The Lion King (film adaptation)

The Lion King: Act 1

(Black screen showing "Walt Disney Presents" in gold letters, Times New Roman font. We hear a lion's territorial roar in the distance, announcing an important incident. The letters fade away and the screen fades from black to show a beautiful twilight sky.

We see a huge baobab tree in the frame. Cut to a close up of the top of the tree. We hear a rustling of the leaves. The silhouette of an aged female mandrill appears from under the leaves. This is Rafiki, the royal mjuzi and sangoma. She cries out loud- a Zulu chant, the famous "Nant's Ingoyama".)

Rafiki: Nant's Ingonyama bakithi baba!
BGC: Sithi umm... Ingonyama
Ngonyama nengwengabo!

(Cut to show some buffalo and eland grazing.)

Male singer: Mai ba bo! Ha! Ingonyama Baba!

(Cut to show a rhinoceros looking up. Then show some topi look up from their grazing.)

Rafiki: (in the background)Nant's Ingonyama bakithi Baba! Whoa, eyyo!
Helele!
BGC: sithi umm Ingonyama
Ngonyama nengwengabo

(Cut to show a family of meerkats standing on a small boulder. Then we see a cheetah walk up onto a dead tree.)

Male singer: Oh! Khusani bo! Phegi akalela!

(Cut to show the sun rising in the distance.)

Rafiki: Nant's Ingonyama bakithi baba!
Eyyah!

(Cut to show a leopard waking up to the sound. He leaps off his tree branch.
Then cut to show a flock of marabou storks standing in a river. They look up and then at each other. One of them steps forward and takes off into the air, the others following suit.)

BGC: sithi umm Ingonyama
Rafiki: Helele!
BGC: Ngonyama!
Rafiki: Sizonqoba Baba!
BGC: Ngonyama!
Rafiki: Helele!
BGC: Ngonyama!
Rafiki: Sizonqoba Baba!
BGC: Ngonyama
Rafiki: Ingonyama nengwenamabala...

(Cut to show a herd of giraffe elegantly walk across the plain. They seem to be stepping in time with the background chants.)

BGC: Ingonyama nengwenamabala...
Ingonyama nengwenamabala...

(BGC repeats the chant and male singers ad-lib. Rafiki also ad-libs.

We see shots of a cheetah and her cubs walk toward Pride Rock, as well as a flock of flamingoes take off from across the water into the air. We see a breathtaking shot of the birds flying over a large river. We also see an elephant herd walk past Mount Kilimanjaro.

As a female voice(FV) sings the song in the background, we see shots of a zebra herd run across the plains, kicking up dust. We also see a wildebeest herd walking across the savannah, followed by a flock of cattle egrets and herons.)

FV: From the day we arrive on this planet
And blinking, step into the sun
There's more to see, than can ever be seen
More to do, than can ever be done...
Hmm...

(We then cut to see a herd of Thompson's gazelle leap across the plains, hurrying to join a herd of other animals in the distance. We then cut to a herd of rhinos, with tick birds on their backs, make their way to the ceremony, followed by a herd of oryx, wildebeest, and a leap of leopards.)

FV: There is far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found

(We then see a reflection of the sun in a large pool of water. A zebra suddenly splashes it onto the camera, and then we see a herd of zebras and wildebeest hurry past a large mother elephant, followed by her calf, through the lake. She is carrying several birds on her tusks.)

FV: But the sun rolling high
Through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round-

(Cut to a grand shot of the animal herds gathering together at a wide grassy area. We see a red-billed hornbill fly over them- he is Zazu, friend and major-domo to the king. We get a nice sweeping shot of the animals surrounding a large, towering "Simba Kopje"- Pride Rock.)