The Lion King

Plot synopsis

Simba's father, Mufasa, is the lion king. He rules the kingdom with kindness and wisdom. However, Mufasa's younger brother Scar is jealous of his nephew's position as heir and so plots to usurp the throne. Mufasa teaches Simba about the Circle of Life and that everything is connected in a balance. Scar allies himself with some starving hyenas in an attempt to overthrow his brother. Together with his hyenas, he engineers a wildebeest stampede in which Mufasa rescues Simba but he himself is lost in the stampede. However as all hope seems lost, Mufasa makes one last great leap to cling to the rockface. As Mufasa climbs higher, he looks up to see Scar standing on the ledge above him. Mufasa pleads to Scar for help, who just looks down on his brother and then suddenly latches his sharp claws into Mufasa's paws. With an evil grin, Scar throws Mufasa back off the rock and under the stampede, thus killing Mufasa. Scar manipulates Simba into thinking he is responsible for his father's death and advises him to "run away and never return". As a devastated Simba runs off, Scar orders his hyenas to kill Simba, but Simba escapes from the hyenas without Scar's knowledge.

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Exhausted, Simba collapses in the desert. The young cub is saved and befriended by Timon and Pumbaa (a meerkat and warthog respectively). After growing up with the pair, the adult Simba encounters his childhood friend, a formidable lioness named Nala, who has fled Scar's dictatorial rule to seek help. She urges Simba to return to the Pride Lands and retake his rightful throne, but he refuses, still traumatized by the false belief that he caused his father's death.

Related Topics:
Meerkat - Warthog

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After Rafiki the witch doctor mandrill shows Simba that Mufasa's spirit still lives on inside him, and Mufasa appears to him as a ghost and demands of him to look inside himself and understand that he is the only rightful king, Simba decides to go back home.

Related Topics:
Witch doctor - Mandrill

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When he arrives, Simba is incensed to find that his once joyful and prosperous kingdom has crumbled into a barren wasteland under Scar's rule. With the support of Nala who has rallied the lionesses, Simba confronts his uncle. Scar remains confident and with his hyenas forces Simba to confess to his responsibility for the death of Mufasa. Then Scar backs Simba to the edge of the cliff as lightning ignites the kingdom. Simba slips and hangs onto the rock as Mufasa did years before. Scar recalls Mufasa death and just as the dictator had done to Mufasa, latches into Simba's paws with his claws. Just before Scar kills Simba the same way he killed Mufasa, he whispers the awful truth to Simba: that it was he, Scar, who killed Mufasa. Simba, enraged at the truth of the murder and how he was played a fool in it, leaps upon Scar and forces the tyrant to publicly confess to his crime.

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The battle begins, and as the lionesses and hyenas fight, Simba does battle with Scar on the summit. Scar attempts to blame everything on the hyenas (who hear this); Simba shows mercy and tells Scar to run away from the kingdom and never return. Scar remembers those words; they were the exact words that he used to manipulate Simba after Mufasa died. Scar begins to slink off when he throws some burning embers into Simba's face. Simba is suprised at this and Scar attacks once again. There is a climactic battle and Simba is thrown to the edge of the cliff. Scar jumps through the flames to finish Simba off but it is Simba who throws his uncle over the cliff edge and watches as Scar's former hyena allies devour the dictator. Simba is finally declared king and leads the Pride Lands back into times of prosperity and glory. Simba and Nala have a baby cub that is presented in a triumphant ceremony mirroring the film's beginning.

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The plot bears similarities to both Shakespeare's play Hamlet and the 1942 Disney animated feature Bambi. During production, Disney staffers jokingly referred to The Lion King as "Bamblet".

Related Topics:
Shakespeare - Hamlet - 1942 - Bambi

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