Lions & Hyenas & Copyright Violation…

Today I thought I’d share some AMVs regarding a rather popular animation you may recognize.

It stars a young lion growing up. His father is killed due to his evil uncle, and he then goes into exile in the wild. He makes some friends, grows up, and ultimately has to face down and defeat his uncle, taking back control of the pridelands. Here are two related AMVs, to two different versions of the song “He Lives In You”.

The Lion King (He Lives In You - Tina Turner)

and compare:

Jungle Emperor Leo (He Lives in You - Lebo M.)

Yes, I’m talking about the animated series Kimba The White Lion (1965-78; based on the manga from 1950-1954), and its movie, Jungle Emperor Leo(1966). And its quite unauthorized remake by Disney, The Lion King(1994).

The two have an interesting history; the voice actor who played Simba as an adult has stated that he understood he was being hired for a remake of Kimba the White Lion. And Roy Disney, when talking about the Lion King before it’s release on an online chat, referred to Simba as Kimba.

However, despite a petition by 1100 manga & anime artists & fans, Disney refused to acknowledge it’s debt to Osamu Tezuka, claiming that it was a coincidence, and that they had no knowledge of Kimba. A pity; as remakes go, it was pretty good. Here’s an AMV with footage from both, where you can see the striking similarities:

Jungle Emperor Leo/The Lion King

(We Are One - Marty Panzer, Jack Feldman, Tom Snow)

I really like how this goes from the same exact scene between the two, so you can see how close they are. The still at 1:36 is particularly telling: It’s from an early Lion King presentation reel which shows a white Simba chasing a butterfly.

And I have to say, using the song “We Are One” for this AMV was nicely cynical.

Oh, and if the production quality of Kimba doesn’t seem quite up to par, keep in mind, it was the first color anime in Japan. In other words, it’s old. Animation has improved since then…