‘The Lion King’ Remake Makes This Key Moment Far Better Than The Original

“The Lion King” remake may be a Disney fail according to critics, but not all the changes that Jon Favreau made on the animated classic can be taken against the new version. In fact, one of the most significant changes featured in the remake proves to be a big success for Favreau, whose hyper-realistic take on the 2019 version has been a controversial prospect for moviegoers.

If there’s one particular sequence in the remake that proves to be better than the original, it must be the way in which Rafiki learns that Simba is alive. Although Favreau deliberately recreated the classic film’s story and songs frame by frame, he made it a point to update certain elements in the film. One of those centers on the simian shaman’s budding connection with Simba, which in the original film was just as heartwarming but a bit less spectacular.

It can be recalled that in the original “The Lion King” film, Timon and Pumbaa tactlessly mocked the young lion’s father’s theory about stars to hurt his feelings. Down in the dumps, Simba fell down on a group of flowers, which created a cloud of dust and seeds.

The spores were then carried by the wind and traveled back to the Pride Lands, where they were interrupted by Rafiki when he revealed that the true king lives on via mystical means. That turned the tables for Rafiki, who regained his hope and set off to convince the conflicted noble to take his homeland back.

In “The Lion King” remake, the sequence starts and ends in the same way for Rafiki and Simba. Unlike the original film, however, the remake features different circumstances as to how the two characters meet. If the original film featured flower petals traveling through the desert, the remake features a loose clump of Simba’s mane traversing the land.

The clump, instead of soaring directly to the fist of Rafiki, passes through a series of new owners in an extended sequence — a bird that uses the hair to construct his nest, a tree, a giraffe, a dung beetle. Toward the end of the sequence, some wood ants find the loose fibers and carry the clump past an intrigued Rafiki, who ultimately recognizes its scent.

While it may be true that some of the sequences in Favreau’s live-action remake of “The Lion King” hurt the original plot, his introduction of this novel sequence for Simba and Rafiki is not one of them. This new sequence does not only render a more spectacular take on the original sequence, but it also enriches the overall subtext of the story.