just Friends? In denial? It's another of the things fans of the film love to argue about.
Pumbaa: Every time that I—! Timon: Hey Pumbaa! Not in front of the kids!
Mighty Roar: Used a lot by the lions whenever they are about to do something awesome, though when Simba was a cub, his roar was an anticlimatic meow.
Misplaced Wildlife: South American Giant Anteaters and Leaf Cutting Ants; all the other fauna is properly from central Africa. Also a reference to cacti, but considering that the term in question is "cactus butt" it probably just sounds funnier than "thorn butt."
Mood Whiplash: Constantly. Perhaps most notably when we go from Mufasa and Simba's funeral and Rafiki crossing out Simba's outline to... bowling for buzzards! (But the comic relief was badly needed after the past few minutes).
More than Mind Control: Timon and Pumbaa sway the guilt-ridden Simba away from fulfilling his role in the Circle of Life by convincing him that nothing can be done about his trauma and successfully indoctrinating him into their careless and slovenly "no worries" lifestyle to keep his mind off of the past and his duties. Of course, this has as much to do with his misplaced guilt as their influence.
Natural Spotlight: The king being held to the sky. There aren't even any clouds to justify the light slits.
Never Say "Die": Averted. There's an entire Villain Song about murdering the king and a child! And it isn't masked in the slightest. This is no doubt due to the fact that all characters are animals, and not human beings.
Banzai: Yeah be prepared. For what? Scar: For the death of the king. Banzai: Why? Is he sick? Scar: No fool we're going to kill him. And Simba too.
No Ontological Inertia: Scar is killed and within what must be roughly a lion's gestation period the Pridelands have gone from barren and burned back to Ghibli Hills.
Not So Harmless: For all his sniveling, Scar is still perfectly able to go toe-to-toe with Simba in the climax. Even more evident in the deleted ending, which is more along the lines of a Curbstomp Battle in his favor.
Odd Name Out: On a grand scale. All members of the main cast have African names (except Scar, of course). The only one to have a more European sounding name is Ed. He also seems to be mentally retarded, make of thatwhat you will.
Pain Powered Leap: Banzai the hyena jumps about 30 feet into the air after he is knocked into a bramble thicket by the other hyenas.
Pale Females, Dark Males: Nearly all the lionesses are lighter compared to the lions, except Sarabi.
Perma Stubble: All male hyenas have dark patches around their muzzles that look remarkably like stubble. It's one of the few things that distinguish them from the females. In The Lion King 1½, there is another female hyena — you can tell because she has no stubble and a thick tuft of fringe.
Pick On Someone Your Own Size: Simba yells this at the hyenas when they start picking on Zazu. Turns out, it wasn't a very good idea.
Punch Clock Villain: Although they have a grudge against the lions, the hyenas are primarily in this just for the food.
Putting on the Reich: The hyenas goose-stepping in grid formations. The animators based the sequence on The Triumph Of The Will. On top of that, Scar's rhetoric is right out of Hitler's mouth:
Scar:Iwill be king! Stick with me, and you'll NEVER GO HUNGRY AGAIN!!!
Quirky Miniboss Squad: The hyena trio. Although they're unusually frightening, effective villains for this trope.
Ragtag Band of Misfits: The group to take back the Pride Lands: Simba, Nala, Timon, Pumbaa and eventually Rafiki.
Rule of Symbolism: There are quite a number of Christian parallels, which is unsurprising considering lions being associated with God and Jesus for centuries. There's Simba's apparent resurrection—Nala says to him "It's like you're back from the dead" and is informed "The King has returned" in a manner rather reminiscent of Mary Magdalene in the garden with the open tomb, and both Scar and Sarabi think he is his father come back from the dead. There's the Fisher King analogy, with Simba's fight with Scar being easily related to Jesus combating Satan after his second coming. There's Simba's anointment by Rafiki, his reluctance to do his father's will, and Mufasa's divine image declaring Simba his son and the true king.
Running Gag: Simba's complete inability to beat Nala in a fight. It's even given a Continuity Nod in the sequel.
Scenery Porn: The movie is packed full of it, especially during "The Circle of Life".
Second Coming: Simba returns to the pride he left to despose his uncle Scar as the rightful king.
Seldom Seen Species: Several, most famously Timon the meerkat. Most people in the Americas had no idea what a meerkat was before this film was released.
Sequel Hook: The birth and presentation of Simba and Nala's cub at the end.
Shout Out: A dialogue between Simba and Scar is directly from Jeremy Irons' film Reversal of Fortune.
Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: Animals are anthropomorphised to varying extents. This even varies with animals of the same species — compare Timon with the meerkats that appear in the opening of "Circle of Life".
Something Only They Would Say: A non-verbal example occurs when Simba first encounters Nala as an adult. When she pins him, he realizes her identity.
Pumbaa: And I got down-hearted... Timon: How did you feel?! Pumbaa: Every time that I— Timon: Hey, Pumbaa! Not in front of the kids!
Take That, Us: Zazu sings "it's a small world after all" and Scar interrupts him saying "NO! No! Anything but that!" This is actually a bit of Disney humour; they've been going Take That, Us about "Small World" for years.
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Shenzi — her eye patches are shaped like heavily applied eyeshadow, her mane extends to having bangs and a fringe, and she lacks the Perma Stubble that both Banzai and Ed sport. Well, you have to be able to tell her from the guys somehow...
They Died Because of You: Right after murdering Mufasa, Scar tells Simba that he's responsible for Mufasa's "accidental" death.
Of course, that's subverted; we know Scar's right about that. Earlier in the film, he shoved his brother to his death. He just said that because he mistook Simba for Mufasa until he revealed who he really was to his mother.
This Is Gonna Suck: After Simba gets busted by his dad at the elephant graveyard, Mufasa says that he needs to teach his son a lesson, and Simba cowers. Simba takes his time coming to his father's side, earning himself a First Name Ultimatum.
This Is Unforgivable: Simba says "You don't deserve to live." to Scar as soon as he corners him after hitting him with a "Murderer" in which Scar responds to with "Simba, Simba, please. Please have mercy. I beg you."
Throw It In: Nathan Lane supposedly ad-libbed some of his dialogue, including the "hula" line.
Vegetarian Carnivore: A young Simba turns insectivore at the behest of his two animal friends. Just let go of your worries, and you too can grow big and strong on a morally-appropriate diet of creepy crawlies!
A World Half Full: An excellent example given how dark some of the film can be. Simba loses his father and is convinced by his uncle that it was his fault. He goes into exile for many years but eventually overcomes his guilt and goes back to depose his uncle and take his place. He ends up triumphing and everything his uncle ruined begins to come back together.
X Meets Y: The movie was called during production, and is still sometimes called 'Bambi meets Hamlet with Lions in Africa' (or alternatively, 'Bambi meets Hamlet meets Kimba')
Beauty Equals Goodness: Justified, since the Outlanders are only skinny and sunken-eyed from not getting enough to eat. After being accepted into Simba's pride, they're shown with the same build as the Pridelands' lionesses.
Bilingual Bonus: Like the original Lion King, there's quite a bit of Swahili. Kovu means "scar". Zira is the verb radical of hate. Vitani is similar to Shetani, meaning Devil. Kiara means "princess" in Swahili. Upendi means love (noun form).
Call Back: During one of Kiara and Kovu's romantic moments, Kovu licks Kiara in a very similar manner to the way Nala did to Simba in the first movie. Before that, Nala pins down Simba in a way that recalls their childhood.
I've been exiled, persecuted, left alone with no defense. When I think of what that brute did, I get a little tense. (Assume "that brute" refers to Simba).
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Kovu ends up getting a scar identical to Scar's, but that happens after he's decided to become the mask. The song "Not One of Us" has the animals believing it's an evil scar.
Heel Face Turn: Kovu, and later on Vitani, who is the first lioness to realise Kiara is right.
Love Makes You Evil: Zira's motivation is revenge for Scar's death. Well that's most of it, she's also got a chip on her shoulder from being exiled, but this is the main reason.
Love Redeems: Kovu switches sides due to his love of Kiara.
A Minor Kidroduction: Like in the first film, Kiara is shown as a cub in the beginning, but all that's shown are the events leading up to her meeting Kovu.
Mood Whiplash: Timon and Pumbaa really do not belong in this movie, as their only purpose is to ruin genuinely dramatic moments with non sequitor jokes. On a more positive, there's another dimension of Mood Whiplash, between Lighter and Softer moments and Darker and Edgier moments. Disney movies in general tend to have this, but this movie takes it even further than most, like when a cutesy song about all creatures being a big family is quickly followed by a Villain Song about revenge. That's a very deliberate tonal shift, intentionally juxtaposing the differences between the two families.
Kovu:(to Kiara) Let's get out of here. We'll run away together! (wiggles his backside with a seductive voice) And start a pride all our own. (emphasis his)
Parental Hypocrisy: Simba is very over-protective of Kiara. At one point, Nala points out to Simba that Kiara's just like they were when they were cubs, and Simba explains that this is what worries him.
Retcon: A tie-in book cast Simba's and Nala's cub as a male named Kopa.
Some Fanon theories try to correct this by having Kopa have died somehow, some of which cast this as the reason Zira was exiled...
Save the Villain: After attempting to attack Simba, Zira is tackled by Kiara and the two are sent tumbling off the cliff. In a very familiar TLK fashion, Zira is left clinging for her life and risks falling into the raging river below to her death. Kiara attempts to save her ("Zira... give me your paw!"), but she meets her watery fate regardless.
Shamed By A Mob: When Kovu is mistakenly believed to have been part of the plot to attempt to kill Simba, and a huge crowd is singing about their hatred for him.
Suicide Is Painless: What Zira's death might have been before the directors decided to cut part of her death from the final version. The cut scene features Kiara reaching out to save Zira... only to have Zira look back at Kiara with the most frightening smile of the movie and whisper "No... nev-er." just before intentionally letting go of the ledge. The directors evidently thought this was just a bit too dark for a movie who's plot is driven mostly by Zira's obsession with revenge.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Sarabi's voice actress died before the sequel was made, so they just left Sarabi to a cameo as a background lioness with no lines.
Adaptation Expansion: Believe it or not but this is an adaptation of a single episode of Timon and Pumbaa.
Ambiguously Gay: Maybe even dropping the "ambiguous" part. A lot of the movie, especially regarding Timon's relationship with his family, seems to play this up as straight as possible, with little gems like this scene◊. Also, a mushy scene of Timon and Pumbaa staring into one another's eyes causes Timon, in the "audience", to start crying to the point where the movie has to be "paused" for him to recover. A later scene even has them accidentally sharing a Spaghetti Kiss while eating an earthworm.
Balloon Belly: Timon and Simba at the end of the bug eating contest.
Comically Missing the Point: Timon takes Rafiki's advice to "look beyond what you see" a little too literally.
Continuity Nod: Doubling as a Funny Moment and (as usual for him) a bit of Leaning on the Fourth Wall, this moment when Timon is talking to cub Simba after he keeps waking up in the middle of the night to go across the log from the first movie.
Timon: We're gonna get old walking across this thing.
Cracking Up: If the sound of popping joints makes you cringe, this film will keep you on your toes as Timon does it regularly, unexpectedly and violently at random intervals throughout.
Fun Size: Timon's tiny stature makes for a few deliberately cute moments, such as him falling asleep under Simba's paw with his arms around one of the toes. D'aaaaaw.
Glad I Thought of It: The first time Timon does this, Pumbaa looks mildly confused. Then he just goes with it.
Green Eyed Redhead: Timon's mom. Oddly enough, she's the only meerkat with a visible eye color other than black.
The Gump: Timon and Pumbaa run into several scenes from the first movie, and set a few minor events into motion.
Has Two Daddies: Simba was so young when he met Timon and Pumbaa that they're his surrogate parents as well as his friends, something which doesn't really come up in the original film.
P.O.V. Sequel: The Lion King, re-told mainly from the point of view of Timon and Pumbaa.
Series Continuity Error: Any attempt to fit this story into the canon of the first film will swiftly run into trouble.
Most are easy, but the big one is at the end, when Timon and Pumbaa distract the hyenas from following Simba, which means they weren't there to hear Scar try to blame them for Mufasa's death and subsequently turn on him. It also turns Scar's fall into a true Disney Villain Death.
Space Jews: The meerkats are a group of Animal Jews in both personal relationships and in that they employ gratuitous Yiddish.
You Squared: A variation occurs when Nala tries to hunt down Pumbaa, but Simba comes to rescue. They fight for a few seconds, then Simba loses he exclaims, "Nala!?".
Also, several new songs, of course. Notably, Simba and Nala get their own songs; "Endless Night" and "Shadowland" respectively.
Artistic License - Biology: While the film itself is rather good about it, the theater adaptation seems to make Shenzi more of a moll to Banzai, despite the fact that hyena packs are well-known matriarchies.
Old Retainer: Zazu, even more so than in the original animation. At one point he consoled Mufasa regarding Simba's rebellious streak; "I seem to recall a young lion cub, more willful than wise. And he achieved some prominence."
Visible Invisibility: The puppet operators are always visible — most notably, Timon's actor is bright green, and Zazu is a small puppet riding on the actor's head — and yet you can easily focus on the puppets rather than the actors.
This also applies to many stage mechanics and devices that, in most musicals, are kept hidden; this was highly intentional, to produce an effect where imagination filled the scene in.
0 reviews 
