2427. Mufasa

Mufasa was a Great King of the Pride Lands and the father of Simba, the main character of The Lion King. His mate is Sarabi.
The animals of Mufasa's kingdom arrive at Pride Rock to greet and honor the birth of his newborn son and their next king, Simba. Mufasa's brother, Scar, is enraged that he has lost his place as Mufasa's immediate successor upon the birth of the prince. Mufasa teaches his son the delicate balance of all living things and takes him through the Pride Lands, but warns him not to go outside the lands' limits, especially the elephant graveyard. Simba disobeys his father and is nearly killed by Scar's three hyena henchmen, but they are saved by Mufasa in the last minute. That night, Mufasa sternly warns Simba of the thin line between bravery and arrogance, and warmly teaches Simba that the great kings of the past are always up in the stars, watching over him and ready to guide him. Out of jealousy, Scar plots to kill his older brother and Simba, so that he could rule the Pride Lands. Scar's plot is partially fulfilled when he kills Mufasa after Mufasa saves Simba from a wildebeest stampede initiated by the hyenas under Scar's signal. Simba goes into exile believing Mufasa's death was his fault and years later, he encounters the wise mandrill Rafiki, who shows him that Mufasa is still alive inside Simba. To convince him further, Rafiki summons Mufasa's spirit, who tells Simba that he is the one true king and must take his place in the circle of life. Upon seeing his father again, Simba regains the confidence to face Scar for the throne.
Mufasa's role in the sequel is generally minor, ranging from his appearance in one of Simba's nightmares to his spirit's appearance in the sky at the beginning of the film, witnessing the welcoming ceremony of his granddaughter Kiara, and insisting on Rafiki encouraging her union with the outlander Kovu to reconcile the hostile prides despite Rafiki initially commenting that Mufasa's head is in the clouds after so long 'up there' for coming up with such an outrageous plan. Mufasa appears at the end of the film, praising Simba for his decision to let the past go and allowing the banned lionesses join the pride. In the 2004 direct-to-video interquel The Lion King 1½, Mufasa is seen in three scenes: at the presentation of Simba, in the elephant graveyard on the way to save his son and Nala from the hyenas, and when his ghost is forming from the clouds above the grasslands at night.

2054. Young Simba

Simba is a lion character and the protagonist of Disney's most successful animated feature film, The Lion King. He is the son of Mufasa and Sarabi, nephew of Scar, mate of Nala, and father of Kiara. He has golden fur and when he grows into an adult, he has an auburn mane.
In the opening sequence of The Lion King, Simba is the newborn son of King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi. After being anointed he is held up by the mandrill Rafiki atop Pride Rock for all the animals in the Pride Lands to see. Elsewhere, Simba's uncle Scar is upset as Simba's birth means that Scar will never be king. When Simba is older his father Mufasa takes him to the top of Pride Rock to show Simba the kingdom. Simba takes interest in a dark, shadowy area beyond the northern border of the Pridelands but Mufasa explains that Simba must never go there because it is too dangerous there. After descending into the Pridelands Mufasa has to leave to chase away some hyenas, so Zazu leads Simba home and Simba goes to visit his uncle Scar. Scar tells Simba that the forbidden area is an Elephant Graveyard and that only the bravest lions go there. Scar deliberately arouses Simba's curiosity so that the cub will visit the Elephant Graveyard, and Simba does so, taking his friend Nala with him. Simba lies to his mother Sarabi and says that he is going to the water hole. Sarabi agrees to let Simba go, but requests that Zazu must accompany them. However, the two cubs Simba and Nala plot to lose Zazu during the song "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" and manage to do so, allowing themselves to head to the Elephant Graveyard.

153. Baby Leopard

The Lion King is a 1994 American animated musical-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The story takes place in a kingdom of anthropomorphic lions in Africa, and was influenced by the Bible tales of Joseph and Moses, and the William Shakespeare play Hamlet. The film was produced during a period known as the Disney Renaissance. The Lion King was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and has a screenplay credited to Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton. The voice cast includes Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Moira Kelly, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Rowan Atkinson, Robert Guillaume, Madge Sinclair, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings. It tells the story of Simba, a young lion who is to take his father Mufasa's place as king. However, after Simba's uncle Scar kills Mufasa, he must stop his uncle from conquering the Pride Lands and avenge his father.
Development of The Lion King began in 1988 during a meeting between Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney and Peter Schneider while promoting Oliver & Company in Europe. Thomas Disch wrote a film treatment, and Woolverton developed the first scripts while George Scribner was signed on as director, being later joined by Allers. Production began in 1991, with most animators being unexperient or interested in animals as most of the Disney team wanted to work on Pocahontas instead. Some time after the staff traveled to Hell's Gate National Park to research on the film's setting and animals, Scribner left production disagreeing with the decision to turn the film into a musical, and was replaced by Minkoff. When Hahn joined the project, he was dissatisfied with the script and the story was promptly rewritten. Nearly 20 minutes of animation sequences took place at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida. Computer animation was also used in several scenes, most notably in the wildebeest stampede scene.
The Lion King was released on June 15, 1994[2] to a positive reaction from critics, who praised the film for its music and story. With over earnings of over $945 million worldwide as of 2011, the film is the highest-grossing hand-drawn film in history, the highest-grossing 2D animated film in the United States, and the 14th-highest-grossing feature film. The Lion King garnered two Academy Awards for its achievement in music and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Its songs were written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, with an original score by Hans Zimmer.
A Broadway adaptation of the film opened in 1997, and won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Disney followed the film with two direct-to-video productions, the sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) and the prequel/parallel The Lion King 1½ (2004).