Another unnecessary prequel
It’s been a hot minute since Disney released another live-action remake for one of its beloved animated classics. With the exception of The Jungle Book and Cinderella, every other live action has been a complete mixed bag between forgettable mediocrity and outright awfulness.
Say what you want about the Lion King remake, when you look at the box office it took home a staggering 1.6 billion worldwide. Sure, it was a completely different time, where Disney could do no wrong, but it was also a film that didn’t step too far out of line, along with the classic rendition of “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” done in the middle of the day. Sure, there was some extra content with the hyenas and the animals managed to emote about as much as Amandla Stenberg in an average episode of The Acolyte, but for the most part it was… fine.
Fast forward to 2024 and Disney have had a pretty rough ride at the box office. With the exception of Inside Out 2, a lot of Disney’s recent movies have failed to break even and felt pretty forgettable. So, as we reach the end of this turbulent year, all hope now rests on Mufasa: The Lion King, a prequel to that aforementioned 1.6 billion dollar behemoth that absolutely nobody asked for. Personally, I’m holding out hope for an origin story to Mary Poppin’s Umbrella, along with a look at the tailor who made Cinderella’s slipper.
Mufasa then plays out as a prequel to the 2019 Lion King story, with Mufasa just a cub and the world a very different place. Starving and desperate for salvation, Mufasa joins his parents as they set out to try and migrate across to a mythical land called Milele. It hasn’t rained in a long time and through the power of wish fulfilment (or dumb luck, you choose), it suddenly starts to rain.
Unfortunately, it rains so much that rivers begin to fill. When Mufasa is separated from his parents thanks to a sudden flood, he’s alone and lost, forced to adopt the “Stray” moniker placed upon him by a new pride. Despite Mufasa meaning King in Swahili, he’s actually just a common lion.
When he washes up on shore, Mufasa is saved by a sympathetic young lion called Taka. He’s the heir to the throne, with genuine royal blood flowing through him, but his father rules with an iron fist, and immediately shuns Mufasa, who’s forced to go live with the females – including Taka’s mother.
The thing is, this one change completely retcons and changes the original movie in pretty drastic ways. Remember when Scar mentioned he adopted “the shallow half of the gene pool”? Turns out that wasn’t about Mufasa at all. This also throws a lot of questions about how Scar is next in line for the throne, given the way this one ends. Spoiler alert: Mufasa survives and so does Scar but their relationship is not in a good place by the time the final credits roll round. This also makes it rather weird that Scar refers to Simba as his nephew too. You see how one little change can compeltely destroy source material? Yep, Disney have done it again!
Back to this story though, and Mufasa and Taka find themselves thrown into the thick of it when their land is threatened by a tribe of white lion outsiders, led by the evil, cruel Kiros. As a sidenote here, the film absolutely misses a trick by not throwing in a Kimba joke, given what the source material of Lion King is based on, but there we go.
Regardless, Taka and Mufasa are forced to flee their homeland and go in search of a new life, which inevitably sees them cross paths with Sarabi, Zazu and Rafiki. It’s here the story starts to adopt a familiar plotline, as Taka grows into his familiar villain role which is actually due to lost love and jealousy, while Kiros and his motley group of lions hunt Taka and Mufasa, partly for revenge, but also to avoid any potential backlash when the duo get older.
In a way, the story feels like a mash-up of familiar Lion King plot beats, complete with key jangling nostalgia (more on that shortly), alongside a reworked version of The Land Before Time. The story holds very few surprises and unfortunately is completely undermined by some utterly bizarre editing choices.
You see, the story of Mufasa is actually told by Rafiki in the present, where we cut back and forth between the two timelines throughout the film. The trouble is, there’s an abundance of forced humour here from Timon and Pumbaa which completely undercuts some of the tension or drama in the main plotline. At one point, we cut back to Timon and Pumbaa being, well, Timon and Pumbaa, right in the middle of Taka and Mufasa running away from Kiros and the other lions. Then we cut back again at what feels like 5 minutes later. It’s such a bizarre choice and more often than not, it doesn’t work.
There are little nods to the audience with moments including, “Oh I know who Taka is!” and “Wow, this story is really good, maybe cut down on the childhood trauma?” supposed to be humorous quips but going down like a lead balloon. At least in my theatre anyway, which was deathly silent through this one.
It’s almost as if the writers felt like they needed more humour to keep the kids invested when in reality, the dry humour of Rafiki and the eyerolling quips from Zazu (who is a pale imitation of Rowan Atkinson’s version from 1994, let’s be honest) is more than enough.
The story is pretty forgettable to be honest, and at times feels like it borrows heavily from The Lion King’s more iconic moments. For a film all about forging your own path forward and becoming a leader, Mufasa struggles to break free from the lazy key jangling nostalgia and playing subservient to the far superior movie that came before.
Within the first 15 minutes, we get an extreme close-up shot of Mufasa looking shocked, which mirrors that of Simba in the gorge. We get a father killed and a son separated from his tribe, and we even get a reworked musical score that mirrors the stampede scene. That’s before mentioning him clinging to a single tree branch sticking out the water. And that’s just the first part of the movie.
That’s before mentioning the call-backs, spaced out lazily through the movie to make you remember the original. Zazu has a “morning report” for everybody at one point, Rafiki utters “it is time” at different intervals and, of course, we get an origin to Taka holding onto Mufasa’s paws. Twice. Sure, one could argue this is par the course for an origin story like this, but here it feels like a lazy way of riding the coattails of the majestic animated movie, which is far superior to this.
Thankfully, where the film slips up with its narrative, it more than makes up for with its visuals because damn, this movie is absolutely gorgeous to look at. The animation team have completely outdone themselves with this one and although the animals still struggle to emote the same way hand-drawn animation allows, the landscapes and level of detail is staggering. We get a good deal of extreme close-up shots here, allowing us to see the photorealistic fur, the gorgeous water effects and, more significantly, incredibly realistic snow.
As anyone who has worked in digital art will tell you, snow is one of the hardest elements to get right. Here though, Mufasa pulls it off effortlessly. Seeing chunks of snow on Mufasa’s fur, or the reflection as he stares through thick chunks of ice is honestly incredible and for that alone, this movie is designed to be marvelled at on the big-screen.
Of course, no film would touch the majesty of the original Lion King but the score here is, well, a pale imitation of the first score. We get a song about how “I Always Wanted A Brother” which feels like a reworked version of “I Can’t Wait To Be King” and a love song between Sarabi and Mufasa called “Tell Me It’s You” instead of Simba and Nala’s “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.” It’s not bad but it’s a bit of a mixed bag too, and I’d argue is pretty much on-par with Moana 2’s soundtrack.
Ultimately, Mufasa: The Lion King fails to justify its inception. It’s another “live action” movie that has no business being made other than to make money. The story is cobbled together from better influences, and it’s not helped by some shoddy pacing too. It’s not the worst film you’ll watch this year, but it’s also hard to recommend beyond the visual spectacle. If you’re wondering what to watch at the box office, save your money and watch Sonic 3 instead.
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Verdict - 4/10
4/10