Take A Look at Disney

1/25/15

A Look at Disney Goes To Pride Rock: Simba (Heroes of Disney)





Hello & welcome back to Pride Rock and today, we are introducing  a new  segment, Heroes of Disney.  Heroes  of Disney  is  the counterpart  to Villains Profile,  where we will look at  heroes  of Disney films  and  see what  make them heroes.  The categories for this segment will include  Voice Actor,  Personality, Song,  Sidekicks,  Heroic Moment,  Climatic Battle,  and What  Makes  Simba  A Hero.   Most  of these are pretty self  explanatory and I will explain them in more detail  as we go along. With that out of the way, let's begin.



Voice Actors


We   first  must look at  Young Simba's  VA. Johnathan Taylor Thomas



 Johnathan Taylor Thomas




Johnathan Taylor  Thomas  as Young Simba  brings  a rather youthful energy to  the child version of Simba  that to some, that may make seem  annoying  but  he is just  a child.   JTT  made  young Simba  really  fun and the contrast  between  the   youthful and exuberant energy of  Young Simba , when compared to the adult Simba  is quite interesting to explore because while  we are watching the same character,  Simba  has changed  so much as an adult that he is not this same character.




Matthew Broderick  





Matthew  Broderick  as adult Simba  is  one of my favorite voice performances in a Disney movie and I believe that this film was perhaps the first time that I ever saw a Matthew Broderick movie and I gotta say that adult Simba is one of my favorite characters that he has ever played. As you can feel the change in him and  how he has run from his past and  he's scared.   Which is understandable because  Simba for so long put the blame of  Mufasa's death on himself.  Matthew Broderick  brings a lot of weight and power to his preformance as Simba that you root for him, when he does finally return home and reclaim Pride Rock.





Personality



Here again, we have to break it down into  Simba's  youth and his adulthood  to look at his personality.





As  a cub, Simba is proud, boastful, and a little arrogant.  So in other words, ten.  Which makes his transition into growing up even more interesting to watch.






As an adult,  Simba  still has his fun loving and carefree attitude but  has also put up a wall because of  his  misdeeds and is ashamed of what happened.  And  he forgot  who he truly was, it took the past coming back to him to help him remember.  The DisneyWiki  states that it was after meeting Nala as an adult again. Which yes is partially true  but I would also argue that it truly came after talking to his father.






Man, still at 25,  this scene is so bone chilling and this is where you see Simba  finally grow up and realize that it's time to go back and reclaim what he left behind all those years ago.




Songs



I realized that we actually have two songs that we need to look at here and once again, they fall into the categories of youth and adulthood.  






Going back to what we were talking about up above with how as a cub, Simba was prideful and full of himself.  This  song  shows that off quite well  and that while Simba's heart is in the right place but he just has a bit of an ego.






Now, this may  just seem like another love song from Disney  and while that is mostly true, there is something that I want to focus on as it shows where Simba is at this point.




So many things to tell her
But how to make her see
The truth about my past, impossible
She'd turn away from me


You see at this point, that Simba  is still scared of his past and  doesn't feel as though that he can tell anyone about what happened that fateful day because  he's afraid that  he'll lose  someone that he truly cares about but we see that is not the case of the song goes on.  And well, we know what happens from there.





Sidekicks 


Timon & Pumbaa







What's a hero without  a sidekick  and  Simba has two of my  favorite sidekicks.  When I was a kid and this movie  came out,  I loved Timon & Pumbaa.  They were the highlight of the movie to me and while  that isn't the case now, I still love these two  and count them among some of Disney's  best comic relief character right behind The Genie.  You can truly feel the friendship between these three characters as they bond  over the years and  you see that in any time  of need, Timon & Pumbaa  will be there for their friend. Even going so far as putting on drag and doing the hula. Yup Yup.





Only thing left here to say is Hakuna Matata.





Heroic Moment



This is quite simple to figure out.  Simba's heroic moment is  easily  returning  to  The Pride  Lands.     It's  here, we see  him finally decide to learn from his past and face  his past mistakes  and own  up to his past.



Climatic Battle



Simba Vs. Scar





Yeah, that battle is all kinds of awesome and just  shows how great a hero, Simba  is  and in many respects,   Scar is the embodiment of Simba's past mistakes  and  by facing Scar,  Simba  is finally facing his past and after defeating Scar,  he  has overcome his past.



What Makes Simba A Hero?


Simba  doesn't  start   out  as a  hero but slowly  becomes over the course of the movie.  This is an example of hero's  journey but this done is quite well. I would say that the biggest thing that  Simba  a hero is  facing his past and coming back  to his past and learning from it.   


The past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or... learn from it.



This  is a lesson that we can all take from.  We all  have past mistakes  that we are ashamed of  but instead of trying to run from them,  we need to take hold of those lessons and learn from them.  And to me, the fact that Simba was willing to learn from his past is what makes him a hero.  



So, let me know what you think of this new segment.  I hope that you enjoyed it. Join me tomorrow as we continue  our Lion King extravaganza as we take a look at the prequel story...


A Tale of Two Brothers







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