Mia and the White Lion

Mia and the White Lion is a 2018 family adventure film starring Daniah De Villiers as Mia, a young girl who forms a close bond with a white lion named Charlie. The film follows Mia's relationship with Charlie over several years, from their initial meeting when Mia is 11 years old to when she is a teenager.

At the start of the film, Mia's family moves from London to South Africa to manage a lion farm, where tourists can pet lion cubs and walk with young lions. Mia develops a special connection with one of the lion cubs, Charlie, and she spends all her free time playing and bonding with him. As Charlie grows bigger and more dangerous, Mia's father decides Charlie can no longer safely interact with people and will have to be kept in an enclosure. Mia is heartbroken to lose her friend.

Three years later, Mia's family is struggling financially to keep the lion farm operating. Her father makes the difficult decision to sell Charlie to trophy hunters when he is fully grown. Mia is desperate to protect Charlie, the lion she loves and considers a friend. Mia reaches out to an animal conservationist she met years earlier to help rescue Charlie. After careful planning, Mia and the conservationist develop a dangerous plan to free Charlie from the lion farm and release him to a wild animal sanctuary.

The night before Charlie is to be sold, Mia bravely executes the plan. She gets Charlie safely out of his enclosure while evading detection by her father and the farm staff. After a harrowing escape, Charlie makes it to the safety of the animal sanctuary to live out his life in the wild.

Mia and the White Lion highlights the strong emotional bond that can form between a young girl and a wild animal. It shows Mia's maturation over several years as she transitions from a carefree child playing with a lion cub to a determined teenager willing to risk everything to save the animal she loves. With stunning visuals filmed on location in South Africa, the movie provides a powerful look at the majesty of white lions and the dangers they face from trophy hunting and habitat loss. Filled with emotion, adventure and messages about animal conservation, Mia and the White Lion is an unforgettable family film.