The hyenas are seen throughout the entire film with three toes on all their paws. But when the hyenas are chasing Simba, Banzai claws at him after he squeezes through a rock, and his paw has four toes.
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Originally, Scar was going to send adult Nala away from Pride Rock because she ignored his romantic approaches, after which she finds Simba alive and well with Timon and Pumbaa. This idea was ultimately abandoned, as sexual harassment was considered improper in a family movie. However, the stage musical adaptation includes this plot development as part of director Julie Taymor’s efforts to expand the female characters’ presence in the story.
Who is Nala’s father? Mufasa and Scar were the only adult males in the pride. If either was her father, the fact would have to be mentioned at some point, since the three share a large portion of the plot. Yet we have no indication that either of them is her father.
We see Simba scratch Shenzi’s cheek, leaving visible cuts, but shortly after, Shenzi is healed.
- Tim Curry and Malcolm McDowell were both considered for the role of Scar.
- The animators were so impressed with Jeremy Irons’s performance that they worked Irons’ features into Scar’s face
Jim Cummings (Steel, from Balto) had to fill in for Jeremy Irons during the song “Be Prepared”. Jeremy threw out his voice after singing, “You won’t get a sniff without me!”.
The pads on Scar’s paws change from multiple pads to one large pad throughout the movie.
When Simba approaches Mufasa’s dead body, the camera shows Mufasa from the back and his paw is clearly past his nose. But when are then shown him face on, his paw has moved to the same level as his nose.
Rafiki the monkey appears to be some sort of bizarre mandrill-baboon hybrid. He has the colorful face of a mandrill, but the long, kinked tail of a baboon (mandrills have very short tails).
The number of stripes on Timon’s back alternate between shot from five to six.
Scar is younger than Mufasa, yet Scar has a darker mane. As a lion’s mane darkens as it ages, Mufasa’s mane would have to be darker than Scar’s.
An extra song for Timon & Pumbaa, Warthog Rhapsody, was written by Elton John and Tim Rice for the film, and was recorded by Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, and Jason Weaver. The sequence that was planned for it was worked out on the storyboard, but was never animated and so the song was not used.
The elephant skeletons would have to come from freakishly large elephants. Hyenas could not pass through the trunk socket of an elephant’s skull.
The main locations for the film, including Pride Rock and the Gorge, are modeled after Hell’s Gate National Park in Kenya.
When Nala is crouched in the grass right before she pounces at Pumba her eyes are green. When she’s fighting with Simba her eyes are blue.
