Mufasa: The Lion King

 

“It’s time I tell you a story.”

Brotherly focused, visually stunning and surprisingly solid, Mufasa: The Lion King is a serviceable prequel to the beloved classic that explores the adopted origins of Mufasa and Scar and their coming-of-age quest through the Circle of Life with immaculate visual effects and sturdy direction in a film that certainly doesn’t exceed its original inspiration but that is better than the 2019 version.

Discussion Points:

Went in with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Not blown away, but was entertained and really enjoyed this. Definitely has a story worth telling about the origins of Mufasa, Scar (Taka) and Sarabi. Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr, and Tiffany Boone make for a great leading triplet, and I was really impressed by the male vocals. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s music is actually really solid, and doesn’t feel overly hip hop, but also doesn’t feel like it’s trying to imitate Elton John, and I don’t know how memorable it will be. Major standouts are Tell Me It’s You and I Always Wanted a Brother which work well within the film. Thankfully, they’ve adjusted the VFX to be slightly more expressive but still very photorealistic - which helps the musical numbers and emotion feel more natural but never overacted. Mads Mikkelsen is his usual menacing villain, and John Kani gets some great moments as Rafiki. My biggest issue with the film are the constant interruptions from Timon & Pumbaa - which is far more distracting and disruptive than anything - but I also genuinely laughed at some of their jokes, as unnecessary and unhelpful as they are. The other major issue is the film has some rushed pacing and characters suddenly changing their entire demeanour after a single event which felt forced each time it happened. Feels like a few of Jenkins original ideas may have hit the cutting floor with characters underwritten or ideas introduced but never explored, but I’m glad this isn’t a blemish on his resume and I hope he can take his big bag of Disney cash and make his next passion project.