By George & Josh Bate
Following the groundbreaking success of The Lion King in 1993, Walt Disney Studios chose to move forward with a sequel that told the story of Kiara, Simba’s young daughter. The plot of that film, which was released direct-to-video in 1998, saw Kiara fall in love with a lion who was banished after being loyal to the villainous Scar. What followed was a Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet-like film in which Kiara faces up against Simba’s bias against Kovu, the male love interest, as well as a devious plot from the latter’s mother.
Flash forward to the 21st century – Disney are deep into their live action remake era, covering classics like Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and, of course, The Lion King. Jon Favreau helmed the 2019 remake, which made over $1.6 billion worldwide but failed to have the cultural impact that the original did. A major criticism of Favreau’s film, which was advertised as being ‘live action’ but in reality was made with cutting-edge animation technology, was that it lacked the soul and charm that made the 1993 animated film so iconic. Despite this criticism, a follow-up to 2019’s The Lion King was inevitable.
That follow-up is Mufasa: The Lion King, which moves backwards in the timeline rather than forward, as the direct-to-video sequel to the original film did. From the get-go, this makes Mufasa more unique than its 2019 predecessor, with a fresh and innovative new story rather than retreading familiar territory. The film is an origin story for Mufasa (voiced by Aaron Pierre and Braelyn and Brielle Rankins), the King of the Pride Lands voiced by the late James Earl Jones both in the 1993 animated film and the 2019 remake. This origin tale shows Mufasa’s early separation from his parents and subsequent adoption into a new pride of lions, which includes his adoptive brother Taka (voiced by Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Theo Somolu). When Mufasa’s newfound family unit is disrupted though, the young lion finds himself on a journey across vast lands to a paradise-like place that his birth parents once spoke, alongside Taka and other companions. As the team journey farther than they ever have before, they are hunted by a pack of villainous white lions, led by the ominous Kiros (voiced by Mads Mikkelsen). This prequel is presented as a story being told to young Kiara (voiced by Blue Ivy Carter) by the wise mandrill Rafiki (voiced by John Kani).
Perhaps not surprisingly, Mufasa’s standout element is its narrative novelty. The decision to make the next film set in this world a prequel was certainly a bold one and was met with mixed reactions when announced in 2020. Those doubts are quelled, however, after seeing the film, which does exactly what all good prequels should do: Being an entertaining and high-stakes story, despite the fact that the audience already knows the fate and later journey of the characters involved, and making the audience view the original piece (in this case, The Lion King) in a different light. After seeing Mufasa, the relationship between the hero and his brother becomes even more tragic, and without too many spoilers, the audience is able to sympathize with Scar a little bit more. The best villains are often the most complex (take a look at Darth Vader, for example, who was the epitome of evil at the beginning of the Star Wars series but slowly became more and more conflicted). Scar fell into the same category after the original film (when he was realized by an excellent voice performance from Jeremy Irons), but Mufasa adds more to the lore and gives the villain an interesting and satisfying origin story.
The role of the brother, named Taka (fans will likely be able to guess the name he later takes on), isn’t the only example of the multi-dimensional antagonists in this film. Even the white lion Kiros, leader of The Outsiders, isn’t a simple and straightforward villain. Instead, Kiros’ motive is presented in such a way that his actions feel understandable, albeit not agreeable; the loss of his son (an integral moment in the story that is unfortunately rushed in the first act) mirrors the journey of Mufasa. The hero is traveling far and wide to seek a new life, one where he can finally see his parents again, and leads with kindness throughout. Kiros, however, lets anger consume him, and he travels long distances not to seek a new life, but to control and enact his conception of justice. The thematic qualities of Mufasa: The Lion King are quite profound, which might not be expected, especially after the 2019 film lacked substantive emotion or multi-dimensional layers to its story beyond the original. This time around, the screenplay from Jeff Nathanson brings something new to the franchise rather than treading old ground to mine for nostalgia.
Despite these positives, Mufasa fall shorts in certain key areas. The most noteworthy of these is the musical soundtrack, which features original songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda. Despite effective placements of musical setpieces throughout the film, the songs don’t have anywhere near the same impact as those crafted by Elton John for the original. It’s certainly hard, or more appropriately, impossible, to reach the heights of tracks like ‘Hakuna Matata,’ but the fact that nothing comes even remotely close is disappointing. The songs are by no means weak in isolation, although they distinctly lack the catchiness we’ve come to expect from Disney musicals.
The animation in Mufasa, meanwhile, has evolved from Favreau’s The Lion King five years prior. The photo-realistic portrayal of animals and environments is stunning to behold, with particular shots seemingly interchangeable with National Geographic or Planet Earth documentaries, such is the real-life qualities of these visuals. That being said, Mufasa does harbor the same issue that Favreau’s film had in regards to visuals in that attempts to create photo-realistic animals often make it difficult to distinguish characters apart from one another. The title character has the beginnings of a lion’s mane so he is relatively easy to spot, as is Taka, who is smaller and paler. There’s also the pack of Outsiders, whose bright white fur allows the viewer to immediately know when the villains are on screen. Bar these characters, the lions are difficult to separate; Sarabi looks nearly identical to Mufasa’s mother, for example. This issue isn’t helped by the direction from Barry Jenkins. While Jenkins brings a much-needed authenticity and energy as director, he often opts for extreme close-ups of character’s faces. This allows for some memorable shots that show off the incredible work of the visual effects artists, but it also creates somewhat of a dizzying and disorienting effect, especially as the camera moves and pivots while locked in on a close-up. In relying so heavily on close-up shots, it becomes easy to lose a sense of direction in each scene as the film often lacks a solid understanding of where each character is physically in relation to each other.
More damning of the animation in Mufasa is that deprives the characters of an ability to emote clearly and express their emotions visually. In turn, much of the emotion in the film needs to be conveyed through the voice actors’ performances and the film’s music. It is an inherent flaw in the photo-realism the filmmakers go for here, sacrificing the emotions conveyed on characters’ faces in exchange for greater realism.
VERDICT: 7/10
Mufasa: The Lion King marks a massive improvement over the 2019 remake of The Lion King in delivering a more soulful, heartfelt, and novel story. A layered narrative thoughtfully leans into themes of legacy, brotherhood, parenthood, while the film excels as a prequel that deepens one’s appreciation of the original and maintains high-stakes despite the audience knowing the characters’ fates. Unfortunately, Mufasa falls short with largely forgettable songs that fail to reach the heights of other Disney musicals. Meanwhile, the cutting-edge photo-realistic animation continues to amaze with beautiful landscapes and animal designs, although it comes at the expense of characters’ facial expressions of emotion and often makes it difficult to distinguish characters from one another. Many anticipated this follow-up to The Lion King to be lifeless or lacking in charm, but neither is the case as director Barry Jenkins has crafted an epic, emotional tale with Mufasa: The Lion King.