Jungle Emperor (1966 Film)

Jungle Emperor (Also known as ジャングル大帝劇場版 (Junguru Taitei: Theater Version)) is a film adaptation of the Original 1965 series. Assembled from already existing animation from the television show, the only new scenes are simply short connecting segments that stitch together the revised edit.

Since the theatrical movie tells the same basic story, most of the original dialogue remains intact. However some changes to the music and dialogue were re-recorded to ensure a smooth transition between re-sequenced scenes. The film was released in July of 1966 in Japanese theaters due to the praise of the TV series.

Synopsis: []

The film starts with the Japanese introduction of the TV show. The next 24 minutes are taken from the episode, “Go, White Lion!” (Ep. 1). The episode has been recut so all of the Caesar (Panja) scenes take place in the past in the form of flashbacks being told to Kimba (Leo) by Snowene (Eliza). There is a brief, partially new scene when the ship sets sail. Animals are shown in their cages growling and screaming. Some of the animal footage is taken and re-purposed from The Hunting Ground (ep. 12). Snowene (Eliza) is shown in a cage being lifted by a crane to the ship. Part of the footage from the outside of the ship and background of Eliza’s cage is taken from, “Adventure in the City“ (Ep. 30). The story of Panja is told to Kimba (Leo) all in Eliza's flashbacks.
The next 4 minutes are taken from “The Wind in the Desert“ (Ep. 2) when Kimba saves Bucky from Dick and Bo (Tom and Tab). Their musical number is not re-recorded here. Some new footage is added where the scene is established by Kimba looking around on a cliff at Africa as it's his first time there.
8 minutes are taken from the episode, “Great Caesar’s Ghost” (Ep. 4). This is when Kimba stands up to Samson and thinks everyone is against him, and where Bucky, Dan'l and Pauly pretend to be Caesar (Panja). The welcoming of Samson when the animals make music is repurposed to welcome Kimba back into the jungle.
The next minute is from "The Red Menace" (Ep. 48) and are of the scenes from the fire.
1 minute and a half of footage is from, "Legend of Hippo Valley" (Ep. 37). when Kimba pushes the rock into the water to try and overflow the river. The destruction caused by the fire gives Kimba the idea for clearing the land for a jungle farm. His jungle friends start helping him out.
The next scene is edited together with scenes from “Jungle Thief” (Ep. 6), “Restaurant Trouble” (Ep. 20), “Jungle Fun” (Ep. 34), and "Legend of Hippo Valley" (Ep. 37) where Kimba and his jungle friends help create the farm and the restaurant while the “Jungle Worker’s song” from “Jungle Fun” is played. The music is re-recorded by the same singer and different shouts from the jungle animals are used. Kitty (Lyra) also shows up to help Kimba. Because she was not introduced in the film unlike the anime series, Kitty shows up out of nowhere.
3 more minutes are taken from, "Restaurant Trouble" (Ep. 20) as the animals start using the restaurant and start handing out leaflets. The sequence ends with footage taken from, "Great Caesar's Ghost" (Ep. 4), reworked a little so that Samson shows up to give his approval of the restaurant. Another scene is shown where Kimba and Kitty run together and gaze over a cliffside together. Of this scene, about 15 seconds of stock footage is used from, "Journey into Time" (Ep. 14).
The rest of the film is taken from the episode, “Destroyers from the Desert” (Ep. 41). Kimba sings a song to his father (taken from "Insect Invasion" (Ep. 8)). His conflict is re-purposed to show how Kimba will handle the Destroyers instead of how to handle the invasion of grasshoppers. Dash, Dinkie and Dot grovel at the Destroyers and obey their every command. This ultimate leads to them getting eating by them. Coco (Pauley) tries to save them but is captured. The running montage of Kimba going to save Pauley (Coco) from the Destroyers after he was kidnapped is replaced with other footage of Kimba running in the rain (from The Pretenders (ep. 35)) and is played over with “Leo’s Song”, the ending theme of the TV show. The song is re-recorded for the film.
The last scene of new footage is the end-credit sequence with the animals walking through the jungle.

Episodes used for the film[]

Now Streaming[]

[Latin and South America only]

AriGato.tv - with Spanish subtitles

[Japan Only - No subtitles and for rent only]

Amazon

Resources[]

Part of Synopsis: Craig - Kimba W Lion

Part of Trivia: 50 years of Kimba

Trivia[]

The film was distributed in Japan by Toho and was also released in Italy.
In 2005, the film had gotten a home video release as a collection pack with Astro Boy and New Treasure Island. A stand-alone rental DVD also exists.
At London’s Barbican Theatre, the film was screened in September 2008 and was subtitled in English for the first time.
On Japanese streaming sites such as, The Bandai Channel, Amazon, and U-Next, the film is available to rent in Japan.
In 2020, Mexican company Madness Entertainment released the film along with Spanish subtitles on their streaming service, AriGato TV.
Despite getting eaten by Nero they appeared in a various shots(or it might be an animation error)
In 2024 the film was streamed during the Japan Film Festival Online 2024. It was available in 27 countries around the world, and with subtitles in 16 languages.