Did Disneys The Lion King rip off an old Japanese TV series?
Dear Cecil: While waxing nostalgic over our favorite cartoons from the 60s and 70s with some friends, we suddenly realized that Disney’s The Lion King bears a striking resemblance in plot and cast to the Japanese-made 60s TV series Kimba the White Lion (of which we can all remember every word of the theme song, by the way). To wit: (1) orphaned lion cub destined to be king (Kimba/Simba); (2) father who died in treacherous circumstances (Caesar/Mufasa); (3) annoying busybody bird (Polly/Zazu); (4) wise but eccentric baboon (Dan’l/Rafiki); (5) cute girlfriend cub (Kitty/Nala); (6) villainous hyenas who are always trying to take over. So what’s the straight dope? Is Disney’s hit really just a cheap rip-off? I have never seen this issue addressed in print and look to you to correct this injustice. — Dr. M.G., via AOL Cecil replies: Well, it wasn’t a cheap rip-off–have you been to a first-run movie lately? You also missed a few other parallels: (7) name similarity: Kimba/Simba (duh); (8) e
