"I Just Can't Wait to Be King"

If you were a Disney fan at all you remember the beautiful story of 'The Lion King.' With it's beautiful animated cinematography, catchy songs, enthralling plotlines and goofy (this was unintentionally punned) characters, you could not help but to get sucked into the story.

A story of family,

Friends. . .

Good versus evil, family histories, death and life, with a 'monkey' thrown in.

The character of Simba was always fascinating to me. He was a character that felt more than he should have at the age that he did.

IF YOU DO NOT LIKE SPOILERS AND HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE THEN YOU MAY WANT TO EXIT NOW!

Our first encounter with a prideful Simba was when he took Nala to the elephant graveyard. He was met with the hyenas of the outlands and almost killed. He learned he was not invincible, but he made the mistake to think that his father was.

He was young and wanted to think that the world that had shown him so much good thus far was what the reality was.

Little did he foresee what came next.

Under the pretext of giving his father the gift of his roar, he was going to listen to his uncle Scar, and practice until his roar was louder. While doing so a stampede broke out and he was caught in the middle.

Mufasa upon hearing the news from Scar, who had set up the entire scheme, raced to get him. He was able to put Simba on a ledge but was swept away by the stampeding herd.

Jumping out to freedom Mufasa slowly ascends the cliff only to find Scar waiting for him.

"Brother help me," was the last thing he utters as Scar rips his claws into Mufasa's forepaw, the only thing keeping him from falling.

"Long live the king," was all Scar said in response before pushing him off the edge.

Simba finds his father dead and thinks it is his fault. He runs away from the Pride Lands, little knowing that he was not supposed to survive.

Things look up for him when he meets Timon and Pumba who teach him the meaning of Akuna Matata, such a wonder phrase.

He lives in peace with them for years and morphs into an adult.

It is time for him to come home and reclaim his rightful place. Except he wants to avoid the world and the problems that come with that. He thinks that the Pride Lands are better off without him.

That is until Nala comes back into his life. She tells him that Scar is a tyrant who is running their home out of food, water, and any living thing.

He feels bad for her, but that is just not his problem anymore. She does not understand what he did nor did he make an effort to tell her. They have a fight and he needs to go off by himself for a while.

He runs into Rafiki and learns more of his past than he thinks. He is able to talk with the phantom of his father one last time. With Mufasa's parting words he sets out for home.

"Remember who you are. You are my son, the one TRUE king."

He was met with desolation and despair.

Timon, Pumba, and Nala had come to help and altogether devised a plan to reclaim the Pride Lands back to the one true king. Simba reveals himself to Scar and the battle for Pride Rock commences.

The lionesses rally around Simba and fight back!

This time Scar does not get away from him. He learns of his father's death and what really happened. He used the anger to beat Scar and the flames that had come of lightning striking the dead earth, devoured him and his hyena army.

Shortly there after rain came and the Pride Lands could begin to restore.

We end seeing Simba and Nala announcing to the Pride Lands their baby girl!

I never knew at the time when I first watched this that I could relate so much to an animated character nor feel as much sympathy as I did looking back.

While the situations wee not similar, there is a sympathy and a heaviness to this movie that has made it stand the test of time in almost any culture and in any age.

I was beyond enthralled with this movie then and can appreciate it even more now.

The element of family, loyalty, friendships, and love permeate throughout this movie and are shown so clearly. The representation of good versus evil is not lost either.

Unlike many animated movies this starts to transition the mind to show that good and bad is not always black and white. It is not as obvious on the surface, but rather as you grow older.

There is always a backstory, however, I see more depth to that of this particular story than most I have come across.

There was a darkness in Simba and a weight that he had to carry, something that would shine through in the second movie when dealing with Kovu. There was a patch of sympathy that you could feel at certain points for Scar as his story becomes clear and unfolds if you do your research.

Within all of that is the culmination of a movie that will forever hold a place in my heart. May we always remember the importance of the circle of life, the silliness of hakuna matata, and the warning to not go near the elephant graveyard.

As always thank you so much for reading. I have been having so much fun experimenting with new styles and outlines of what I would like to write as well as I would like to feature on this profile.

Thank you so much for all of the support!

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