When James Earl Jones was a small child, he stopped talking. He was born in Arkabutla, Miss., and learned to love its gullies and rises and deep ravines and the loam enriched by the Mississippi River and the way it felt against his bare feet.

The Lion King,” begins with a tribute to the late James Earl Jones. Jones, who voiced King Mufasa in the original “The Lion King” movie, died in September at 93. Barry Jenkins, the director of the prequel,