The Lion King

• The meaning of the "circle of life" is when you have sex, then you are born you live (have relationships, friends, family, boyfriends, a husband and children), become grandparents and then you die. It's in between all this we learn from others and pass the torch on to the next generation and the "circle of life" starts all over again. Life is a road with some bumpy patches, but hopefully for most of us the road is a smooth one and the odd bump doesn't deter us.

• In the Lion King it was the simple fact that lions ate the antelope but when the lions died the nutrients in their bodies were absorbed into the earth and eventually got into the grass, which was then eaten by the antelope. In short the circle of life is made of four principal stages 1.- Birth, 2.- Growth, 3.- Reproduction and 4.- Death.
  

• The "Circle of Life" refers to the fact that death is not really the end but the seed of some other life. Albert Einstein indirectly spoke of it when he said that energy cannot be created or destroyed; it merely changes form. Most often when one talks about the "Circle of Life" they refer to an animal either becoming food for another or simply decomposing into fertilization for plant life, but everything in existence participates in this great cycle, including Earth itself.

Summary for The Lion King:

The song, "Circle of Life" is playing...

Mufasa, the king of the pride lands, and his wife, Sarabi, have a new born lion cub that is named Simba. At the ceremony, Rafiki, a wise baboon, introduces Simba by holding him up so all of the other animals will honor Simba, the future king.

The scene cuts to Scar, Mufasa's younger brother who wishes he was king. The scene goes on to show that Scar catches a mouse to eat but plays with his food instead. Zazu, a dodo that is a helper towards Mufasa, tells Scar not to play with his food. Scar then tries to eat Zazu and puts him in his mouth. Mufasa's voice comes in telling Scar to drop Zazu. Mufasa and Scar have a little chat about Scar not being at the ceremony. It turns into a little argument then Scar leaves with a suspicious look on his face.

On a new day, Simba wants Mufasa to show him the lands and explain to him that he will be king someday. Afterwards, Simba goes to visit his Uncle Scar when Scar tells Simba not to go to the elephant graveyard where the hyenas live. But that's exactly what Scar wants him to do. Simba goes back to where all of the other lionesses are to tell his best friend, Nala, to come see a cool place. It's alright with Sarabi and Sarafina, Nala's mother, as long as Zazu goes with them. Disappionted, Nala and Simba find a way to ditch the dodo. Zazu and Simba have a little chat about Simba being the future king. Simba then sings, "I Just Can't Wait To Be King"...

Nala and Simba ditch Zazu and make it to the elephant graveyard. Unfortunatley, Simba makes the hyenas mad so the hyenas chase the cubs. The two young cubs come to a dead end. Simba tries his best roar to scare away the hyenas but his roar is a little weak. The hyenas laugh and ask him to do it again. Right when Simba roars, a louder, stronger roar overlaps Simba's roar which make the hyenas confused. It turns out to be Mufasa who scares away the hyenas. Mufasa is very furious with Simba because he told Simba never to go the graveyard so he takes him and Nala home.

Simba and Mufasa have a little discussion about dangerous things and it turns into a little chat about being king. The scene cuts to Scar and the hyenas. They all have a discussion on how Scar should be king so they think up a plan to kill Mufasa and Simba. Scar then sings, "Be Prepared"...

Scar and the hyenas plan out a way to kill Simba. Scar takes Simba to a gorge where there is hardly any escape for a young cub. Scar says he has a surprise and leaves Simba by himself. After a while, Simba hears loud stomping a sees a stampede coming towards him. He starts running for his life. The scene cuts to Scar seeming afraid and telling Mufasa that there is a stampede in the gorge and Simba is down there. Mufasa and Zazu race to save Simba. When they get there, Simba is holding onto a low tree branch. Mufasa saves Simba. When Mufasa is trying to climb up the rocky hill he cries for Scar to help him. Scar grabs Mufasa's paws, and whispers "Long...live...the king..." into Mufasa's ear then lets go of his paws. Mufasa falls into the stampede and gets killed.

Scar then tells Simba to run far, far away and never come back. As well as he tells the hyenas to kill Simba. Once again, Simba runs for his life. Fortunately, Simba gets away while Banzai, a hyena, gets nicknamed, "Cactus-Butt" for have cactus needles stuck in his butt while trying to kill Simba. The scene cuts to Simba fainted in the middle of nowhere when a warthog named, Pumbaa, and a meerkat named, Timon save him and provide him with shelter, food, and water. Timon and Pumbaa teach Simba the motto " Hakuna Matata" meaning "no worries". Timon, Pumbaa, and Simba all sing, "Hakuna Matata"... The scene shows Simba growing up into an adult while living with Timon and Pumbaa.

The scene cuts back to the pride lands where Scar is seems to be king and is announcing Simba and Mufasa's death. The lionesses are unhappy. The scene then cuts to Timon and Pumbaa singing, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" when Pumbaa sees a bug and follows it, leaving Timon singing by himself. While Pumbaa is about to catch the bug he hears something. He looks and it is a lioness trying to kill him. Right when the lioness is about to kill Pumbaa, Simba comes into the scene and fights with the lioness. The lioness turns out to be Nala. Simba and Nala have alone time to catch up on things since they havn't seen each other in a long time. The song, "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" is playing...

Then, Simba and Nala have a chat when Simba forgets that he has to take responsibility to be king. It turns into a fight when Simba runs away from Nala to think about the motto "Hakuna Matata" which reminds him that there is "no worries" and he doesn't have any responsibility. Rafiki comes into the scene. Simba doesn't know who Rafiki is but Rafiki, knowing who Simba is, tells Simba he knows Mufasa. Simba doesn't believe Rafiki but Rafiki proves it by showing Simba his reflection in the water if he looks really hard. Rafiki then tells Simba, "He lives in you" Simba then realizes that he does have responsibility and returns to the pride lands. The scene cuts to Nala asking Timon and Pumbaa if they know where Simba went and Rafiki tells Nala that the king "has returned". Timon and Pumbaa are confused so Nala explains that, "Simba has gone back to challenge his uncle to take his place as king".

When Simba returns, he has to come up with a plan to distract the hyenas so he can get to Scar. So Timon and Pumbaa, "create a diversion" and sing "The Hula Song". The hyenas get distracted and chase Timon and Pumbaa while Nala rallies up the lionesses. Scar tells Simba to tell everyone the truth. Living his whole life thinking that he was responsible for Mufasa's death, Simba says that he murdered his own father which is not true. Simba and Scar fight when Simba, resembling Mufasa's death, is hanging from a rocky cliff when Scar holds onto Simba's paws and whispers, "now here's my little secret.......i.....killed.....Mufasa". Right before Scar lets go, Simba jumps on top of Scar choking him and screams, "MURDERER!" and forces Scar to tell everyone the real truth that Scar is the murderer and is responsible for Mufasa's death. The lionesses and hyenas fight. When Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed and all of the other hyenas find out that Scar was just using them, they kill Scar.

Simba then assumes his rightful place...to be King. The ending scene shows Nala and Simba and their new born lion cub..the circle of life has been complete...

The song "The Circle of Life" is playing...

THE END

Cast: Songs:

Voices:

Young Simba - Jonathan Taylor Thomas "The Circle of Life"

Adult Simba - Matthew Broderick "I Just Can't Wait to Be King"

Young Nala - Niketa Calame "Be Prepared"

Adult Nala - Moira Kelly "Hakuna Matata"

Mufasa - James Earl Jones "Can You Feel The Love Tonight"

Sarabi - Madge Sinclair "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

Sarafina - Zoe Leader "The Hula Song"

Scar - Jeremy Irons

Ed - Jim Cummings

Banzai - Cheech Marin

Shenzi - Whoopi Goldberg

Timon - Nathan Lane

Pumbaa - Ernie Sabella

Rafiki - Robert Guillaume

Zazu - Rowan Atkinson

Thanks so much for reading..!!!

But seriously, next time if you want to know

about a movie, go to Youtube and watch it yourself

because this took me a long time to type...<3

Sarabi - She is Simba's mother as well as Mufasa's mate making her Queen of the Pridelands at the beginning of The Lion King.

Sarafina - She is Nala and Mheetu's mother (Mheetu was Nala's little brother who does not appear in the films as he was removed from the final script). Her mate is unknown, probably a roaming lone male. She is Sarabi's best friend. Her name is never mentioned though appears in the end credts. She is said to have appeared in The Lion King II and her only line was, "My, how you've grown!" when Kiara is about to go on her first hunt.

Nala - She is mother of Kiara in The Lion King II. She is Simba's mate and Queen of the Pridelands after Sarabi. She appears in all three films. Also, she is the mother of Kopa in The Lion King: Six New Adventures, but Kopa is non-existent in the Lion King movie universe and is never mentioned in the films, as the book was separate from the actual film franchise. It is said that Kopa appeared in the first film as the new cub shown in the last clip, but was killed by Zira to avenge Scar, another reason she was banished, and it was soon after that Kiara was born. But this was never confirmed by the producers and writers, so it remains untrue.

Zira - She is mother to Nuka, Vitani, and Kovu in The Lion King II. She is said to be Scar's mate, but it was never officially stated in the film, though it is certain she was. She is the leader to her own pride of followers who she must have got on her side to believe in Scar's ways. She appears only in the second Lion King film and sadly dies at the end after realising her mistakes.

The stage musical "The Lion King" was "written" by Roger Allers

and Iren

Mecchi,

who wrote the "book" (the theatre term for the script of a musical). The music is by Elton John, and the lyrics to the songs are by Tim Rice.

There are additional credits associated with the stage adaptation of the Disney animated film. It was adapted from the screenplay by Irene Mecchi,

Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton.

For the stage production, additional music and lyrics were written by Lebo

M, Mark Mancina,

Jay Rifkin,

Julie Taymor

(who directed the production) and Hans Zimmer.

The chants for Rafiki

are by Tsidii

Le Loka.