Differences Between "The Lion King" Animation & Live-Action Part 4

Number 31. Sneaking Out Of The Pridelands We get a new stealth sequence in the new movie, during which Nala sneaks away from the Pride Lands to get outside help. Zazu catches her out of bed, and after some initial protest, he helps create a distraction for Scar and the hyena guards while Nala gives them the slip. Number 32. No Implied Lion Sex There's a suggestive sequence in the original film, in which Simba is on top of Nala, and Nala gives Simba a pretty telling look (seen above). The movie cuts away once they start necking each other. In the new movie, the "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" sequence takes place during the daytime. And Timon and Pumbaa are watching the two lions throughout, so the audience knows for certain that there's no hanky-panky going on. Number 33. Caught in His Lies In the original film, Simba forces Scar to confess to the lionesses that he murdered Mufasa. In the new film, the lionesses figure it out on their own; earlier in the movie, Scar mourned that he couldn't get to the gorge in time to save Mufasa and Simba. This contradicted what he later said about seeing the fear in Mufasa's eyes. Number 34. Nala and Shenzi Fight Scene At the new film's climax, there is a violent confrontation between Shenzi and Nala, who are positioned as rivals. It ends when Nala tosses her opponent over the cliff. Shenzi survives and later gives her clan the order to kill and eat Scar. Number 35. Simba's Missing Judo Flip. In the new film, Simba wrestles and swipes Scar until he falls off the cliff. This is completely different from the original film, in which Scar pounces towards Simba, and Simba redirects his motion and judo throws him off the side. Typically, the classic Disney films diffuse the hero's culpability as much as possible. In Tarzan, for example, Clayton inadvertently kills himself by hanging. The new Lion King film places more responsibility for Scar's death on Simba's shoulders--even though in both film versions, it's the hyenas who deliver the killing blow. Number 36. The hyenas have new names and Rafiki has a more sensible tail. The only hyena who has the same name as she did in the original movie is Shenzi (Florence Kasumba). This time around, she’s scarier and intimidates two new hyenas (replacing Banzai and Ed): Azizi (Eric Andre) and Kamari (Keegan-Michael Key), whose roles felt like a buddy comedy. “We were given a lot of license to do what we wanted, and I think that we got to develop a little more nuanced relationship than you saw in the original film," Key said. As for Rafiki, the mandrill has a short tail in this movie (as opposed to his strangely long one – uncharacteristic of mandrills – in the animated movie). And instead of singing about a “squash banana,” he has a new dialogue. “I bring in my own songs, my stories,” says voice actor John Kani, who incorporated sounds from indigenous languages into the character.