by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
Years before Rafiki presented a young lion cub to the animals of the Pride Land, Mufasa was himself a cub (voiced by Braelyn Rankins) who became separated from his family. That’s the story presented in Mufasa: The Lion King, in whichMufasa is found and befriended by another cub named Taka (later Scar, voiced as a cub by Theo Somolu) and his father Obasi (Lennie James), who disapproves of Mufasa, thinking him an outsider. Later in life, the two lions (now voiced by Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr.), who now consider themselves brothers, must fight off a tribe of white lions led by Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen) and travel together to find Milele so their tribe can continue to grow there.
The main story here is a prequel to 2019’s The Lion King. However, it is told in flashback through Rafiki stories to Simba’s (Donald Glover) daughter Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), and Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen). Going into this, I already knew I was going to have mixed feelings about it as an idea; on the one hand, it is the same realistic-looking CGI talking animals as the 2019 remake, which provides a lot of amazing visuals, but lacks the emotional connection of the 1994 version, due to a realistic animal’s face being unable to express things in the same way a hand-drawn one can. A more positive feeling I had was that it was at least an original story and not a copy-and-paste job like the 2019 film.
As far as the original story is concerned, it is an interesting enough idea. Mufasa may have been king when Simba was born, but he wasn’t born into royalty. He had to fight for his kingdom and be considered the Pride Lands’ leader. Him not always having such a bad relationship with his brother, and them not even being biologically related, is also interesting. How did the two lion cubs come to think of themselves as brothers? And how did that bond turn into such intense hatred? These questions could have made for a compelling story which could help people better understand why Scar does what he does to Mufasa. Unfortunately, Mufasa fails to deliver on this potential. Nothing about its narrative gives you a better understanding of what happens later. Mufasa’s relationship with Scar in the original film makes less sense now — he dislikes him, but still considers him a brother when we know they are not biologically related?
There are countless moments here that blatantly exist as fan service to give the audience something to point at and go,“Oh, look, see? That’s the thing!”But anyone who hadn’t seen the original would not understand the significance. I don’t mind fan service, but there has to be more to it than just a reference to something you know about. For example, there is a moment where Taka digs his claws into Mufasa’s paws in the same way as a famous scene in the original, but within the context of the story, there is no logical reason for him to do this; he does it as a reference. There is another moment of fan service near the end, which is far better executed, because the moment it happens represents significant character growth, and is an explanation of how a certain thing came to be. But many other moments explaining various origins had me wondering why anyone felt an explanation was needed. Even as someone with massive nostalgia for the 1994 film, I still find these references awkward and out of place.
The overarching story is quite paint-by-numbers in how the beats unfold and the different character arcs develop. But this reasonably generic storyline is made all the more predictable because we know who can’t die and where the characters will end up. Having well-used tropes in your story is fine, but there must be something different about how it is done. In the original story, Simba’s arc is interesting because he starts highly confident in what he will be, just for the wrong reasons; when his father dies, Simba no longer believes in himself, and in regaining this belief, he becomes a better leader. Mufasa never has any period of self-doubt in this story; he’s rejected by Obasi and challenged by the white lions, but he never really changes because of it. Taka’s arc in becoming Scar is disappointingly straightforward: He suddenly turns bad. Kiros is pretty forgettable as the story’s main antagonist, although he does get a good villain song.
Another of the film’s engaging features is the visuals. While watching realistic lions talking with human voices still looks weird, the film is stunning. Several action and fast-paced sequences beautifully showcase the African outback, and they’re made all the more compelling by the way the camera moves around. A good variety of visual settings also keeps things compelling.
There are a few more songs in this than the original (this time penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and set to the direction of Barry Jenkins); they are mostly decent and relatively memorable. Their placement in the story also feels natural. They serve a good purpose in conveying how certain characters feel about one another at specific points in the story, effectively progressing it. Like the 2019 film, the visuals during the song sequences are not notably different from the rest of the story, but they are still great to look at. As I said, the villain song is another excellent number, although it may be more visually lacking than others.
One enjoyable aspect of the story is how it frequently cuts back to Rafiki telling it to Kiara, Timon, and Pumbaa. A few funny and interesting remarks made during these parts helped me smile more — seeing something different frees up the pacing. There is even a joke about the musical, which I massively appreciated as someone who saw that show for the first time a few months ago.
Mufasa has enough going for it in the visual and vocal department not to be considered a bad film. There’s nothing awful about the story or how it is told, but at the same time, there’s just nothing about it that pushes the boundaries of storytelling; it’s the same kind of story you’ve seen before. It’s also not a story that needs to be told. Was anyone wondering how Mufasa became king, or how he met Zazu? I’m not even sure Zazu was required in this. The lack of purpose in retconning the original story, and the lifeless CGI lion faces, make this a frustrating and confusing experience.
Rating: It Was Just Okay
Mufasa: The Lion King is currently playing in theaters
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