Simba Henn animated the character's first appearance as an adult that occurs near the end of the "Hakuna Matata" musical number. Released in theaters in 1994, "The Lion King" marks Simba's first appearance. All the animals in the Pride Lands gather at the foot of Pride Rock to commemorate the birth of Simba, who will eventually succeed to the throne and take his father Mufasa's place as king. Furious by the fact that he is no longer next in line, Simba's jealous uncle Scar refuses to attend the ceremony. While Simba grows into a rambunctious lion cub who frequently boasts about
Simba "lazy and troublesome." "The Austin Chronicle"s Robert Faires felt that Simba and the other "Lion King "characters, though "true", were simply unoriginal retreads of preceding animated characters who were "swiped from other Disney cartoons." Hal Hinson of "The Washington Post" gave the character a negative review. Labeling Timon and Pumbaa the only interesting characters in "The Lion King", Hinson questioned Simba's role as the film's hero. Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times "agreed, "A movie's heroes may have their names above the title, but often as not it's the sidekicks who get the real work done." Turan went on