Simba like them, Simba is "born into royalty, is then exiled, and has to return to claim [his] kingdom." Unlike the studio's three previous films "The Little Mermaid" (1989), "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) and "Aladdin" (1992) which are essentially love stories, "The Lion King" revolves around Simba's relationship with his father instead, which Allers identified as "The real heart and emotional underpinning of the whole story". In April 1992, the filmmakers hosted a "brainstorming session" in which much of the film's original story was largely re-written, particularly Simba's personality. Originally, Simba was intended to remain with the pride after Mufasa's
Kimba the White Lion Symphonic Poem" (by Isao Tomita) was released on LP in 1966. As a number of media journalists and fans watched Disney's animated feature film "The Lion King" they noticed characters and events in the story resembling those of "Kimba". Although the two works follow different screenplays, there are strong artistic similarities, and "The Lion King" contains numerous sequences that closely match "Kimba"′s. Other similarities are thematically deeper and more pronounced, such as that both feature the theme of the circle of life. Alleged similarities in the characters, beginning with the protagonist lion cubs "Kimba" and "Simba", include the evil lions,