Kimba the White Lion the one-eyed Claw and Scar, the sage baboons Dan'l Baboon and Rafiki, the animated birds Pauley Cracker and Zazu, and the pair of hyena sidekicks (it was a trio in the Disney film). "The Lion King" co-director Rob Minkoff deflected criticism of similarities in the characters by stating it was "not unusual to have characters like a baboon, a bird or hyenas" in films set in Africa. Matthew Broderick has said that when he was hired as the voice of adult Simba in "The Lion King", he presumed the project was related to "Kimba the White Lion". "I thought he
Simba: King of the Beasts screen before." Simba: King of the Beasts Simba: The King of the Beasts is a 1928 American black-and-white silent documentary film, directed by Martin and Osa Johnson, which features the couple's four-year expedition to track the lion across Kenyan veld to his lair. The film, which went on nationwide general release on , was premiered at the Earl Caroll Theatre in New York on . Footage for the film was shot from 1924 to 1927, during the couple's second and longest trip to Africa, when spent much of their time in northern Kenya by a lake they dubbed Paradise, at