Disney / Buena Vista
The Disney live-action remake has become the butt of many a joke about Hollywood’s inability to nurture originality, with viewers often left wondering what the point of these unsolicited regurgitations are beyond lining executives’ pockets by milking every last drop from the teat of nostalgia.
Mufasa: The Lion King is not a remake, however, but a prequel to Jon Favreau’s 2019 remake of the 1994 classic, and just as no one asked for the 2019 remake, no one asked for this prequel either.
Told through Rafiki (John Kani) relaying Mufasa’s life story to Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala’s (Beyoncé) cub Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), we learn how Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) and Taka (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) became found family as cubs, and what drove them to become rivals, and Taka gaining the more familiar moniker of Scar.
Naturally, there is more to it than just that, but the script is so confoundingly convoluted that the twist of what is also the trigger for what makes Scar turn evil may result in you sitting with your mouth agape for all the wrong reasons once we learn how the cheerful Taka becomes the wretched Scar.
Just as the drama of the narrative puts even the longest running daytime soap opera plots to shame, the dialogue also feels overly stilted, the comedy in particular falling flat thanks to Billy Eichner’s Timon and Seth Rogen’s Pumbaa insisting on being as unfunny as possible, the only comic relief character being more tedious being Preston Nyman’s Zazu, who is a far cry from Rowan Atkinson’s take on the character.
Terrible writing aside, the animation has improved substantially compared to the 2019 remake of The Lion King, as the animals now emote, thereby enabling the audience to feel some semblance of engagement with the characters, as even photorealistic lions need a degree of anthropomorphism in order to keep a viewer interested.
The improvement of the animation is further emphasized by the visual style as a whole being effortlessly picturesque with beautiful, sweeping visuals, imbuing the film with a degree of artistic flair that is inevitable with a filmmaker of Barry Jenkins’ caliber at the helm, and Mufasa: The Lion King is definitely better than its predecessor thanks to Jenkins.
The songs are serviceable but overwhelmingly forgettable, sounding like waste paper basket salvages from the office of Lin-Manuel Miranda, and none of Miranda’s compositions come remotely close to matching the compositional excellence of Elton John’s original 1994 The Lion King, nor do they appeal in terms of Miranda’s own catalogue, as he has written significantly better songs for other projects.
All in all, if you are not a fan of the Disney live-action remake, Mufasa: The Lion King will not be the one to change your mind, but the movie does, however, manage to be an improvement on 2019’s The Lion King, albeit the biggest positive about Mufasa: The Lion King may simply be that Barry Jenkins got a substantial paycheck that will help fund more interesting work from the master director in the future.
Extras include featurettes, outtakes, deleted scenes, and song selection.
Verdict: 4 out of 10.
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