My Lion King Forum

If I remember Matilda correctly that book was far from being realistic. Didn't it have a principal who pretty much killed the other students in over the top ways? Or am I just thinking of the film adaptation?

[quote="BrianGriffinFan"]
Actually, according to TLK 3, he's one day old. Pretty crazy, huh?

But no, I still think he's about 3-5. Some young children have really good verbal skills. I was looking at the book "Matilda" the other day and it goes as far as saying she was able to talk normally at one and a half!! [/quote]

I worked with 3-5 year olds in high school, and I can definitely say from experience that Simba was not supposed to be akin to a 3-5 year old. Yes, most of them did have pretty good verbal skills, but they were all more oblivious and immature than Simba was as a cub. Simba' s vocal skills were also better than any 3-5 year old I've ever met, and despite his kind overly enthusiastic and immature manner, he's also far more self-aware. His voice actor also sounded too old to be in that age range. I realize voice actors or actors in general are often younger or older than the characters they play, but they still have to look or sound old or young enough to believably fit into the role. And Simba's voice actor could not pass for a 3-5 year old. And in most cases, no child can speak normally at one and a half. Kids can usually say about 50 words or so by the time they turn 2, and by the time they turn 5 can say anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 words. By the time they're 7 or 8, they're fairly fluent, and from there grow increasingly more fluent. Simba speaks too fluently to be a 3-5 year old. I'd personally peg Simba somewhere in the 9-11 year old range.

You were pretty close to my thoughts as I always pictured Simba to be about seven or eight years old. This movie timeline isn't going to necessarily stick with perceived time (SP shows that) and JTT was a popular child actor so it would be close to that age range. I work with pre-K kids (3-5) for kindergarten readiness and they would not be as articulate as Simba nor if Simba was too young do I think Sarabi would be so nonchalant letting her son go into the Pridelands even with Zazu as a guide.

I'm gonna throw my two cents in here and hopefully not sound dumb or repetitive.

I personally think that if Simba hadint been so silly and childish in the beginning of the movie, it wouldint have made as big of an impact on us vewers when hes forced grow up after he loses his father.I personally think this would have been a bit more obvious and more impacting had Timon and Pumba not come along and cause him to ignore his problems back at home, but you still get the point.

JTT was 13 when he played Simba, so I'd say the lowest we could go on Simba's age is 8. Ages 9 through 11 are also reasonable. Keep in mind, the animators worked in physical characteristics of the actors when finalizing the character designs.

simba was a caring friend and of an age he wanted to prove himself. i dont know anyone who finds him obnoxious. bunga, on the other hand

[quote="zerodix"]simba was a caring friend and of an age he wanted to prove himself. i dont know anyone who finds him obnoxious. [/quote]

Well I do, so I guess you can't say that anymore.