Mufasa: The Lion King (2024)

​"Mufasa: The Lion King" stars Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., John Kani, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Tiffany Boone, Donald Glover, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Blue Ivy Carter, and Beyonce Knowles-Carter.  Released on December 20, 2024, the film follows a young Mufasa's journey to become the king of Pride Rock.

The film was directed by Barry Jenkins, who also directed "Medicine for Melancholy", "Moonlight", and "If Beale Street Could Talk".  Jenkins also created the limited series "The Underground Railroad".  It is a prequel and sequel to the 2019 "The Lion King" remake.  Many of us have heard how Simba grew up to claim his destined throne from his conniving and distrustful uncle and avenge the death of his father, Mufasa.  Whether from the classic animated film from 1994, the Broadway show, or the divisive "live-action" remake, "The Lion King" is an influential and sublime cultural phenomenon that resonates with kids and adults alike.  However, this franchise has yet to mention how Simba's wise and courageous father became the ruler of Pride Rock and gave birth to his successor until now.  Many of us didn't want to know how Mufasa started this path of royalty, but a few of us couldn't help but wonder how he found his place in the Circle of Life.  Well, thanks to Disney's obsession with remakes, prequels, and sequels, we have that answer in the form of a prequel/sequel that happened to be connected to the 2019 remake, much to everyone's dismay.  But at least it had acclaimed director Barry Jenkins helming the film, so surely that'll help provide enough merits to warrant its existence, right?  Let's return to the Pride Lands and see if this continuation is a roaring success.

The story takes place after the events of "The Lion King".  Simba (Glover) and Nala (Knowles-Carter), the king and queen of Pride Rock, have given birth to their young and inquisitive daughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter).  While Simba and Nala are away, the wise shaman Rafiki (Kani) decides to tell Kiara the story of how Simba's father, Mufasa (Pierre), became the king of Pride Rock, with Timon (Eichner) and Pumbaa (Rogen) providing color commentary.  Mufasa was once an orphaned lion cub who got separated from his parents and was later rescued by a young prince named Taka (Harrison Jr.).  He was adopted by Taka's pride of lions, led by his father Obasi (James), and became Taka's adoptive brother.  As they grow older, Mufasa and Taka face numerous trials that test their brotherhood as they journey to find their place in the Circle of Life.  One of them is Kiros (Mikkelsen), the leader of a pride of white lions known as "The Outsiders," who plans to rule the lands with an iron paw.  During their quest, the brothers befriended numerous allies like Sarabi (Boone), the young Rafiki (Kagiso Lediga), and Sarabi's assistant Zazu (Preston Nyman) as they attempt to overthrow Kiros and save their new home.

Undoubtedly, "The Lion King" is one of my favorite Disney films from when I was growing up.  It was released the same year I was born and was my first introduction to its Shakespearean undertones.  You know, because it was modeled on William Shakespeare's Hamlet.  While the 2019 "live-action" version had its moments involving the visuals and faithfulness to the story, I would agree that it's not as impactful as the 1994 animated masterpiece.  However, I couldn't help but be curious about the remake's continuation, mainly due to Barry Jenkins's involvement as the director and its focus on Simba's kingly father.  Regardless of what people say or think about its existence, I was hoping that Jenkins' vision should at least give it a much-needed boost in quality compared to the remake.  I mean, he did helm one of the best movies of 2016, so there's no doubt he'd be able to get the job done, which he did.  It didn't match the same heights as the director's previous movies, but "Mufasa" had a decent amount of soul and energy to deliver a prequel worthy of its visual appeal.

After watching the trailers, I already knew that "Mufasa" would be an improvement over the 2019 remake for several reasons, primarily its story.  The film served as a direct follow-up to the "live-action" remake of "The Lion King", which also drew inspiration from the original movie.  However, it also used one of the elements from the animated version's direct-to-video sequel, "Simba's Pride", notably Simba and Nala's youngest daughter Kiara.  That doesn't make it a shot-for-shot remake of the sequel.  Instead, it utilized these elements to deliver a somewhat "original" piece of expansion of the "Lion King" lore, except in photorealistic animation.  Regarding its structure, think of it as "The Godfather Part II" but with lions, both of which follow the past and present events.  The present-day scenes involve Rafiki telling Kiara Mufasa's story of his rise to royalty while her parents are away, while the main focus is the young Mufasa's brotherhood with Taka, who would eventually become Scar.  While I appreciate the film for providing something new to the franchise, its execution of the story is what matters most in determining its place in the Circle of Life.

Jeff Nathanson returned to write the screenplay for "Mufasa" after doing so with 2019's "The Lion King".  Despite following the storyline of the 1994 animated classic, Nathanson's script for the remake didn't have anything special that warranted its existence.  Considering that it used almost all of the exact quotes from the original, it was evident that it would be faced with this issue.  Fortunately, the concept in "Mufasa" gave Nathanson an advantage to provide something new while respecting the elements that made the original movie timeless and endearing.  With it being a prequel, it's easy to point out that "Mufasa" won't come equipped with too many surprises in its dialogue, emotional depth, and plot.  It's predictable, for sure, and it didn't emphasize much on its complex themes of royalty, bravery, and brotherhood, but that doesn't make it less enjoyable.  Jeff Nathanson's screenplay is far from Oscar-worthy, but his intent of honoring the characters we grew up with, especially Mufasa and Taka, was enough to redeem himself from his writing in the 2019 remake.  Was it as special as "Transformers One" regarding the "brothers to enemies" narrative?  Not really, but it's decent enough to humanize the diverting and subtly heartfelt chemistry between the adoptive lion brothers.

"Mufasa" is also known for being Barry Jenkins's first foray into blockbuster filmmaking, let alone a photorealistic animated feature based on the Disney classic.  As Jenkins is more familiar with telling human stories on a smaller scale, this movie proved to be a much more significant challenge because he's working with plenty of virtual advancements that brought the 2019 remake to life.  We've seen this transition for indie filmmakers several times, with some less fortunate than others.  Thankfully, Jenkins managed to become one of the few lucky ones, notably for his style.  The difference between Jon Favreau and Jenkins regarding their directions was as clear as the sunrise from the beginning of "The Lion King".  While Favreau had a more simplistic approach to his 2019 remake, Jenkins went for an immersive approach to his presentation.  Not only was it effective for its visual-heavy framework and panning effects regarding James Laxton's cinematography, but it was also a tad more zestful in the action and environments than the remake despite its photorealistic appearance and uneven pacing.  I don't blame Jenkins for not retaking this type of filmmaking after "Mufasa", but I also commend the filmmaker for stepping out of his comfort zone to tackle this challenge from Disney.

As for the visual effects, my feelings toward it are still the same as how I felt toward the 2019 "Lion King" remake.  Yes, it was questionable to have photorealistic animals with no humans around and call it "live-action", although I still prefer the term "photorealistic animation".  But putting that aside, it's still a visually impressive approach to this technique that emphasizes the scale of its live-action environments and characters.  However, regarding the remake, it came with the price of having the animals look a bit too real regarding their emotional expressions and range.  "Mufasa" was fortunate enough to correct that mistake by having the animals, mainly the lions, actually emote, something Favreau should've done in the remake, and let me tell you.  This film really wanted audiences to know that the lions express human emotions with the constant close-up shots.  Clearly, it didn't know the definition of "personal space".  Regardless, I couldn't help but be impressed by the details shown in some of the characters' expressions.  Sure, it would've been a lot better and less uncanny if it was made in 2D animation, but for what it's worth, the photorealistic visuals did enough to correct some of the mistakes of its "live-action" predecessor.  The songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda were also pretty catchy, especially "I Always Wanted a Brother", but not enough to match the impact of the songs from the original.

The cast from the 2019 remake returned to voice their characters, including Donald Glover for Simba, Beyonce for Nala, and John Kani for Rafiki.  However, the main focus is the actors voicing the new characters and even the younger versions of Mufasa and Scar.  Aaron Pierre, who recently starred in Netflix's "Rebel Ridge" a few months ago, was tasked with embodying Mufasa as the late James Earl Jones did in both versions of "The Lion King".  With Jones's voice being as iconic as the wise and royal lion, it's a pretty big deal for him to honor this character in his own way.  Fortunately, he was able to pull this task off pretty well, as Pierre delivered a good enough roar in his system to capture Mufasa's honest and truehearted personality through his performance.  Kelvin Harrison Jr. also did a good job voicing Taka, whose cheerfulness was consumed by jealousy, fear, and pain due to Mufasa's actions.  Even his approach to capturing Taka's treacherous identity from the original was pretty solid.  Mads Mikkelsen was also serviceable in representing Kiros's ruthless and diabolical persona, even though the villain himself wasn't as memorable as Scar.  Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen both returned to reprise their roles of Timon and Pumbaa, which I didn't mind since they're one of the best parts of the 2019 remake.  I still prefer Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella from the original film, but Eichner and Rogen provided enough charm in their humor to welcome their color commentary.  As for Blue Ivy Carter as Kiara, she did all right in her feature debut, and Kiara was unsurprisingly adorable.

Overall, "Mufasa: The Lion King" found its place in Disney's circle of live-action adaptations with a visually immersive and entertaining prequel that roars with pride.  Its predictable plot elements and pacing issues kept it from being the one true king of the studio's long line of remakes, sequels, and prequels.  Its connection to the 2019 version will also likely turn off plenty of people who prefer to die from a wildebeest stampede than mention the remake again.  Fortunately, the film managed to accomplish its goal of being a solid improvement over the 2019 remake while expanding the "Lion King" lore with deft and passion.  With its decent voice cast, Jenkins's direction, charming humor, and immersive visual effects, this follow-up is worthy of its royalty.  It's no secret that the film won't win everybody over, especially the studio's detractors, but if you're interested regardless due to your love of "The Lion King", I'd say it's worth the return to the Pride Lands.

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