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  • Disney's animated Lion King will always hold a special place in people's hearts.

  • But the 2019 version takes the opportunity to correct some of the crazy plot holes, goofs,

  • and mistakes fans have spotted over the years in the original.

  • Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm explaining how The Lion King

  • remake fixes many of those issues from the 90s classic.

  • Some spoilers ahead, so take care if you haven't seen it yet.

  • Don't forget my Lion King giveaway is still running, so be sure to subscribe and leave

  • a comment about the movie for your chance to win.

  • The animated Lion King's opening scene and 'Circle of Life' song are iconic moments that

  • the remake mostly reproduces shot-for-shot, however, it also fixes a few crucial errors

  • from the 1994 movie.

  • Just before Simba's presentation, Rafiki anoints him, breaking open a fruit to release a red

  • liquid which he paints on the young cub's forehead, before dusting his face to dry the

  • mark.

  • The fruit that Rafiki brings with him appears to come from the ancient baobab tree that

  • he lives in, and the problem with the original scene is that a baobab fruit doesn't contain

  • a red liquid and is actually dry inside with white pulp and large seeds.

  • In the new movie, the filmmakers have fixed this by having Rafiki use some red roots which

  • release a red dust when he breaks them.

  • It's also this red powder that makes little Simba sneeze rather than Rafiki dousing the

  • poor little cub in a handful of dust as he did in the animation.

  • The 2019 movie also changes the hand that Rafiki uses to anoint Simba from his left

  • hand to his right.

  • This is consistent with the fact that Rafiki is right-handed when he's fighting the hyenas

  • with his stick later in both movies.

  • Rafiki himself was misrepresented in the original movie as, although he's modelled after a mandrill,

  • in the film and the screenplay he's referred to as a baboon.

  • Some of the Disney animators even thought of him as a "mutated" monkey and gave him

  • physical features such as a long tail which is incorrect for a mandrill.

  • "It means you are a baboon, and I'm not."

  • "I think you're a little confused."

  • "Wrong!"

  • That baboon reference has been eliminated from the new movie and Rafiki's design has

  • also been corrected, by replacing the long tail he had in the animation with a short

  • stub that's biologically accurate for his species.

  • Another mistake corrected in the new Lion King is the colour of Simba's eyes.

  • In reality, new-born lion cubs start life with blue-grey eyes.

  • Then after two or three months, a cub's eyes turn an orangey-brown colour.

  • The remake reflects this as you can see young Simba has dark-bluish eyes at the time of

  • his presentation.

  • And once he's grown up a little, they're a darker yellowy-orange colour.

  • In the animation, as a new-born cub Simba simply has dark eyes and when he's older his

  • eyes are a browny colour.

  • And to make us connect with the characters and their feelings even more, the original

  • animators gave the lions eyes that were very like humans, so they have a pupil, an iris

  • and a white of their eyes which is sometimes coloured yellow.

  • Even though real-life lions don't have whites in their eyes.

  • Scar's bright green eyes have also been changed for a better sense of realism in the reboot.

  • The original movie was also guilty of featuring numerous wild animals that aren't native to

  • the film's African setting.

  • For example, when Simba sings "I Just Can't Wait To Be King", various animals construct

  • a crazy tower and on the very top are a group of giant anteaters.

  • Giant anteaters are only native to Central and South America and so wouldn't be seen

  • in the wild in Africa.

  • So, this time around, the filmmakers have made sure there's no giant anteaters in the

  • movie.

  • Other non-African animals that were also scrubbed from the latest film include the tail-hanging

  • monkeys that also make an appearance during "I Just Can't Wait to be King".

  • And the gopher that pops up during Zazu's "morning report" also hit the cutting room

  • floor in the remake for the same reason.

  • "Zazu."

  • "Yes?!"

  • "Sir, news from the underground."

  • One mistake which has been left in the new version is the inclusion of leaf-cutter ants.

  • These appear in the opening sequence in both movies even though they're only native to

  • the Americas.

  • I think they kept these misplaced ants in the film for two reasons.

  • First of all, the filmmakers wanted to keep the Circle of Life sequence more or less shot-for-shot.

  • And secondly, the ants play a special part later in Rafiki discovering that Simba is

  • still alive.

  • The animated movie often emphasises how dim-witted the hyenas are:

  • "Zazu, you told me they're nothing but slobbering, mangy, stupid poachers."

  • "lx-nay on the upid-stay."

  • "Who are you callin' upid-stay?"

  • But this doesn't reflect the fact that in real-life hyenas are intelligent, skilled,

  • and dangerous predators.

  • Which is why Shenzi, who's voiced by Black Panther's Florence Kasumba, is a lot more

  • menacing in the new version.

  • "You're no match for us Sarabi!

  • You will die with your king Nala!"

  • And although the hyenas are still antagonists in the remake, the Nazi goose-stepping scene

  • has been cut to fit the new film's more realistic and grounded approach.

  • Hard-core Lion King fans may have noticed a small change in the new movie when Simba

  • and Nala are reunited.

  • "Where have you been?!"

  • In the original film, as they rub their heads together you can also hear them purring, much

  • like a pet cat does.

  • However, in the remake Simba and Nala's purring has been removed, likely because animal experts

  • believe lions either don't purr at all or the noises they make are technically different

  • to the purr of a domestic cat.

  • Following Simba and Nala's reunion is "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" which the original

  • filmmakers described as "perhaps the most steamy love scene in any Disney film."

  • During the song, Nala gives Simba what the filmmakers have called a "Come Hither" look.

  • In the new film that moment is replaced with Nala giving Simba an affectionate lick, which

  • fits with the remake's much more realistic depiction of animal behaviour.

  • In the 1994 movie, Rafiki discovers that Simba is still alive after the lion flops down on

  • some plants and the earth and leaves which scatter are magically carried by the wind

  • all the way to the wise monkey's tree where he reads the leaves in an empty tortoise shell.

  • The new movie has a quite ingenious and perhaps more feasible method for Rafiki to discover

  • the truth about Simba.

  • This time a tuft of Simba's fur falls off and goes on a complex journey, floating on

  • the wind, then a river before being eaten with some leaves by a giraffe and ending up

  • in a ball of dung that a beetle rolls along.

  • That ball falls down a hill and breaks apart releasing the tuft of hair, which a leaf-cutter

  • ant then collects and marches up the Tree of Life where Rafiki spots it and recognises

  • it as Simba's fur.

  • It's a nice little updated sequence which also fits with the film's "circle of life"

  • theme.

  • In the first film, there's a curious goof in the scene where Simba and Nala visit the

  • elephant graveyard.

  • "I wonder if its brains are still in there."

  • "There's only one way to know.

  • Come on, let's go check it out."

  • The young lion cubs are ambushed by the hyenas who emerge from the skull of a dead elephant.

  • However, fans have commented that when you look more closely at the proportions of the

  • skull, it's grotesquely large and far too big when compared to real-life elephant skulls.

  • Which is why the 2019 movie skips over the hyenas coming out of the skulls, and instead

  • they meet Simba and Nala inside a cave.

  • Another problem fixed from the animated Circle of Life sequence is Rafiki's seemingly impossible

  • ascent to Pride Rock from the front.

  • If you look at the shape of Pride Rock and how it juts out, it would be extremely difficult

  • for Rafiki to climb up beneath it and very silly too given he could access the rock via

  • a much easier route instead.

  • The new movie fixes with this by showing Rafiki walking on to the top via a much more gently-sloping

  • rock face.

  • As you can see, the new Lion King tends to tone down some of the animation's more exaggerated,

  • cartoony moments to better fit the photo-realism of the new CG version.

  • "What is it?"

  • "That is not a lion, it's a furry bird!"

  • "Looks like a lion."

  • "Th.. is not a lion.

  • Let me get a closer look."

  • So, the remake changes this moment where Timon lifts Simba's paw up all the way above his

  • head in an incredible feat of strength for a tiny little meerkat.

  • Instead, the new movie, has Timon identifying Simba as a lion by looking at his teeth.

  • "It's a lion!

  • Run for your life Pumbaa!"

  • "Hey Timon, wait, wait, wait, Timon!

  • Wait, it's a little lion!"

  • "It gets bigger!"

  • Another scene made more realistic this time around is when Nala chases Pumbaa.

  • In the original movie, the warthog rather foolishly tries to escape her by squeezing

  • through a gap under a tree root that's too small for him.

  • "How bleak is that?"

  • Which is why it doesn't happen like that in the new story, and instead Pumbaa is cornered

  • by Nala when he slips and falls trying to run up a moss-covered rock.

  • Another small but important change, which die-hard Lion King fans may have noticed,

  • is that after Scar is defeated and Simba walks out on to Pride Rock, in the remake Zazu says

  • "your majesty".

  • It's a nice fix to the 1994 ending where Zazu says these words to Simba but the actual audio

  • ended up cut from the final film.

  • If you watch the animated scene closely, you'll see Zazu mouth the words as Simba walks past,

  • but the dialogue can't be heard.

  • That mistake was introduced because the filmmakers thought a moment of silence would add more

  • gravitas to the scene.

  • However, they didn't redo the animation to stop Zazu's mouth moving.

  • Speaking of adding things to the film, the new movie also adds some new meta moments

  • and Disney easter eggs in the Timon and Pumbaa scenes, and I talk all about that in my Lion

  • King comparison video.

  • Tap the screen to watch that or click the link in the video description.

  • Now, did you spot any new plot holes or mistakes in The Lion King remake?

  • Let me know in the comments below and subscribe to enter the giveaway!

  • Congratulations to the winner of my Spider-Man giveaway.

  • Contact me via email from my "About" page so I can send you your prize!

  • Tap left for my next Lion King video or tap right for another Disney video or something

  • else you're sure to like.

  • And if you enjoyed this, a like and a share are always hugely appreciated.

  • Thanks for watching and see ya next time.

  • Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!

Disney's animated Lion King will always hold a special place in people's hearts.

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