PLOT: The origin of Mufasa (voiced by Aaron Pierre), the future lion king who, as a cub, is separated from his family and taken into the pride as an outsider, only for him to prove himself the most truly worthy heir to the throne.
REVIEW: Here’s the funny thing about the 2019 remake of The Lion King – it might be one of the most successful films ever to leave virtually no cultural footprint. Think about it – the movie grossed an insane $1.6 BILLION. Usually, that would have been enough to propel it into becoming a monster franchise. Still, thanks to COVID and the basic state of the industry, it’s taken over five years for us to get a follow-up, and it seems likely to only gross a fraction of what the original film did. Frankly, as successful as the Jon Favreau film was, people still think of the cartoon when they think of The Lion King.
As such, you have to give Disney some kudos for going a different route with the follow-up, with them entrusting the movie to Barry Jenkins, the director of Moonlight, who’s never tackled anything on this scale before (and may never again judging by some of the interviews he’s given in the run-up to release). While Mufasa sports perhaps even better CGI imagery than the last film, it can’t help but feel like Jenkins, despite his stature, has delivered a relatively slight follow-up that tells a pretty familiar story about two best pals turned enemies.
Mufasa follows the same beats as something like Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, or even the recent Transformers One, in that in this prequel, the young Mufasa and the future Scar, Taka (voiced by Kelvin Harrison Jr.) are presented as friends. Mufasa, as a cub, is taken into the pride after being separated from his parents in a flood (listen for Keith David as his father). He’s allowed to live with the pride thanks to Taka and his mother, Eshi (Thandiwe Newton) taking an instant liking to him, despite Taka’s father, the king – Obasi (Lennie James) thinking he’s no good.
If you’ve seen any of the movies mentioned above, you’ll know much of the plot revolves around Mufasa proving his bravery- while Taka comes up short, paving the way for Mufasa’s ascension to the throne (and eventual betrayal by his brother). The most surprising thing about Mufasa is how conventional of a Disney film it feels like, as if Jenkins wasn’t given all that much leeway. The only true mark of Jenkins’ involvement is that he was able to bring his regular composer, Nicholas Britell, and DP James Paxton along. Paxton tries to give the film some continuity with its predecessor, while Britell does an excellent job filling in for Hans Zimmer. However, the songs, partially by Lin Manuel-Miranda, suffer as they don’t have the classic appeal of the tracks done by Elton John and Tim Rice, which carried over from the cartoon to the original film. None of them make a huge impression.
However, while Jenkins’s film is conventional, it’s still relatively entertaining. The CGI is exquisite, and the voice cast is good, with Aaron Pierre (who recently blew me away in Rebel Ridge) making for an excellent young Mufasa. Kelvin Harrison Jr is good voicing the conflicted and not-yet-evil Taka, while Donald Glover and Beyonce return in smaller roles as Simba and Nala, with Beyonce’s daughter, Ivy Knowles Carter, voicing their offspring, Kiara. Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner return as Pumbaa and Timon, with the movie framed as them listening to Mufasa’s origin story, with Kiara, as it’s told by John Kani’s Rafiki. Meanwhile, Mads Mikkelsen voices Kiros, the leader of a pack of white lions who wants revenge on Mufasa, who was forced to kill his son in combat.
Like the original Lion King remake, the film is relatively serious outside of the tacked-on Timon and Pumbaa comic relief, making me think some younger viewers might be a tad bored (although it’s unlikely they’ll be too scared – with it coming off as tamer and less sad than the original films). If you liked the 2019 version of The Lion King, or just like watching cute CGI lions and cubs, you might as well check it out over the holidays. While it’s unlikely to make a huge dent in the face of competition from Sonic the Hedgehog, it’s fine for families and entertaining enough. I might have even slightly preferred it to the 2019 Lion King, as at least it tells a marginally different story and doesn’t rely on nostalgia for a much better film to entertain its audience – even if I can’t help but think Jenkins was capable of delivering a much better film than this were he given the chance.