Nala (The Lion King) age difference between Nala and Scar. Nala means "gift" in Swahili. The character has a mother, whose name is never mentioned in the film; however, she is credited as Sarafina during the film's end credits. Candice Russel of the "Sun-Sentinel" believes that Nala contributes to the film's love story – "an indispensable factor in Disney cartoon features" – in addition to convincing Simba to return to Pride Rock. It has been observed that, unlike Disney's three previous animated efforts ("The Little Mermaid" (1989), "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) and "Aladdin" (1992), the romantic relationship between Nala and Simba is not
The Lion King (2019 film) featured in the original film. On September 28, 2016, Walt Disney Pictures confirmed that Jon Favreau would be directing a remake of the 1994 animated film "The Lion King", which would feature the songs from the 1994 film, following a string of recent box office successes on the other Disney remake films such as "Maleficent", "Cinderella", Favreau's "The Jungle Book" and "Beauty and the Beast" with the latter three also earning critical praise. Later on October 13, it was reported that Disney had hired Jeff Nathanson to write the screenplay for the remake, with the story written by Brenda Chapman.