Simba's The Lion King

The Lion King is easily one of the most famous when it comes to animated Disney movies. The movie tells a story of a young lion cub coming into his own as he grows up accepts the role he has to play. Still learning the ways of the world, Simba (voiced first by Jonathan Taylor Thomas, then by Matthew Broderick) takes a stroll with his father, the great lion king Mufasa (voiced by James Earl Jones). While on this stroll, Mufasa is murdered by Simba’s treacherous Uncle Scar (voiced by Jeremy Irons), who then exiles Simba to never return to Pride Rock. It does not take long for the comedy driven pair of Timon the meerkat (voiced by Nathan Lane) and Pumba the warthog (voiced by Ernie Sabella), who teach Simba to base his life on a motto called Hakuna

The viewer befriends Simba when he is a young lion prince who feels he can do anything, except for wait to be king. We see him as he goes through the sudden loss of his father and being exiled from his homeland by none other than his own uncle. Simba runs as far as he can, not only physically, but emotionally. This is the young lion trying to distance himself from the life he used to know. After running himself to exhaustion, Simba is found and taken care of by Timon and Pumba, and the viewer sees Simba go from one extreme to another. During the time spent with Timon and Pumba, Simba finds himself slipping away from the oppression and depression that he knows is back home at Pride Rock, where he believes he is not even welcome. This is a time that the viewer not only sees Simba grow on the inside, but also on the outside thanks to a delightful song and dance montage in the jungle (Movie). The song they sing is called Hakuna Matata, which is the Swahili motto that the trio live by. Once Simba is a grown lion, he runs into Nala, a lioness from his childhood (Voiced by Moria Kelley) while she is out hunting. She tells Simba of hunger and desecration at Pride Rock. She tells Simba of their need for their true king. This tugs on Simba’s moral compass. This is when Simba, with advice from beyond and help from his friends, returns to Pride Rock to fulfill his royal