The Lion King

Factual error: When Mufasa is initially showing Simba the pridelands they are facing the rising sun - in other words east. Simba asks about "that shadowy place" which is off to the right, and is told he must never go there. When Simba is later telling Scar about seeing the whole kingdom, Scar says "He didn't tell you what's beyond that rise on the northern border." It's the same place that Mufasa was talking about, as Simba says he's not allowed to go there, but if it was to the right as they faced east it would have been the southern border of the pridelands. (00:12:40)

Factual error: When Simba and Nala meet as adults, they rub heads and begin to purr. Lions can purr, but they only purr when they exhale, and Simba and Nala were purring when inhaling and exhaling, like house cats. (00:58:15)

Factual error: When Mufasa is showing Simba the kingdom from Pride Rock they are facing the sun, yet Pride Rock's shadow is visible below them. Also in the same position, you see that they have shadows behind them. Then a few seconds later when Simba sees the shadow area the shadows are in front of them while you can see part of the sun to their left side. They would be facing south when the sun is east. How are their shadows in front of them?

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Deliberate mistake: At the elephant graveyard, little Simba claws Shenzi in the face. When Mufasa saves Simba from the hyenas, the cuts are gone, a few seconds later. [This was done intentionally, I'm sure, for two reasons. The first being, Disney doesn't let fresh scars linger on the screen too long. Secondly, during that same scene when Mufasa rescues Simba & Nala, he claws Banzai in the rear. To stress the point later in the movie, that severe scar is shown too, but only briefly, it too disappears because of reason 1. Still a "mistake", but there's why.] (00:21:50)

More mistakes in The Lion King

Pumbaa: Hey, Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?
Timon: Pumbaa, I don't wonder; I know.
Pumbaa: Oh. What are they?
Timon: They're fireflies. Fireflies that, uh... Got stuck up on that big bluish-black thing.
Pumbaa: Oh, gee. I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.
Timon: Pumbaa, with you, everything's gas.

More quotes from The Lion King

Trivia: In Swahili, 'Simba' means lion, 'Rafiki' means friend, and 'Shenzi' means uncivilized. There are many Swahili references throughout the film, and we can assume it takes place in Tanzania or Kenya, since Mt. Kilimanjaro is shown in several scenes.

More trivia for The Lion King

Question: Two part question. 1)Is Hakuna Matata a real phrase from another language, or is it one of Timon's and Pumba's originals? 2)Pumba says at one point of the movie, "They call me Mr. Pig!" Is this a reference to anything?

Answer: (1) It's a real phrase from the Swahili language and, as stated in the film, translates roughly to "no worries" (literally "there are no worries"). (2) The line is a reference to Sidney Poitier's detective character Virgil Tibbs from In The Heat Of The Night and his famous reply of "They call me Mister Tibbs" when asked what they call him back home. The film's sequel, focusing on Poitier's character, actually used the line as the title.

Tailkinker

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