Interview with Roger Allers

[TheLionPrince]

In December 2014, Lion King co-director Roger Allers recently did an interview with an Italian comic website Fumettologica where he discussed the production of the famous Disney film, his response to the Kimba the White Lion plagiarism controversy, and his failed attempts to direct another animated movie; one of which was the troubled production of Kingdom of the Sun that was revamped into The Emperor's New Groove. Enjoy!

http://www.fumettologica.it/2014/12/intervista-roger-allers-re-leone/2/

[Elton John]

That's a very interesting read. Thanks for sharing this!

[SimbasGuard]

[quote="hey101hey"]That's a very interesting read. Thanks for sharing this![/quote]

I agree, I particularly enjoined his comments on Kimba The White Lion

[Elton John]

[quote="SimbasGuard"][quote="hey101hey"]That's a very interesting read. Thanks for sharing this![/quote]

I agree, I particularly enjoined his comments on Kimba The White Lion [/quote]


I know.

That's how it always felt to me. That the main people behind the movie had no idea what a "kimba" was and that all similarities were mostly one big coincidence.

A coincidence that unfortunately has lead to controversy that still affects the movie to this day.

[SimbasGuard]

True, I just wish that the people that hate Lion King because of it could see how much attention Lion King shined on Kimba because of the similarities. The only reason I know of Kimba is because of this controversy. When you look at it that way Lion King not only became a great move, but it also got more publicity for Kimba...However unintentional it was.

[Captain Cupcake]

What I dislike about the whole Kimba issue is that it pretty much thrives around bias and ignorance. People just take one quick look at a few screencaps paired together taken out of context from very dissimilar scenes and take haters' words for it. They don't even realize how significantly different the stories are and always credit Kimba for TLK's biblical and Shakespearean influences.

I especially get annoyed when individuals have the audacity to use the film's old working title, “King of the Jungle” as evidence against it(due to Kimba's original title in Japan being “Jungle Emperor Leo”).

That one always burned me up as anyone who has ever actually NOT lived under a rock should know that King of the Jungle is one of the most well known monikers people use when referring to lions, despite it being a hilarious misnomer. Disney was obviously playing off of that well known saying, not utilizing an alternate foreign title they probably weren't even aware of.

The fact that certain people try to use that as ammo for that whole controversy always bugged the heck outta me.

[Elton John]

That is very true. Also, Simba is lion in swahili and kimba is aboriginal for brushfire. but noooooooooooooooooooooooooo simba is just kimba with an S!

also both characters lion royalty! except for y'know, that lions have been seen as regal animals for many centuries!

and apparently tezuka basing his designs off of disney isn't plagarism OH YES I WENT THERE. In all seriousness it isn't plagarism. If it was plagarism then I suppose kimba is an aslan knockoff....lol

[TheLionPrince]

Another reason why The Lion King couldn't have plagiarized Kimba the White Lion is that in the original Japanese manga and anime, his name is Leo. When the series was broadcast in 1966, NBC changed Leo's name by taking the Swahili word for lion, "simba," and changed the first letter to create "Kimba" according to this source. Since the product was of Japanese origin, it's best to use the names that Osamu Tezuka created, not the names created by the American dubbing team.

As far as I'm concerned, the name, Simba, is a common African name as it was the title of a 1955 movie and the brand name for chips produced in South Africa.

I have yet to find a verified source that Disney was attempting to purchase the rights of the series in order to remake it, although just about every blog and forum articles that discusses this topic repeats this. However, I did come across this book titled Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews which covers the controversy in a non-bias, well researched approach.

As for Roger Allers, it's disappointing Kingdom of the Sun wasn't completed, although The Prince and the Pauper is a well-known story, but from what I've researched on it, it didn't have enough originality to make it stand on its own. If it were released, I imagined the film would have been received like Pocahontas, which was praised for its colorful animation and music, but lacking in storytelling. Tam Lin had a promising story so it's shame that Michael Eisner let his feud with Roy Disney get in the way of a potential animated classic. So, I wish him the best, and I cannot wait to see The Prophet.

[Elton John]

One thing that irks me about the plagarism accusations is that nobody brings up the similarities kimba has to bambi.

The design of kimba is very similar to bambi, some of the story elements of kimba are similar to bambi and how bambi is royalty as well.

[Adofo]

That was interesting. I remember way back when The Lion King finished playing that it showed a clip of a white lion. I never really payed any attention to it until I heard the big argument over it. But really, it's ONLY coincidence. Simba's name is literally the word Lion in Swahili. It was just a huge coincidence that the translation for lion is similar to the name Kimba. And I haven't really given much attention to Kimba the White Lion, what's really similar from that, to The Lion King?! Kimba and Simba's names. Their both lions. ......And really that about it! I mean, come on! People just need to take a step back and think, "Oh, it's just a coincidence! Now I can see that Disney didn't change the swahili word of lion to sound close to an anime lion that is in their upcoming movie about lions!"