Question: A few character and song names are based on the Swahili language. Does Timon or Pumba mean anything in Swahili?
Tailkinker
4th Feb 2010
The Lion King (1994)
29th May 2009
The Lion King (1994)
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.
11th Oct 2007
The Lion King (1994)
Question: I've heard that Hans Zimmer's score for this film is heavily inspired by Mozart, to the point where some call it a "rewrite". Which one of Mozart's pieces is he alleged to have drawn inspiration from?
Answer: Some bits of his score bear a small resemblance to a choral piece called "Ave Verum Corpus", but to suggest that it's a full-scale rip-off is a serious exaggeration.
15th Jun 2004
The Lion King (1994)
Question: Why did Matthew Broderick not sing as Simba? (he does sing otherwise.)
Answer: It's possible that the songs written for the character simply didn't suit his singing voice. There was an additional song written for the film, to be sung by Mufasa (called "To Be King") - this was eventually cut completely for a similar reason, namely that it didn't suit James Earl Jones' (very good) singing voice.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: Pumbaa means "to be foolish, weak-minded or negligent". Timon has no apparent meaning in Swahili, but is historically a Greek name, meaning "respectful", a slightly ironic choice given his usual sarcastic attitude.
Tailkinker ★