TL;DR – This movie feels like a little cub trying to put its footprint inside one of their parents. It’s cute, but it does not compare.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Mufasa: The Lion King Review –

I’m going to be honest; I came into his film feeling a bit apprehensive. On the one hand, The Lion King is one of my favourite animated films of all time and was the first film I ever watched in a cinema. However, the 2019 version fell flat in so many ways. Would the second time be the charm or be more of the same?

So, to set the scene, Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) is concerned because a storm is coming, and her parents, Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter), have gone to give birth to a second child. But she was not left alone because Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) were there for security. But what is the best way to pass the time? Well, it is to have a story, and the best storyteller around is Rafiki (John Kani). Who tells the time when her Grandfather Mufasa (Braelyn Rankins/Aaron Pierre) first stepped into the world alone?

While I did have some deep frustrations with the film, there was also an understanding that there was some evident talent going on. One area you see that is in the environments. The landscapes of Africa are brought to life in stunning detail. Honestly, it is breathtaking at times, and we get to see so many different types of environments throughout the runtime. This is extended to the animal design, which is brought to life in such exquisite detail. A good example of this is when there is any interaction with water. However, much like the first film, it starts to break down when they speak English and try to emote like a human, as the photo-realism creates an uncanny valley situation.

The narrative is generally okay. Look, it is pretty shallow, and it suffers from all the issues that come with being a prequel, such as the stakes being relatively low because you already know how it will turn out. Also, the need to give everything, and I mean everything, an origin story. Look, did we need to know how Rafiki got his stick? No, we didn’t. It is more frustrating when they use the same motif over and over again. I mean, yes, we know that Taka (Theo Somolu/ Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is Scar; they even joke in the film about how obvious that is. But if you somehow missed it, then we will make sure we hit you in the head with that same ‘long live the King’ sequence multiple times.  

Some of the significant issues come with the structure that just feels overly long for me, let alone its target audience. You could feel that this was something picked up in test screenings, and instead of cutting anything, they inserted all these jumpbacks to Timon and Pumbaa, which brought the pacing to a screeching halt. There are a bunch of new songs, and much like the recent Moana 2, they had the difficulty of having to live in the shadow of the first movie. While I know it is subjective, but Lin-Manuel Miranda’s new additions, bar maybe Bye Bye, just never worked for me, which is highlighted whenever the film plays one of the old musical queues, and you get a visceral understanding of the stark difference.

Now, while it was a film filled with issues, the animation and the voice acting were pulling me along, even with the very shallow narrative, until we got to the end of the film. Unfortunately, in the third act, Mufasa decided that it wanted to add a moral lesson to the film suddenly. Now, if you thought the political thought behind the ‘Circle of Life’ was dubious, well, they have nothing to say about the hack job that happens here. It might have worked if they spent the film building it up rather than being a basic revenge story, it could have worked. However, that is not what they did. Honestly, I think I audibly groaned at one point.

In the end, do we recommend Mufasa: The Lion King? If you liked the 2019 film, then this is just more of that, so I would recommend it to you. For me, even though the animation and voice acting were top-notch, the story was just not there enough for me to put my recommendation behind it. Though a small fun detail for Australians, one of the characters is called Eshe and pronounced Eshay. It was hard not to laugh every time they said it. If you liked Mufasa: The Lion King, we would recommend to you The Wild Robot.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Mufasa: The Lion King
Directed by – Barry Jenkins
Screenplay by – Jeff Nathanson
Based on – The Lion King by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts & Linda Woolverton
Music and Songs by – Dave Metzger, Nicholas Britell & Lin-Manuel Miranda with Hans Zimmer, Elton John & Tim Rice
Cinematography by – James Laxton
Edited by – Joi McMillon
Production/Distribution Companies – Walt Disney Pictures
Starring – Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone, John Kani, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Donald Glover, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Blue Ivy Carter, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Preston Nyman, Anika Noni Rose, Keith David, Joanna Jones, Folake Olowofoyeku, Braelyn Rankins, Brielle Rankins, Theo Somolu & Kagiso Lediga with Thuso Mbedu, Sheila Atim, Abdul Salis, Derrick L. McMillon, Maestro Harrell, A.J. Beckles, David S. Lee & Dominique Jennings
Rating – Australia: PG; Canada: PG; Germany: na; New Zealand: na; United Kingdom: PG; United States: PG