Differences Between "The Lion King" Animation & Live-Action: Part 1

Number 1. Rafiki’s bakora staff. Where did it go? The old mandrill has completely lost his walking staff/weapon in the beginning of the movie and instead has to rely on red roots to create a powder to smear on Simba’s head. No goop dripping out of one of the fruits tied to the end of it, robbing us all of that iconic imagery. At least now his shorter tail is much more authentic to what a mandrill actually looks like out in the wild instead of that long, catlike tail he has in the original. Number 2. Scar and Mufasa’s complicated history. In the original animated film, it’s clear that these brothers aren’t close based on Scar’s refusal to come to Simba’s debut at Pride Rock. But Mufasa had no idea just how deep his brother’s hatred of him went, so it’s understandable why he didn’t see his murder coming (even though it was always pretty clear that Scar wanted the throne). In the remake, we actually get a much more complex backstory of how much Scar hates Mufasa. During Scar and Mufasa’s first scene together, Scar implies that Mufasa is the one who gave him his iconic scar from when they fought for the throne in the past. But Mufasa’s “brute strength” won out over Scar’s intelligence, making him the king of the animal kingdom. The battle must have been gnarly to leave Scar with a lifelong war wound through his eye, and it’s obvious that he’ll never let go of that grudge. And later in the movie, Scar also references Sarabi picking Mufasa over him as a mate which adds even more complicated drama to the sibling rivalry (especially when Sarabi keeps rebuffing Scar’s repeated advances after Mufasa’s death). Can we get a prequel movie about this next? Seeing Mufasa and Scar’s history play out onscreen after seeing the remake is now a must. Number 3. Zazu’s jokes While giving his morning reports, listen carefully to hear some great animal puns delivered in John Oliver’s signature style, playing to his Last Week Tonight strengths. Also, his cousin who thinks he’s a woodpecker sounds delightful. Maybe we could meet him one day. Number 4. That Simba drawing Here’s another nit-picky detail you probably couldn’t help noticing. In the original Lion King, Rafiki takes his time to draw the cutest little image of baby Simba on his home tree. In the new version, he weirdly takes a bunch of bugs (real talk: huge bugs in live-action movies are just as gross as seeing them in real life) and arranges them on the tree trunk. Then he blows some dust over them and it leaves an outline of Simba’s face. Why this all-knowing monkey trusted a bunch of bugs to create this sacred drawing is a mystery that will never be solved. Number 5. Scar’s alliance with the hyenas One of the biggest changes from the original comes in the form of Scar’s relationship with the hyenas. The animated movie makes it clear from the first scene Scar shares with the hyenas that they’re old … well, friends wouldn’t be the word that Scar used. More like “trusted” henchman for the lion to exploit ( … but the hyenas sure think they’re old pals with Scar). The 2019 movie flips the script on this dynamic and has Scar meeting the hyenas for the first time right before he launches into the more intense and militaristic spoken-word version of “Be Prepared.” He approaches the hyenas with the plan to murder both Mufasa and Simba, allowing him to take the throne, and he allies himself with the hyenas to make it happen. There’s less implicit trust this time around than in the original, making Scar’s bloody end at the hands (er, teeth?) of these same hyenas a lot more understandable. Number 6. The male hyenas The trio of hyenas in the original movie are iconic, thanks to Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings as Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, respectively. But Shenzi is the only one who remains the same in the 2019 version (voiced by Florence Kasumba). The two male hyenas in the main trio are now Kamari and Azizi, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Eric Andre. Their traits are pretty much the same, though, with Kamari being the smarter of the two. Azizi is still the dumb one of the bunch, but instead of not being able to stop laughing (almost maniacally so), Andre’s spin on the goofy hyena sees him as more oblivious to personal space. Still funny, just in a different way.