20 Great Movies That Were Accused Of Being Rip-Offs

3. The Lion King (1994)

One of the greatest animated movies of all time, The Lion King set a new benchmark for Walt Disney Studios when it was released in 1994, thanks to its visual splendor, awesome songs and memorable characters - but it wasn't long before people began to say, "Hey, does The Lion King remind anyone else of Kimba the White Lion?" As in, people who actually knew what Kimba the White Lion was. Most people were like, "What's Kimba the White Lion?" To attend to that question directly: it's a Japanese anime series from the '60s with some considerable resemblances. How Much Of A Rip-Off Are We Talking Here? Well, there are a few fairly superficial similarities: firstly, the fact that Simba is called Kimba - they rhyme, if you didn't notice already. There's also a character called Panja who stands stoically atop a mountainside that juts out over the horizon in Kimba the White Lion - an image associated with perhaps the most iconic "scene" from The Lion King, with Simba doing similarly on Pride Rock. Aside from things like this, though, there doesn't seem to be much else between the two properties: The Lion King was loosely based on Hamlet, after all, and Kimba just wasn't. Overall Rip-Off Rating: 2/5