Everyone knows the epic story about how the brave meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and the amazing warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogan) defeated the evil fratricidal lion, Scar. At least. that is how the two heroes tell it.
The true story of The Lion King – Simba (Donald Glover), his father Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) and even Mufasa‘s once loyal brother Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), goes back further than odd couple Timon and Pumbaa know.
When Mufasa was a young cub, he and his loving parents were migrating to the fabled place they call “Milele”. A kingdom just over the horizon full of life where all living things exist in peace, forever. But when a sudden and violent flash flood separates young Mufasa from his parents, he washes away and is hopelessly lost… until another cub saves his life. This young cub is named Taka, the prince of the nearby pride of lions (he also definitely has NO scar on his face). Taka always wanted a brother and while Taka‘s father shuns this new outsider, his mother embraces him. He is trained to hunt with the females like no other male lion ever was.
Life is good and friends Mufasa and Taka grow until the day when their home is attacked. A vicious pride of albino lions led by the ferocious Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen) is destroying all in their way. With their home ravaged, Mufasa and Taka set out to reach safety in Milele. As Kiros stalks them, they will meet new friends (although old to us) and discover their destinies; Mufasa becoming the leader he was always meant to be and Taka learning that deception may be the only path open to him.
2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the Disney classic animated film, The Lion King. An unprecedented success which may have just saved the studio with its timeless story, beloved characters and instantly recognisable soundtrack. 2019’s live action (or more accurately “photorealistic CGI”) remake proved just how powerful that legacy was, still now ranking as the 10th highest grossing film of all time at 1.6 billion dollars!
For Mufasa: The Lion King, director Barry Jenkins takes us on a journey showing where everyone’s favourite wild animals are now, but also where it all started. It’s part sequel and part prequel as the wise shaman mandrill Rafiki (John Kani) tells Simba‘s cub the story of her grandfather. This works as a storytelling device being that the story’s conclusion is as known to its characters as it is to us. Yet in its telling, we get as much backstory to the side characters as we do Mufasa himself.
An issue arises however, that little attempt is made to introduce anything really new into the story. The film acts solely as a prequel, showing younger versions of established characters and little else. It isn’t telling its own fascinating tale; it is simply catching us up to where things began in the original movie with a fairly barebones plot.
The greatest disappointment is we don’t learn much about the breakdown of relationship between Mufasa and Taka/Scar. Yes, despite a rather lengthy 2 hour runtime, this ‘Cain and Abel’ dynamic feels rushed. Had you told me Transformers One would do a better job with the origins of the rivalry between Optimus Prime and Megatron, I wouldn’t have believed you. Yet, here we are.
The strongest aspect of 2019’s The Lion King was how it blew audiences away with its impressive CGI. It was however seen as something of simply a “tech demo” with its innovation focused on these impressive visual effects. This trend continues with its follow up in both positive and negative ways. I don’t think I’ve seen another film portray wild animals in such believable ways as in Mufasa: The Lion King. It doesn’t simply avoid the uncanny valley as it does leap right over it. This even with Barry Jenkins incorporating some more daring camera angles such as ‘GoPro’-style reverse POV close ups in action scenes. Truly impressive stuff and his visual effects team undoubtedly deserve at least consideration for an Oscar here.
But like its 2019 predecessor, some magic and personality are lost in these lifelike animal recreations. On the positive, characters in Mufasa: The Lion King are much more expressive than they were last time around. While on the other hand, at least with the lions, it can be difficult to distinguish between characters (particularly in the case of the females). I half theorise the decision to make Kiros and his tribe albinos comes from a desire to differentiate them at least in SOME way from the rest of the characters. Overall, with its rather bleak colour palette, this isn’t the most vibrant film by a long shot.
Music is another way in which this film is serviceable and yet still has trouble living up to that 1994 original. That iconic score by Hans Zimmer won him his first Oscar, while the songs by Elton John and Tim Rice are still listened to by fans to this very day. These are some massive shoes to fill and Mufasa: The Lion King has mighty trouble filling them.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the talented Tony Award winning genius behind Hamilton and In the Heights provides his talents to the film. The songs are enjoyable and I absolutely love the track ‘Bye Bye’ – a menacing theme where Kiros lets his prey know exactly how screwed they are. But beyond that, I didn’t find them to be that memorable and feel that the musical interludes, rather than being a highlight of the film, are instead a points of the film to take note of on when to take young children for their necessary bathroom breaks. At least, that is what many parents around me started doing by the halfway point of the film.
Mufasa: The Lion King with its faults has some trouble maintaining the interest of its younger viewers for the full 2 hours. The characters, story, songs and even the colours just don’t draw the attention of children the way parents might be hoping for.
Mufasa: The Lion King is a technically impressive marvel that pushes forward what is possible to be created in movies once more. Yet as a film, it is a fairly ordinary experience without much to offer new viewers to the film franchise. Fans who grew up with The Lion King may enjoy seeing Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki and others on the screen once more. The performances from the voice cast are expressive and help us care about these characters.
However, Mufasa: The Lion King is not enough to capture the imagination of children for the next 30 years, let alone its 2 hours.