I waited a week to start writing because the memory is too long, and I need to capture the patchwork little by little.
1982, for post-90s TV viewers, it was a distant ancient era.
At 6:30 p.m. every Sunday for the first half of the year, there was always a little white lion bouncing on the TV screen.
It's a story about growing up. The little white lion is named Leo, and he is the son of The White Lion King Bunjie, who was born in Africa. Bonjie died at the hands of a human, but Leo was raised by humans, inherited his father's heroic bravery, and finally returned to Black Africa after suffering hardships to become the king of the steppes.
This cartoon is "The Forest Emperor".
The year before it was "Astro Boy with an Iron Arm", the first cartoon to appear on Chinese television and CCTV (CCTV only had one set at that time), "100,000 horsepower, seven divine powers" Astro Boy once set off phenomenal attention in China.
As a landmark work in the career of Osamu Tezuka, the father of Japanese manga, "The Forest Emperor" surpassed "Astro Boy" and was praised as "a romantic adventure legend full of waves like a historical novel, and released a poignant fragrance like a youth novel".
According to the author, Osamu Tezuka, he painted "the never-ending process of battle, conquest and defeat between man, animal and nature." The theme is higher.
The broadcast of "The Forest Emperor" was warmly welcomed by Chinese audiences, especially the post-70s children at that time. Leo leo's kindness, bravery, intelligence and strength immediately became the new favorite of the little children.
The story of "The Forest Emperor" takes place in the African savannah. Coincidentally, just a few days before its broadcast, CCTV broadcast another gold medal program that continues to this day - "Animal World".
Africa's majestic savannah is a paradise for all kinds of wild animals, which carries a romantic legend in "The Forest Emperor" and becomes a cruel predator in "Animal World". So in the first half of 1982, the animated version and the real-life version of the two "animal worlds" were screened on TV.
The opening song of "Animal World", SPACE's "Just Blue" is also accompanied by Zhao Zhongxiang's voice, which has become a precious memory of a generation.
The majestic "Song of Leo" is a Japanese song, and many children often sing a song that cannot be sung.
In fact, this animated film, which first aired in Japan in 1965, was also the first time in the history of human television to combine music with the theme of the series in an animated film. Let the audience feel the vastness and magnificence of the African savannah from the music. After the broadcast of "The Forest Emperor" that year, its music album was also a hit in Japan.
However, for reasons that are still unknown, the original 52 episodes of "The Forest Emperor" was cut off after only 26 episodes were broadcast on CCTV. A year and a half ago, another American drama that once caused a national ratings frenzy, "Harrison's Death Squad", was also a few episodes away from being broadcast, which became a regret for many viewers.
Why, we don't know, we don't dare to ask? Well.
With the passage of time, a wave of new cartoons such as "Smart Break", "Flower Fairy", "Transformers", "Smurfs" and so on have been continuously introduced, and "Leo" has become an exclusive memory for children after the 70s, and it has gradually been forgotten.
In 1994, when "The Lion King" became a legend in Hollywood film history and was introduced to China, I thought that the little lion was Leo. In the early 1980s, when "The Forest Emperor" first aired, few televisions were in color, so the memory of Leo's colors was not so deep.
But Simba is a common lion in the African savannah.
We thought it didn't matter.
In fact, they have a "very deep" origin.
In 1965, after "The Forest Emperor" became a hit in Japan, it was heavily introduced by NBC television in the United States. Because "Leo" is a common english name for lions, the lion cub was renamed "Kimba" in the American broadcast of "The Forest Emperor".
According to the book "Fairy Tales of the Past", NBC originally wanted to use the name "Simba" because it was the Swahili word for "lion", but NBC needed an original word to trademark, and the name "Simba" was obviously not protected by trademark law.
Later, an NBC employee came up with "Kimba" based on his daughter's name "Kimberly", so "Kimba the White Lion", which was broadcast on NBC, one of the three major television networks in the United States, made "Kimba" a household name in the United States.
Later, the American version of "The Forest Emperor" was resold to other countries in Europe and the United States, and the Lion King Kimba was all the rage.
But the creators of the 1994 animated version of "The Lion King" denied watching "The Forest Emperor" that year, and some even said that they never knew Kimba, and even said that they did not know Osamu Tezuka. At that time, the Washington Post and other mainstream media had reported that "The Lion King" was suspected of plagiarizing "The Forest Emperor".
The incident also caused hundreds of manga workers in Japan to protest in that year. But by this time, Osamu Tezuka, who had been a Disney iron fan and had seen Walt Disney, had been dead for more than 5 years.
Did the Lion King copy The Forest Emperor? So far, some netizens on the Internet have listed a bunch of evidence to prove that the creators of "The Lion King" are blind and blind.
Regarding the plot, both are the early death of the old lion king, and the cubs left behind inherit the legacy after experiencing the tribulations of self-exile and struggle, and the king returns.
It was the young lions who killed the evil lions who usurped the throne. The bad lion in "The Forest Emperor" is the one-eyed Bubu, and in "The Lion King" is a knife scar with a scar on the left eye.
The young lions are assisted by the "wise" mountain fish (not the baboons) and the talking birds of the steppe, while the eagle dogs on the opposite side are dirty and cruel hyenas or coyotes (belonging to the same family).
The lion roar on the Glory Stone in "The Lion King" also exists in "The Forest Emperor", which is 29 years before it was born.
Even in the early demos included in the "The Lion King" DVD trailer released by Disney in 2003, the white lion as the main body clearly appeared.
Even the voice actors of the year thought they were voiced by Kimba.
In Hollywood's famous long-lived animated film "The Simpsons", in the 20th episode of the sixth season in 1995, Disney was specifically buried in plagiarism.
I don't know how Tezuka Osamu Izumi knows and feels.
Excluding the "off-site" factor, no one denies that the animated version of "The Lion King" is a classic.
If the film itself has a reference, then the music of "The Lion King" is completely original.
The new version of "The Lion King" once again used the Oscar Best Original Song of the year, and it was jointly launched by the Chinese "God of Song" Jacky Cheung and the "Queen of Heaven" Beyoncé.
Beginning with "Reunion 4", the film was released a few days earlier than in North America, and fans found that Lao Mei was increasingly pleasing to Chinese audiences. The new version of "The Lion King" is also released on July 12 in China, while In North America, it will be placed on July 19 a week later.
No way, who makes China's screen number one in the world, and the box office is the second in the world. Having money can make ghosts grind.
Since its release on July 12, the new version of "The Lion King" has killed all over the mournful film market, achieving a box office of 500 million yuan in 6 days with an absolute scheduling rate.
You say it's a "live-action version", but there's no one in it. You say it's a "real lion version", in fact, only one shot in the whole film is real, and the rest is computer-made. Because it is a remake of the classic 1994 animated version, it is still suitable for calling it a new version.
Disney's production is once again so powerful that no one is approaching.
In particular, the pinch of lion hair that fell from Simba's body in the film amazed many people, it fluttered with the wind, from the sky to the belly of the animal, from the dung ball of the shell lang to the grassland, and then floated up and down again, until the baboon Raficci received the shock that Simba was still alive, like a miracle.
I can't help but think of the feathers that flew into the air in "Forrest Gump".
However, compared with the high opening of 8.3 points on Douban to the low of 7.5 points today, IMDB's score fluctuates relatively small, basically from 5.6 points to 5.3 points.
That is to say, in the eyes of many Chinese audiences, "The Lion King" is not bad, but in the eyes of many foreigners, this is undoubtedly a bad film.
Isn't that the case?
Anyway, the real lion version does not have the beauty of the animated version. Looking at the picture, it can be seen that the puffy puff that took in Simba with Ding Man has a cute image in the cartoon, but what about in the new version?
It can be said that except for the Sand Zu Bird and the Old Mountain Fish Rafich, most of them make you feel that the real animals lack the character power of the clear outline circle in the animation, and are more or less unreal.
Of course, the cuteness of the cub Simba is also invincible cuteness.
But if you didn't enjoy this first Disney animation film imported from China on the Chinese screen more than 20 years ago, then you have now experienced the visual impact of 3D in the theater, and you think this "Lion King" is good-looking, and there is no blame, the original version is reproduced.
Just like when we grew up watching the 83rd edition of "Shooting Eagle", we looked at it and looked at other versions, how awkward. Many young audiences now also look down on the 83rd version of "Shooting Eagle".
There can only be one classic in everyone's heart.
The Lion King in my heart will always be the Leo who always keeps his head high.