Ironically, I have been a great fan and appreciator of Disney's The Lion King since it came out. My memory did not reveal to me the similarities between the tv show and the film, though just in a half hour's perusal of various websites I see how obvious it has been to those in the know, and that Disney had even attempted to buy the rights to Kimba in the eighties. Perhaps the topic is old by now, but even in my enthusiasm for this personal rediscovery of Kimba, I do wish to make a point in defense of Disney. Even with so many clear references and strikingly similar images as I've noticed on a variety of thumbnail pics, The Lion King holds up on its own as an extremely cohesive film. Disney may have had to acknowledge and pay out certain rights, and that makes sense, but the result isn't so easily simplified as a "rip off." Unique, or stylistically individual, treatments upon an earlier subject or theme have been characteristic of art for millennia, and only recently has "originality" even been considered an aesthetic quality--it is arguable whether something truly original (something never appearing before)can be created... everything has "come down" in some way or other. The Lion King and Kimba each deserve their place. Comments?
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