16 Lion-Sized Differences Between The New “Lion King” And The Old One

Spoiler alert: This post obviously talks about what happens in The Lion King (2019), so continue reading at your own risk!

1.

OK, so first of all: Shenzi, the lead hyena, is way more devious in the 2019 version.


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She’s also way less funny.

2.

The two other main hyenas, Banzai and Ed, aren’t in the movie, which is kind of a bummer?


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In the new version, the characters’ names are Kamari and Azizi, and their personalities are pretty different from the hyena henchmen we’re used to.

3.

Sadly, this iconic moment is not in the movie:

4.

The new version of Scar’s “Be Prepared” moment is a little different: It’s more of a speech than a musical number.

5.

And there’s much more context about Scar and Mufasa’s relationship that comes up in their first argument.


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It’s implied that they’ve already had a huge a fight at some point, and Scar lost.

6.

There’s also an added love triangle element between the brothers…


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Scar expresses anger about wanting to be with Sarabi (Simba’s mom), but she’d picked Mufasa instead.

7.

And Zazu doesn’t end up as Scar’s prisoner…

8.

Which means, yup, he doesn’t get to sing the coconut song!!

9.

In the 2019 movie, Timon doesn’t try to prevent Pumbaa from talking about bodily functions…


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He lets Pumbaa talk freely about gas while they’re singing “Hakuna Matata.”

10.

And even the dialogue is pretty similar, the jokes have been updated.


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For example, there’s a joke about the umami flavor that every modern foodie will appreciate.

11.

You’ll notice that Nala gets an extra scene and more lines.


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We get to see her running away from Scar, for example.

12.

And also, she has a way more important role in the final battle.


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She even fights Shenzi, one on one.

13.

The scene where Simba runs back home has a new song attached to it: “Spirit,” by Beyoncé.

14.

Also, Rafiki doesn’t use a walking stick, and he has fewer lines.


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Most of his lines are in another language, and his character is much more reserved than in the animated version. His walking stick only shows up during the final battle.

15.

And that whole ~learning about the past~ speech with Simba? It’s not in the new version, either.

16.

Finally, the movie does answer an important question about how Rafiki finds out that Simba is still alive: Apparently, it’s all in the lion poop.


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While in the animated version, this discovery unfolds rather magically, in the new version, it’s because a tuft of Simba hair travels a long distance (including getting eaten and pooped out by a giraffe) before making it over to Rafiki.

What other differences did you find between the two Lion King movies? Tell us in the comments below!

This post was translated from Spanish.