The Lion King

The Lion King takes place in Pride Rock on the African plain. In Pride Rock, there is a clear heiarchy in the jungle, with the king of the jungle being the lion Mufasa. When Mufasa’s son Simba is born, Mufasa’s brother Scar comes up with an idea on how to kill his brother so that he can be king of Pride Rock. He comes up with a plan to put Simba in danger of a wild heard of wildebeests. His plan works and Mufasa comes to his son’s rescue, but it leaves him in danger. As he is trying to climb up a mountain to get to safety, Scar throws him back into the heard to his death. He blames Simba for the entire thing, and tells him to leave and never come back.

When the king is gone, Scar and the hyenas are in full power, leaving everyone miserable in pride rock. In the meantime Simba makes new friends, Pumbaa and Timon, who live a carefree lifestyle. Simba joins them until his old friend and lover Nala comes to find him. She tells him that pride rock is in no condition to be living in. They are out of food and Scar is doing a terrible job leading the kingdom. Simba knows that he is the heir to the thrown, and needs to go back to fight Scar to take his rightful place as king. He eventually does this, and explains to everyone who ever though he killed his father that it was really Scar. Once he takes his place as king, everything comes back to life; the plants are green and there is color and life in the kingdom again.

I chose this movie because I remember watching it a lot when I was younger and I have not seen it in awhile. I thought it would be interesting to watch a movie that I enjoyed as a child and see how my impressions of the same film changed as a grew up. After watching the movie I remember liking it just as much as I did today when I watched it. The Lion King is a movie that I will never be too old to watch and even though it is a Disney movie, there are some important themes  throughout the movie such as status in society, betrayal, and the thirst for power and control over something bigger than one person. It shows that some people would do anything, even kill their brother, to be in charge. It also shows that there is good and evil in everything. Scar is shown as the evil villian while Simba and the lions are shown as the good in the kingdom.

~ by stephanieglover on March 15, 2010.