It’s hard to come into Mufasa with anything but skepticism. The film serves as a prequel, telling the story of a young Mufasa and how he meets his half-brother Scar and discovers Pride Rock. After the near 2 billion dollar haul that the “live action” The Lion King raked in back in 2019, the critical reception to this film was not so great (see my review of that film here) it still seems crazy that this film not only got the green light, but attracted one of the biggest indie directors Barry Jenkins. While some held out hope based on these factors, I lowered my expectations as I entered the cinema, safe to say these expectations were tempered as the film did little to justify its existence, apart from cashing in on the Lion King franchise.
From the outset, there has been a significant improvement in animation since the first film. The Lion King was plagued with uncanny animations which left the characters feeling soulless and looking like a nature documentary, more than a dramatic story. Here, it has slightly improved so there is more emotion, even if its ever so slightly. There are even a few moments when the rendering looks incomplete and the frame rate drops significantly, this is noticeable during a flooding scene. That aside, the rest of the film is beautifully animated, with the backdrops showcasing a duality of dry barren desert and lush green valleys. It’s been a weird year for the house of Mouse with all of the big releases being sequels with Moana 2, Inside Out 2 and now this, while this is the middle of the rack for their trio of films this year, it offers some solid family entertainment.
Mufasa (now voiced by Aaron Pierre) is living with his parents, when an untimely flood separates them. Mufasa ends up on the other side of the valley and is discovered by Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jnr.) who along with his mother Eshe (Thandiwe Newton) take Mufasa in as their own and help raise him. Till one day when Mufasa and Taka must separate themselves from the rest of the pack after a white lion and his pack invade their lands. The two brothers head off into the wilderness to seek Meleielei (a mythological ideal heaven with flowing water and food). Along the journey, they recruit more of the characters we know and love like Zazu (Preston Nyman), Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) and Rafiki (Kagiso Lediga) who are all escaping the mad lion Kiros (Madds Mikkelsen) and his pack of white lions who want to wipe out every other pride and rule over everything.
The story is told in flashbacks, with Rafiki telling Simba’s daughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) the origin of her father and how he met Sarabi. Along for the storytelling are Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) who seem to have been given the direction of “keep making jokes and we’ll see what sticks” The cyclonic onslaught of their fart jokes and desperate need for attention is exhausting and every time the film cuts to the present day, I found myself begging for the story to jump back to the origin tale. Kiara on the other hand is an adorable character and her curiosity about the world and how her family came to be fuels this part of the story.
Lin-Manuel Miranda takes over the musical numbers in this film, and it really shows. The film feels disjointed from the previous live action film and the animated original. There are moments where parts of the original score are used for callbacks, but there isn’t a single song you will remember after you have left the cinema. The only memorable song is Bye Bye, done by Kiros and sung by Madds Mikkelsen. The song is campy and ridiculous and heralds back to a villain song in true Be Prepared fashion. The decision to bring in Lin-Manuel Miranda for the songs and score looks like a good idea on paper, and back when this film was being conceived, Miranda’s work on Moana seemed like a no-brainer for this project. In true Miranda style the music serves as exposition dumps , the It would appear that with last month’s Moana 2 suffering from the same forgettable song-itis that Mufasa has, perhaps leaving Miranda on the Moana sequel may have fared better for both films.
Mufasa has all the ingredients to make it work, there are moments where it embraces its independence, but unfortunately, it is still too tied to the previous film to deliver something truly unique that we would expect from a filmmaker like Barry Jenkins. The film will no doubt attract its intended audience in droves and those curious to see what is offered up this time around and if this franchise still has stories left in it. Serious reinvention is required to keep the Lion King franchise moving forward. Although there are some positive elements to Jenkins’ excursion on the Savannah, those are not enough to justify or outweigh the negatives.
