Simba or Kimba?

[norcal1219]

I know that this is old news, but i just found out about it.

Do you guys know the controversy with the Lion King and Kimba the White Lion? Apparently, Disney stole ALOT of ideas from the original 1960's Japanese animated cartoon and put the same elements into The Lion King.

I'm not sure if I am allowed to post a link proving my post, but I will anyways:
http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm

If this gets removed by an admin, just search "Simba Kimba" in google.

Personally, I am very disapointed in Disney right now. Stealing other peoples ideas and putting it into their own movie. The Lion King even states that it is "the 1st original Disney animated motion picture"

Do you guys have any more stories or info of this?
Discuss them here please!

[PeoplemoverMatt]

"Stolen" is a rather harsh word. Just about all of Disney's movies have for lack of a better term 'original' versions rooted in this or that culture. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Hunchback, Pinocchio, you can check them all out if you like.

Walt originally researched the stories he'd like to do, and told them in his own way. This was a time before people really freaked out if there was one word that even sounded the same as some other version. It was a different time then...people weren't so obssessed with the 'gotcha!' game and making a quick buck off a lawsuit like today.

Also, if you research the history of most stories out there, you realize that just about everything once believed to be original also had a start elsewhere in some other story. So nothing to be disappointed in Disney over here.

-- PMM :cool:

[Kileli]

^ agreed.

All the early movies (Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty) were European fairy tales. Walt shared some of the ideas, and changed some other ones (In the original Cinderella, one of the step sisters amputates some of her toes to make the shoe fit) Some people would argue that Ratatouille was based off another movie just because it has rats. There really isn't a new idea in this world today, somebody somewhere has already made it.

Lets take the telephone for example. We all know that Bell made the first phone. True story is: Another guy in a far off country made his own phone, very similar to Bell's. He went to the patent office, just a few hours after Bell had visited his local one. The man was just a little to late, and didn't get anything for it.

No matter what you do, you are copying someone or something.

[norcal1219]

I understand what you two are saying, but Disney denied that they ever heard of Kimba or Tezuka (the creator). I'm not sure if this is true or not, but acdording to some, Roy Disney even made the mistake of calling Simba, Kimba.

And it is true that most Disney films are based off of fairy tales, but it just upsets me that Disney would say that Lion King is original, and that they woudn't give any credit to Tezuka's creation.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

I'm sorry, that whole article reads like a propaganda piece by someone with an obvious agenda. He never cites any sources, but simply makes claims and labels them as facts. He also pulls pieces out of context to make his comparisons.

With the same logic I could claim that the Michelin Man is a rip-off of Sumo wrestling. Heck if I tried hard enough, I could probably find a Sumo wrestler who looks like the Michelin Man, do comparisons of my own, then come up with some laughable stuff and call it fact.

-- PMM :cool:

[Imjustpeachy]

I've read so many different variations of Cinderella in one of my english classes in my first year of college. I've heard of the cutting of the toes as well, there are numerous other variations from different countries. If I can recall there are about 700 different versions of the story worldwide with the Chinese, French, German, Russian, African and Native American tales being more popular. The stories have their similarites and their differences. No one knows which one is the "first, real" story. Cinderella's character and personal nature stay relatively similar while the story around her is a little different in each story :]

[TopCat8]

I'm also late in finding out about the Simba/Kimba similarities. I found that same article about a month ago, and I'm gonna have to agree that Disney lied about not having heard of the show or the creator of it. In fact, I think Disney almost completely ripped off the original Kimba stories. I was so upset to find out about this.

[James N.]

Eh, I could really care less either way. I'm not that big of a Lion King OR a Kimba fan (I personally think it's one of Tezuka's weaker works).

[Almandot]

Yeah when I found out about this it bugged me too. There was no denial of other films being based off of earlier works, but with this disney went from being open about it to about facing and being in denial that it has anything to do with Kimba, which it clearly does. Even Matthew Broderick has said he thought he'd gotten a role in a Kimba the lion remake before they went the Lion King route.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

Everyone seems to be doing a good job of repeating little bits of the article, but there's gotta be more to this story than just what this one-sided author has put out.

-- PMM :cool:

[norcal1219]

PMM, I was expecting your kind of opinion because well, this is aDisney forum.

But I can't believe that you are saying that totally ripping off another company, using the same exact scenes from a previously created show, using the same camera angles, and not even giving them credit is the same as making an animated movie out of a novel, or a children's fairy tale.

I may have misinterpereted your posts, but is that correct?

[PeoplemoverMatt]

PMM, I was expecting your kind of opinion because well, this is aDisney forum.

But I can't believe that you are saying that totally ripping off another company, using the same exact scenes from a previously created show, using the same camera angles, and not even giving them credit is the same as making an animated movie out of a novel, or a children's fairy tale.

I may have misinterpereted your posts, but is that correct?

Um...not totally correct. What I'm cautioning against is simply repeating the words of a one-sided argument as if his claims were facts w/o any outside information from another source. Not that that would be 100% fact either, but in order to get the real picture, both sides of the story must be known. Then the real story can be deduced from there.

Did you catch my blurb about being able to prove the Michelin Man's a total rip-off of a Sumo wrestler? Gotta be careful and not just believe every word this guy says, especially with as much emotional resonance as he's putting in. To me that just shows his arguments are actually weak and he needs to appeal to emotions in order to increase believeability.

To be fair, I wouldn't believe every word Disney would say either at face value. But when 2 sides of a story are given, there's a much clearer picture of reality than when there's only one, such as this case.

-- PMM :cool:

[norcal1219]

^ Ok thank you for explaining. I understand now.

[ShrunkenNed]

So, this is an argument that will probably never get resolved. It's been going on for 10 plus years now. But, here's another article (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a991224.html) that does include a quote from a former Disney animator that I haven't seen before.

Interesting stuff...

[Sesshomaru-sama]

Very interesting. There's too much physical evidence to not just pass it all off as a coincidence. I'm very disappointed in Disney.

Sincerely, a brother of a half-demon,
Sesshomaru-sama

[PeoplemoverMatt]

Very interesting. There's too much physical evidence to not just pass it all off as a coincidence. I'm very disappointed in Disney.

Sincerely, a brother of a half-demon,
Sesshomaru-sama

Doesn't have to be a coincidence to not be how the other guy put it off as...

-- PMM :cool: