25 Extra Sweet Things You Never Noticed In The Lion King
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The Lion King is one of the classic Disney kids movies. Unfortunately, there is a lot hidden in it that isn’t for kids at all.
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Disney is making a live-action remake of their smash hit animated film ‘The Lion King’. The news comes as no surprise ever since last year’s live-action Beauty and The Beast remake stormed the box office and became the highest grossing PG-rated film in history.
Similar expectations are naturally placed on the Lion King remake. The original animation was not only a box-office behemoth but also received universal critical acclaim. The story of Simba, a lion cub, being forced out of his pride, learning to live a carefree life with a wild boar and a meerkat and then eventually returning to take his place as king of his pride moved audiences the world over. Not to mention the gorgeous hand-drawn animation style of the film and the rollicking, show-stopping dance numbers peppered throughout made it one of the most fun movies Disney ever came up with.
Grown-up fans of the movie remember Simba’s journey of loss, guilt and redemption with great affection. But their minds probably skip over some of the more disturbing aspects of the film. There are plenty of things in the Lion King that raise eyebrows among adults and make you wonder how the makers got away with such un-PG-13 behavior.
In anticipation of the upcoming live-action Lion King, here are 25 instances from the original film that will make you do a double take. Warning: SPOILERS abound in the following entries… for a film that was released 25 years ago and has played endlessly on the Disney channel since:
25 Simba And His girlfriend Are Blood Relations
Simba and Nala were childhood friends before being separated by Simba’s whole ‘thought he ended his own father and ran away to live with a couple of slackers’ phase. They meet again as adults and go from recognizing each other, to reconnecting and chatting about their past lives, to going on a first date to falling in love all in the span of a single afternoon. When Simba becomes king, Nala is there right beside him as his queen and the mother of his children.
And also his half-sister.
See, Mufasa was their pride’s leader, and by natural law of the jungle, his duty/chief source of recreation was impregnating all the lionesses in his pride. That includes Simba and Nala’s moms. This kind of voluntary family relationship doesn’t translate well for kids, which is why the fact is never mentioned in the movie.
24 The Parade Hiding In Plain Sight
When is it a good time to refer to the WWII German army in a Disney movie? You know, one of the most brutal regimes the world has ever known, responsible for one of the most terrible cases of mass attacks in all of history?
If your answer is ‘Dear God, never!’ you and the Lion King creative team are on very different pages. The show-stopping musical number ‘Be Prepared’ is all about Simba’s villainous uncle Scar gathering an army of hyenas around him.
In the song, we see the hyenas marching past Scar in military formation as they salute him. History buffs will recognize this as a recreation of the infamous Cathedral of Light, which was a famous aesthetic feature of the Party Rallies in Nuremberg during the Second World War, designed to inspire fear and awe.
23 Pride Rock Becomes A Literal Heck On Earth
The hyenas are shown to be the embodiment of Evil in the movie. So much so that when they take over Pride Rock and it’s surrounding fields, they transform it’s lush landscape into a picture of a famine. We get one particularly haunting slow pan of the camera over the new state of Pride Rock under Scar’s rule.
We see a parched, desolate wasteland where no living creature dares tread.
The area is filled with the skeletons of creatures that once lived there and now are no more. Nothing seems to grow on the dry and dusty fields, and even the hyenas are not happy with the state of their new home. Really, Pride Rock is made to resemble heck on Earth here, and the comparison becomes even more apt during the movie’s conclusion when flames engulf the whole land.
22 Emotional Issues
The worst thing Scar did in the whole of Lion King wasn’t plotting Mufasa’s demise or taking Pride Rock for himself. It was what he did immediately after Mufasa’s death. Simba came across his father’s unmoving body and frantically tried to make him get up. Slowly, it dawned on him that Mufasa was dead.
Then came Scar. Instead of comforting the young cub, he impressed upon Simba that his father’s end was entirely his fault. Even when Simba tried to protest, Scar pressed him further, claiming his mother and everyone else would hate him forever for what he had done.
Then, while Simba was trying to grapple with the worst moment of his life, Scar delivered the final blow. He urged Simba to run away as fast as he could, and to never return. Lion cub tears were never this heartbreaking.
21 A Deleted Scene Dials Up The Creep Factor To Eleven
There was one scene that was removed from the final draft of the movie. And with good reason. The scene is called ‘The Madness of King Scar’, and tells the tale of how Nala came to be banished from Pride Rock.
In the scene, we see Scar declare his affections for Nala. He wants her to be his bride, and to rule beside him. Nala has no interest in the offer. But Scar keeps pressing her, to the point where she has to physically fight off an attack from him. The rebuff from Nala does nothing to cool off Scar’s ardor, and he advances slowly towards her, purring her name. His dirty intentions are made perfectly clear to the audience. Keep in mind that Scar is the brother of Nala’s father Mufasa. So many levels of wrong.
20 The Very Worst Kind Of Bullying
It’s not unheard of to show villains doing bad things in movies. After all, that is how you identify they’re villains. But there is a difference between doing something evil for your own selfish gain and doing something evil just… because it’s fun.
In the movie, we discover that one of the favorite pastimes of the hyenas
It’s something called the ‘Birdie Boiler’. In it, you take a small, helpless animal and trap it on top of an active volcano opening. You then wait for the pressure to build up and send the small, terrified animal shooting into the air.
Imagine how painful such an ordeal would be, and then remember that the hyenas pull off the trick on Sazu, a delicate, elderly bird that is essentially a senior citizen. This kind of petty cruelty was one of the hyena’s worst deeds.
19 Domestic Issues Are Always Tricky
Adding another bit of real-world horror to a children’s film about cuddly talking animals is the scene where Scar belts out some old-fashioned domestic problems. The scene arrives near the beginning of the third act of the movie when Simba arrives back at Pride Rock to see what Scar’s rule had done to his former home.
From a distance, he sees his mother Sarabi moving towards Scar, as a row of Hyenas try to intimidate her by growling and snarling. He then sees the argument between Scar and Sarabi. It ends with Scar lashing out at her which is problematic. Needless to say, Simba looks absolutely livid, and comes tearing down the mountainside to confront Scar.
18 Scar Was Going To Have A Much, Much Worse Fate
In the movie’s finale, Scar is shown surrounded by the army of hyenas that he had betrayed. The last we see of him is being attacked on all sides by the hyenas, and it is strongly implied that they literally rent him apart with their teeth. As bad as this end is, an alternate ending planned for Scar would have been much more horrifying.
The storyboard for the alternate ending is available on Youtube. It shows Scar getting engulfed in the flames eating into Pride Rock. According to the sketches, Scar would have been shown burnt to the bone by the raging fire. To top it all off, he would have been laughing the whole time while being burned, proving that power truly had driven him completely mad. No wonder they went with the less disturbing ending.
17 Mufasa Was Going To Have A Terrible Time, Too
Mufasa’s goodbye in the movie is one of the most difficult scenes in all of movie history. You get the shot of the wildebeest stampede with Simba stuck in the middle. You see Mufasa manage to get his son to safety but get trapped in his stead. Then there’s the shot of Mufasa desperately trying to climb onto a ledge, calling out to his brother to save him. And the final scene of Scar revealing his true color, and the shock and horror on Mufasa’s face as he is sent plunging to his doom.
In one of the scenes rejected for being too graphic, we actually get to see Mufasa getting trampled by the wildebeest. Man, we give the movie grief for being too hardcore, but it seems like they left a lot of the truly disturbing stuff out!
16 How Far Did Simba’s First Date Go?
The first date that Simba ever went on as an adult was with his childhood friend Nala, whom he had been reunited with earlier that very afternoon. After she had tried to eat his friends and wrestled Simba to the ground. Can you feel the love tonight? And probably the copious amounts of pee coming out of the terrified meerkat who was about to become lion chow?
Anway, the date is depicted through a super romantic song. We see Nala and Simba drawing rapidly closer, ending with a close-up shot of Simba on top of Nala as she gives him what can only be described as ‘bedroom eyes’.
So did our boy Simba go to first, second, third and fourth base on his first date to score a home-run? It sure looks like it. Things move quickly in the animal kingdom.
15 Simba’s Daughter Gets A Gross Proposition From Scar’s Apprentice
Lion King wasn’t just one movie, but an entire franchise. The second film in the series was called Simba’s Pride, and it featured Scar’s successor Kovu returning to Pride Rock, where he makes fast friends with Simba’s daughter Kiara.
But it seems friendship wasn’t all that Kovu had in mind when it came to Kiara.
After an argument with Simba, Kovu suggested to Kiara that they should run away together. Kovu then says suggestively that the two of them can ‘start their own tribe’.
If you think that was an innocent line, there’s the fact that Kovu wiggles his hindquarters invitingly as he says it. Again, keep in mind that Kovu and Kiara are related by blood and that Kovu’s mother loathed Kiara’s father. We wouldn’t have blamed Simba for bringing down the hammer on Kovu at that moment.
14 The Most Dangerous Character Hiding In Plain Sight
In the Lion King, there are three main hyenas who act as Scar’s henchmen. There’s Shenzi, the female hyena who is the brains of the group. There’s Banzai, her male cohort who is on the same page as her on most issues. And then there’s Ed. He is permanently cross-eyed, speaks in unintelligible mumblings, and is treated as the comic relief among the trio by everyone.
But then something changes at the end of the movie. Shenzi and Banzai look to Ed to confirm the fact that Scar has betrayed them. And suddenly Ed’s eyes uncross. He stares dead ahead at Scar, who suddenly looks absolutely terrified. Ed then lets out a low chuckle, unlike anything he has produced before, more spine chilling than any barking by the other hyenas. And then you realize that Ed is the real psychopath.
13 The Lyrics That Are All About Hating Someone
Again in Simba’s Pride, we get to a scene where the viewer needs to be told how much everyone hates Kovu for being raised by Scar to be his successor. In true Disney fashion, even hatred is expressed via the song ‘Not one of us’, with the following lyrics:
Born in grief, raised in hate. Helpless to defy his fate. Let him run, let him live. But do not forget what we cannot forgive.
That is just… wow. Who knew Disney’s trademark tunes could also accommodate such hateful emotions? It’s like the entire Disney universe is ganging up together to give Kovu a hard time, for something that isn’t his fault in the first place! This is exactly the kind of rough upbringing that drives young kids to become criminals in later life, a fate that very nearly befell Kovu.
12 The Scariest Lullaby You Ever Heard
If you thought the previous song was depressing enough, wait till you hear the lullaby that Zira, one of Scar’s most ardent followers, and the lioness who reared Kovu, used to sing to him to get him to sleep:
The sound of Simba’s dying gasp!
His daughter squealing in my grasp!
His lionesses’ mournful cry!
That’s my lullaby!
Oh, man. Who was in charge of the songs for this movie, and why’d they feel such a burning hatred for humanity? Considering the kind of upbringing that Kovu had, it’s actually a miracle he didn’t turn over to the dark side. But no matter how inappropriate the lyrics, you have to hand it to Disney for being fully committed to showing the twisted side of their dreamy animated movies when needed. These dark passages make the character’s struggles all the more real.
11 The Stage Show Is All About Highlighting The Creepy Details
When the stage version of the Lion King was announced, few people expected the stage play to match the sheer visual beauty of classic Disney hand-drawn animation. But where the stage play was limited in terms of visuals, it more than made up for with spectacle. Even during Scar’s final scene.
In the scene, Scar becomes injured after his fall from Pride Rock.
The hyenas soon surround him, with Ed shrieking manically and Scar’s terrified pleading having no effect. The curtains come down before the hyenas get to Scar, but the audience can still see the onstage silhouettes. The hyenas are clearly engaged in eating Scar alive even as his screams rend the air. The only activity that is visible on stage is the hyena pack’s heads going up and down as they tear into Scar’s writhing body…
10 What Was Up With The Film Poster?
Ahem. Well, there’s really not much to explain here, once you’ve seen the film poster for the movie from a certain angle. Of course, you could just accuse us of having dirty minds and seeing things in places which were never there in the first place. But you can’t deny that once you’ve seen the outline around Mustafa’s nose, it becomes impossible not to see a woman wearing the least possible amount of clothing facing away from you, in one of the most famous posters from a movie in history.
So what’s the real story here? Don’t know. The official explanation… there is none. The creators have not commented on the fan discovery yet. And that, of course, allowed the conspiracy theory crowd to run riot with the matter, accusing Disney of sending dirty subliminal messages to their young audiences.
9 Shenzi Has A Wierd Thing For Mufasa
The hyena Shenzi is all about colluding with Scar to end Mufasa’s reign so that his brother can become the King of the Jungle, and allow the hyenas into Pride Rock. But that doesn’t mean that Shenzi hates Mufasa. In fact, she seems more than a little impressed with Mufasa, claiming that just the mention of his name is enough to make her shudder.
When Shenzi makes this claim, her brother Banzai gets a leery look on his face, and he utters Mufasa’s name, causing Shenzi to tremble. Banzai then repeats Mufasa’s name three times, and Shenzi becomes so overwhelmed that she falls over, claiming that the sensation ‘tingles me.’ Yup, that was definitely a dirty observation. And keep in mind that Mufasa and Shenzi belong to separate species, making Shenzi’s obvious attraction to the king lion all the more unsettling.
8 The Most Infamous Scene In The Movie
In all of Lion King, there was one scene that caused a great deal of controversy, and that was the infamous glowing dust scene. In the scene, Simba has just learned about Scar’s terrible reign over Pride Rock from Nala. After an argument with her about returning to Pride Rock to take his place as King, Simba wanders along to a cliff’s edge and flops down in weary confusion.
The flopping action kicks up what seems to be glowing dust, which briefly appears to form some letters before floating away.
Now, the creative team has claimed that the letters are supposed to spell out SFX, as in special effects, as a shout out to the movie’s special effects team. But the thing is, the middle word doesn’t look like an F, but more like an E. So which one is it?
7 There Is Way Too Much … In The Movie
The first shot we get of Nala as a young cub is of her getting a very thorough cleaning by her mother. More specifically, Nala is getting her derriere enthusiastically licked by a lioness.
Then later, we meet Pumba the warthog, who’s entire backstory is that he suffers from a condition where he farts uncontrollably and explosively, causing almost every animal he meets to give him a wide berth. Later, it is revealed that a bubble bath that Simba, Timon, and Pumba frequently enjoy together is a result of repeated farting by Pumba while sitting in the tub.
Finally, while Nala is chasing Pumba, he gets stuck under a tree root. Timon attempts to force him out, but Pumba’s behind is too large. This leads Timon to yell, ‘Geez, why do I always have to save your AAAHHHHH…’
6 The Simba-Nala Date Becomes Even More Grown-Up
When The Lion King 1.5 came out, it provided a fun little sideways view of the original story from the point of view of Timon and Pumba. In this version of the story, it becomes apparent that Simba and Nala’s first adult date was viewed closely by Timon and Pumba throughout.
They were even unwittingly helped along by the duo’s antics.
Another point the film makes is that there’s no other interpretation of the date other than that Simba and Nala definitely got it on by the end of it. We see Nala winding around Simba, before leading him away towards a waterfall. The intent of what they were doing there could not have been made any clearer even if Simba had turned to the camera at the moment and exclaimed, ‘Bow chick-a-bow-wow!’ before winking at the audience. So… yeah.
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