My Lion King Forum

When TLK was released in 1994, there was a big controversy about it in Japan, and also some other countries. They stated that "the Lion King" the story and the characters, were very similar to those from "Jungle Emperor Leo", better known as Kimba the White Lion.
What do you guys think about that? Is the movie based on the Kimba-plot, or is this just a very weird coincidence?
Myself I don't have a real opinion about this matter, I like both movies and stories, but I prefer TLK since it has no humans in it and it's not about animals that have to "serve" and safe humans. Even though the Kimba movies are very well-animated, I prefer TLK's animations. They are more natural and more out-worked.
Let me know what you think about this!

I honestly don't care one way or another lol, TLK is a terrific vid and series regardless of where the idea comes from, I still enjoy it ^.^ I wouldn't get too hung up on the name-similarity between Simba and Kimba. Simba is a pretty natural name to give to the main character seeing as it means Lion lol. I watched the Jungle Emporor Leo thing, and it was really good, especially the animal parts (as opposed to the human bits). But the plots aren't nearly as similar as some people might think.

I think that TLK could have been subtily influenced by Jungle Emperor Leo, but I honestly don't think it's a direct rip off of the movie. I think Disney was going more towards the Hamlet angle for TLK and there are still quite a few differences between the two movies that make them both unique in their own right. I think a lot of people just blew the whole thing out of proportion if you ask me. >.>

*kinda agrees with KM*
Even if the movie is based on Jungle Emperor Leo, I don't see any harm in it. But the site www.kimbawlion.com sure shows some similarities, they even have a bad guy, a dark brown lion with black mane and one scarred eye.... and in some conceptual drawings, you see a white and a light brown cub playing together, kinda reminds me of Rune and Rukya (the cubs of Kimba)
There's also a duo of hyena minions that helps the Scar-like lion, just like the hyena's that help Scar in TLK..... And these are only a few similarities

Personally i love both of them the same, either way there both great.

I know about this controversy, but I haven't see the movie "Jungle Emperor Leo", but i found this web pages where they show the similarities of this two movies, Either way, i don't really care about this, what it's done is done

I don't really care either. And Kimba means dung heap in Swahili. Which, you know, cracks me up.

OMG, that is so helerous.

I personally think that I like The Lion King for a few reasons. One, Lion King is a CLASSIC animation. Two, there are no humans in TLK, which I think benefits it alot more. That's my opinion though. I always liked Kimba for the wonderful animation and good story plot, one thing I didn't like is the cheesy main theme. Although we aren't talking about Kimba directly, more as to The Lion King in this case. And about the Disney copying thing, I think they may have copied Kimba because they already had half the story planned out, then, when they watched Kimba, they got several more ideas to fill in the gaps they hadn't filled in.

I'm not surprised to see this controversy pop up on MLK lol. I can write a essay about my thoughts on this whole ordeal, but I'll keep it short.

Personally, I don't really care at all as I see both of these animations to be distinct. Even though they share some similarities, especially their names, I don't think Disney is completely ripping off Kimba. I have a feeling that Disney was a little influenced by Kimba, but both of these two animations are different in their own respectful rights. There's always going to be some sort of similarity between movies, it's hard to come up with original ideas nowadays.