Whoopi Goldberg and James Earl Jones lend voices to Disney's movie, 'The Lion King.'

Whoopi Goldberg and James Earl Jones are two of the major stars who lend their voices to characters in the new Walt Disney animated film The Lion King.

The movie follows the journey of Simba, a playful, regal lion cub as he is forced to give up childhood fun and deal with an adult world long before he is ready.

James Earl Jones and actress Madge Sinclair are Simba's parents, King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi rulers of the sprawlihng African landscape. Theirs is a breathtakingly beautiful and dangerous land populated by a wide range of animals, all of whom pay homage to wise and forceful Mufasa.

Among those animals is a humorous but sinister hyena, Shenzi, portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg. She is a member of a trio of jackals, Banzai (Cheech Marin) and Ed (Jim Cummings), set on destroying Simba. There is also a wise, old and mystical baboon Rafiki, whose voice is that of Robert Guillaume.

Unlike other Disney animated films like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King is not based on any previous material. It is also the company's first animated feature with no human characters. The movie treats the audience to an awesome display of colors and memorable music. Veteran rocker Elton John helped put the tunes together.

Jones said the relationship between father and son is well-conceived in The Lion King. "This film is about a father being there. He releases his son prematurely into a rite of passage that exists in society today. There are a lot of premature rites of passage and they're all rough. That little cub could have died at any minute. I think kids relate to that. He was exiled and relied on his ability to make friends and be careful of enemies. That's a universal story."

Guillaume's character, Rafiki, is the one audiences may have the toughest time figuring out. "Rafiki dispenses a kind of folk wisdom and pretends to be crazier than he really is," he said. "He knows more than he speaks and there's real method to his madness; a wisdom to his insanity. The project attracted me because it gave me a sense of total freedom. During the recording sessions, anything goes. You're free to be creative and go with what you feel. It's like being on stage, only far more creative and spontaneous. I work mostly off energy and a certain vocal abracadabra."

Jeremy Irons is the voice of Scar, evil brother of Mufasa. Scar is upset that he is not king and sets about to correct what he sees as a grievous wrong. He convinces. the trusting, loving Simba to make several unwise and extremely costly moves. Jonathan Taylor Thomas (of "Home Improvement") and actor Matthew Broderick are the young and adult Simba.

Disney officials said that once the concept was finalized, it was difficult to imagine anyone playing Mufasa other than James Earl Jones. "James Earl Jones was perfect for this part," said supervising animator Tony Fucile. "He adds the regal quality that we needed and, on top of that, he's got this fatherly warmth that comes across. It was up to us to visually come up to that standard that he set with his voice."

His sentiments were echoed by The Lion King's director Roger Allerg. "He (Jones) has this incredibly huge and masterful voice that just resonated throughout the recording studio. Even without a microphone, it just filled the entire room."

Doing the voice of an animated character was very intriguing for Jones. "One of the reasons that I took this job was because of the impression the drawings and animation had on me," he said. "It was really grand stuff. I also enjoy creating characters with just my voice. It reminded me of my early training in radio when I was in college. It's interesting to experiment and try it different ways until you get the right sound. I love the drama in the film and the way it resonates on other classic dramatic pieces such as Shakespeare's Hamlet."

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