| | Lion King Stolen?
(from: http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm)
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Did the Disney studio steal Kimba and rework it as their "original
story", The Lion King? They certainly give that impression with their
corporate stance ("we never heard of Tezuka nor Kimba until after The
Lion King was released"). And why would they have filed suit to try to
prevent the showing of Tezuka Productions' 1997 Jungle Emperor Leo
movie at the 1998 Toronto FantAsia Film Festival? (Jungle Emperor was
the original title for Kimba The White Lion.) It seems quite simple;
Kimba had been kept out of sight in North America for 20 years by that
time. And once you can see the two together... |
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Tezuka, 1965 Disney, 1994 |
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Tezuka, ca.1980? Disney, 1994 |
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The shame of the matter is that the Disney company is sticking to
their official line --that their people never heard of Kimba before The
Lion King was released-- even in the face of logic and evidence. As
Robin Pen pointed out (in the essay referenced above), if we were to
take their statement at face value, it actually means they were stupid
and irresponsible. But more than that, many examples say just the
opposite of the Disney statement.
Peter Schweizer and Rochelle Schweizer have these and even more examples in their book Disney: The Mouse Betrayed. |
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Tezuka, ca. 1980? Disney, 1994 |
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During planning sessions for The Lion King, Simba started out as a
white lion until one of the animators spoke up: "Not even OUR lawyers
are THAT good!" Maybe so, but notice how both characters have a tuft of
hair in the middle of their foreheads, and the very unusual dark ear
rim. That alone shows how Kimba is the direct predecessor of Simba.
It is my opinion that the creative people at Disney most definitely
knew of Kimba as they were making The Lion King-- but somehow, before
the movie could be released, it was decided that the tie must be
denied. Even if that means a slap in the face for Osamu Tezuka, the
"Walt Disney of Japan".
Let's look at some more similarities... |
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Tezuka, 1965 Disney, 1994 |
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Both title characters turn to eating bugs to save their herbivore
friends. In The Lion King, they blow past this idea in under a minute,
but it was a major plot element in Kimba; the meat eaters tried eating
plants until they hit on the idea of eating bugs. |
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Tezuka, 1965 Disney, 1994 |
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And more... the patch of thorns... (This scene called the matching
scene from Kimba immediately to my mind. I couldn't believe how much
alike they were.) |
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Tezuka, 1965 Disney, 1994 |
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...dangling from a cliff with the villain above... |
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Tezuka, 1965 Disney, 1994 |
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(FYI: The antagonist lion in Kimba was introduced as his "aunt", while Scar was Simba's uncle.) |
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Tezuka, 1965 Disney, 1994 |
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Tezuka, 1965 Disney, 1994 |
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And there is of course the opening sequence of Jungle Emperor (the
Japanese version of Kimba) and the parallel opening sequence of The
Lion King. The most famous comparison of the two is the image of the
lion on the jutting rock, as shown at the top of this page. You can download a RealVideo file of the Japanese opening sequence here. Compare it for yourself to the opening of The Lion King. |
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I've left for last the big thing everyone mentions when comparing
the two works: the parent lion appearing in the sky. There's good
reason people pay attention to this: When Kimba's mother appears to him
in the stars shortly after being killed, it is one of the most touching
and moving scenes in television animation history. And, several times
during the Lion King, the idea of ancestors in the stars is mentioned.
However, when Simba does have a vision of his father, it is in a cloud
and (perhaps) the moon (there is a lot of light in that scene, which
suggests the moon). This has a different parallel in Kimba. |
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Tezuka, 1965 Disney, 1994 |
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In the episode "Dangerous Journey", Kimba is faced with the need to
undertake a, well, dangerous journey in order to save an important
member of their community. He doesn't think he is capable of doing it,
but that night his father appears to him in the moon, and convinces him
that this is something he has to do.
In the Lion King, Simba is faced with the need to save his entire
community, a task he doesn't think he is capable of doing until his
father appears to him in the moon/clouds and convinces him that he can.
As you can see from these pictures, the moon imagery matches with the
Kimba TV episode; the cloud imagery matches with the end of the
original manga story. |
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Tezuka, 1950 Disney, 1994 |
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Anyone still want to try to convince me it's all a coincidence?
Peter and Rochelle Schweizer interviewed Disney animators and report
that while working on the Lion King the animators held up stills from
Kimba for comparison to their own work.
Kimba is one of the landmarks of animation. The Disney company has
earned over 1.5 billion dollars from The Lion King but has not given
either any sort of compensation to Tezuka Productions nor credit to
Osamu Tezuka. I know their creative people know better. In and of
itself, it's not a crime that they did take elements from Tezuka's
work--there are also elements in The Lion King that would seem to come
from Kipling's Jungle Books (not the Disney version) and from a famous
pre-WWII Nazi propaganda film (Triumph of the Will). Cultural
references are to be expected. But when a work derives so much from
another, denying the source is wrong. To deny the source does an
injustice to Osamu Tezuka, the original creator, and to Disney's own
people who love Tezuka's works.
Why must the Disney company take such a stance about their main source
of inspiration for this film? Could it be that The Lion King started
out originally to be a remake of Kimba The White Lion?
- As stated here, the similarities between the two are many, and well documented.
- The Disney corporate stance, that none of Disney's people knew of
Kimba before the movie was released, has been exposed as untrue.
- The most congenial theory up til now has been that the creative
staff, given a chance to produce a lion story, decided to make it
somewhat of a tribute to the TV show they knew and loved. That theory
is an attractive one, but fails to explain the extreme extent to which
similarities to the earlier production appear in the later production.
Lots of movie makers include tributes to those who went before them. A
tribute doesn't leave people involved with the earlier production up in
arms over being plagiarized.
So, here's my question: Was The Lion King was originally intended to be
Disney's big-screen re-make of Kimba The White Lion, but when things
didn't go as planned in regards to obtaining the rights to it, were
changes made to transform it into "Disney's first animated feature
based on an original story"?
- Fact: The rights to Kimba the White Lion were tied up in legal
battles for many years, beginning when the original production company,
Mushi Productions, went bankrupt in 1973. The US contract to the show
ran out in 1978. Nobody had the US rights to it from 1978 until 2000.
(However, there was some sort of breakthrough in the early 90s that led
to the 1993 production of a new English-language version of Kimba that
has been shown around the world, but not in the U.S.)
- Hearsay (although heard from several sources): Disney was right in the thick of the battle to obtain rights to Kimba.
- Pieced together from various reports: Right Stuf International was
prepared to release Kimba to home video in 1993, but this was delayed
by litigation. (Since this release was based on their purchase of the
home video rights from Mushi Productions, who would sue to stop it?)
And around the same time Disney announced they were delaying the
release of Lion King.
Disney is not accustomed to losing its legal battles. So, now add this
speculation into the picture: What if at one point the outcome was such
a "sure thing" that it was considered safe to go ahead with the movie
re-make idea?
As stated above, legal battles for Kimba The White Lion did not end in
the early 90s, they stretched on until 2000. So, what if Disney's "sure
thing" suddenly went in an unexpected direction? Would they scrap the
expensive production efforts that had already been done? Or would they
make a few stategic changes and deny any knowledge of the original
production? |
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The big question after we've established that Lion King derived from Kimba is: What does it mean to us?
There is no doubt that Disney changed the story for their movie. In
doing so, they removed what for me was the single greatest element in
Kimba the White Lion: the relationship between humans and animals. This
is so vital in our world.
And yet, what do I hear within the words of Lion King fans?
They identify with the lions in the movie. They bring that human-animal
connection to the movie themselves. If, by way of this derivation
controversy, Lion King fans discover Kimba The White Lion, and explore
this connection further, then it's all good.
Kimba The White Lion can exist in the 21st century as The Lion
King taken to the next level. Kimba's story lines involving the
struggle to build strength of character, and the need for ALL life to
be part of the great circle--animals AND humans--are things that most
Lion King fans can enjoy.
The first time I heard the little white lion say that he needed
a way to allow humans to understand animals, my heart jumped for joy.
The same thing can still happen for lots of other people, and thanks to
The Lion King connection, lots of people now know about Kimba.
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that is really convincing evidence... man my idea of Lion King has totally changed.... sigh...
I grew up watching Kimba and I have to admit some of the scenes in Lion King looked all too familiar
