My Lion King Forum

So who thinks The Lion King is a remake of Kimba the White Lion? *raises hand*
I used to think it was just a rumor till I found this: http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm

Its quite an embarrassment on Disney's part. But lets remember that Simba means Lion in swahili, so his name wasn't copied. And yes, there were many things that may have been copied. But remember that Tezuka was a huge animation series. It lasted like 30 years lol. There was a lot of material they could claim as their own. Not to mention the creators of the Lion King drew their material from many sources, including Hamlet. The Lion King was described as an epitome of human emotions and experiences. There is almost every emotion portrayed in The Lion King. Since previous works portray the very same emotions, AND the ways to bring about these emotions, the creators of The Lion King may have copied both.

[quote]But The Lion King lacks what for me was the single greatest element in Kimba the White Lion: the relationship between humans and animals. This aspect has so much vital meaning for our world. [/quote]

Yes but The Lion King was not about the human/animal relationships. It was about human emotions, and the simplicity of Lions in Africa brings us back to our roots and our principal emotions.

But all in all, if Kimba was a source of The Lion King, they should've listed it along with the other sources.

Well, I'm personally... glad that The Lion King didn't include the human/animal relationship thing. It would have completely ruined the appeal of The Lion King, IMO.

I used to think Tezuka was just over-reacting about this (I still do, somewhat, just because I love TLK so much more than Kimba), but after reading the Kimba/Simba articles, I started to think that maybe Disney was somewhat inspired by Kimba when making TLK. But that doesn't even bother me... The Lion King is so much more awesome, particularly in the animation department.

The story I read shed a good light on this whole thing ending with Tezuka saying he was flattered that Disney's TLK was inspired by him. That's just the story I read somewhere...

Yeah, that's what ended the idea of a lawsuit, when Tezuka said he was flattered that Disney was inspired by the series. Right now, I'm so confused I don't even know what to think....

Theres always two sides to a story...if not more....

Osamu Tezuka died in 1989, I think it was his wife that put off the charges saying that he would have been honored that an American animation company was inspired by his works.

Heres a little more on this debate from a somewhat neutral source...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimba_the_ ... ontroversy

I'm still confused.

I might write a page on MLK about this issue. I'll try to remain nuetral.

Good idea. *thumbs up*

I watched a bit of Kimba on YouTube and I could spot at least a billion similarities. Could it be pure coincidence? It looks like we'll never know for sure............

Its just one of those things