Animation Source Forums

Well, I was recently viewing Balto again, and I have noticed something. You know how when Balto finds Steele to help, but Steele won't give him the medicine? Well, the fight they have is very, very similar. For example, Steele falls off a cliff, and gets up just like Scar did.

And, I know this is a bit off-topic, but in Balto 2: Wolf Quest, Kiara and Aleu are almost identical. Same personality, over-protective fathers, and annoying babysitters. (Timon & Pumbaa, and Muk & Luk.)

Well, I don't think it's an EXACT copy, but very similar. I'm actually not even sure that the Lion King came out first...but anyway, you should think about this.

Also Jenna,and Nala are the panicky mothers that allow Kiara and Aleu their personal space.

Balto is no way a copy of the Lion King. Lion King wasn't even half as good as Balto was!

Balto is based on a true story, and about a OUTCAST wolfdog who was hated by everyone in town besides his friends. Then, a sickness comes and it's up to Balto to save the town, and maybe win the heart of a husky.

Lion King is a made up story, and about a Lion who couldn't wait to be king, who one day father gets killed by his uncle and he runs off, and no longer wanted to be king until he came back and took his place as King, and fell in love with Nala as you can see 'Can You Feel The Love tonight?'

To be off topic, I believe Lion King is the copy off Kimba, but Balto?

Well, I do know the basic story line, and I agree Balto is better. But some parts in there could have been stolen from the Lion King's plot, or vice versa.

They aren't copies but, they are similar. Their was a topic about this and an article.

Balto and The Lion King have lots in common. And it doesn't mean that it's a copy of it.
As you can see at the similarities in Wolf Quest..But the first one not really.

For the original Balto and Lion king, this is not possible because they were released in a one-year timeline, and making these films required 3-4 years. No copying is really possible in these conditions, especially because until Lion King was released, no one expected it to be such a success.

As for the sequels, this is different : LK2 was released in 1998 and B2 in 2001, and making these sequels only require around 1-2 years. But, we can't really know if it's happened or not.

Hmmmm...they are both fairly similar. I love both films, I don't really care

Alue is copied from Kiara. As JG said, they are almost exactly the same. Because Universal are copy-cats

I love Balto and TLK very, very much, TLK always being my favourite animated film in the history of the world As BWD stated; both films are very similar, but neither copied eachother

This topic has been brought up many times before.

Personally, I do not think they are similar. Disney and Universal are entirely seperate companies. Plus, Balto is about sled dogs and based on a true story.

Exactly my point.

Alright...well, that's not exactly a reason to disagree.


That may be true, but here's what I think : Balto and The Lion King have similar plots, but identical archetypal characteristics.
I'm sure that some people have heard of an archetypal hero before. It's when an author or a director bases their character(s) off of a godlike person or someone with supernatural powers that everyone is familiar with. For example, Robin Hood is a symbol of the "trickster" archetype.
Balto and The Lion King have very similar archetypes. Both characters find love, have a tragic event in their life that weighs them down and have an enemy that they must deal with in order to accomplish their goal. Both characters find that their weapons (which is another characteristic of this type of archetype) are themselves, and that they must use what they posses to overcome obstacles (Simba's "weapon" is possibly his motive after finding out that Scar killed Mufasa, and Balto's weapon is undoubtably his wolf heritage and strength).
So, it's not the plots or occurances that are the same, just the way the directors applied their characters to common archetypes.